12/10/2011
Shelby County Arts Council gets grant to fund creative writing program at Columbiana Middle School
By Veronica Kennedy
At the end of the Shelby Chamber of Commerce Diamond Awards luncheon, Terri Sullivan had a twinkle in her eyes.
Sullivan, executive director of the Shelby County Arts Council, had received a $5,000 grant from State Sen. Slade Blackwell, R-Birmingham to fund a creative writing program at Columbiana Middle School.
The grant, from the state Education Trust Fund, will be used in the "Writing Our Stories" project that will begin in January at the school. At the end of the school year, the participating students will publish an anthology of their original poems and short stories, Sullivan said.
"All of this $5,000 will be used for arts enrichment programs in our schools in Shelby County to help the kids," she said.
"Writing Our Stories" is sponsored by the Alabama Writer's Forum. It began as a means of expression for troubled youths and since has spread to mainstream classrooms. It is in its second year at Columbiana Middle School.
For more information about "Writing our Stories," visit the Alabama Writers Forum's website at www.writersforum.org.programs/.
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