Member Luncheon – March 2026

At the March Arts, etc. luncheon, President Karen Curth welcomed members and highlighted our upcoming Arts in Bloom benefit on March 26, thanking all the members who have been organizing the luncheons and this key event marking our 25th Anniversary.  She also related a conversation with Principal Travis Benintendo from Haut Gap Middle School.  He said that the programs funded by Arts, etc. are transformational for students and are “saving and sculpting lives.” Title One funding is available only to schools with 70% student poverty rate, and only can be used for supplies not music, art, or even sports programs.  Our program partners open up new worlds to students.

The speaker at the March luncheon was Christopher Scotton, an author who now lives on Johns Island.  He worked in technology, starting several companies, but always wanted to write and has found great success with his first novel The Secret Wisdom of the Earth.  His second novel Flannery Byrne, is just coming out, and both may be turned into movies or series.  He wrote his first book when he was 54 years old.  Both books began with memories of stories he had heard when he was a child.  The first was about a young child and a horrendous accident which killed his younger brother and uprooted his life, and the second about twin sisters who were stolen when they had just emigrated to America from Ireland and the cross-country search for them.  When asked about writing, his advice was not to just read novels but to study them, how they are crafted.  In school he was encouraged by teachers and mentors, starting in 8th grade when he was writing short stories.  Perhaps the programs funded by Arts, etc. will encourage students to follow their dreams of writing or pursuing other artistic endeavors.