The Austin Area Commission for the Arts hosted two successful events over the past week.

The first was The Fabulous Armadillos’ presentation of “Floydian Slip: A Tribute to Pink Floyd.”

Everyone in attendance raved about the event, which was brought to the Paramount through support from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council.

We are already chatting with the Armadillos about bringing them back in the near future. The other fantastic event was the open house for the proposed Downtown Art Center. Thank you to all who attended.

 Austin ArtWorks Festival

We are currently having committee meetings to review the 2013 Festival and start to plan our improvements for 2014.

The Concert Committee met this week to discuss which band or bands we want to bring in for the big concert event at Marcusen Park. If you would like to share your thoughts on this event, please contact me at 434-0934 or director@paramounttheatre.org.

Historic Paramount Theatre

Dakota Dave Hull is a recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board traditional arts grant. Through this support, he recorded a double CD of his tradition-based guitar music and is performing at the Historic Paramount Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28.

A gifted composer as well as a strikingly original interpreter of older tunes, Dakota Dave calls what he does “classic American guitar.” Folk legend Van Ronk called Dave “one of the best guitarists in the world.”

Dakota Dave Hull’s guitar style spans a wide musical geography to create an infectious, uniquely personal blend of jazz, ragtime, folk, blues, Western swing, and vintage pop.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 at the door, and student tickets are $5. Order them online at paramounttheatre.org or call 434-0934.

Downtown Art Center

After the open house’s success, we are now gathering the names of everyone interested in being involved in the project and will start having committee meetings to move it forward.

Our next task will be to select three to four existing successful arts organizations to use as models for this project.

If you are interested in joining a committee, please contact me at 434-0934 or director@paramounttheatre.org.