It’s curtain time at Sunset Auditorium

Sampson County residents who share a love for the theater arts have come together to raise funds to replace the old curtains of the auditorium at Sunset Avenue Elementary School.

The front curtain has already been replaced through funding from the Clinton City Board of Education. However, more work is needed, as the side and back portions of the curtains remain in disarray. To fully replace the remaining curtains, is a project the board noted will cost an additional $7,000.

Hoping to support them with that endeavor, the Sampson County Arts Council started a fundraiser campaign called ‘Set The Stage and Raise the Curtain.’ The campaign is seeking donations, of any size, throughout the community, to help them complete the project.

“How this all happened was when Suzi Matthews reached out to me,” said Arts Council Executive Director, Kara Donatelli. “She is a local dance instructor here in Clinton and uses the facility for her recitals each year. She knows that other organizations, people, and of course, the school use it for their functions.

“The school had already replaced the front curtain, but there were concerns about the back and the side ones,” she explained. “Suzi reached out to us for help to see if we could get some donations from the community to help with this. The school, budget-wise, may not always be able to keep up with all the things that need to be fixed. So, we were happy to help the school fund raise for this project.”

Suzi Matthews is the owner of Performing Arts School in Clinton and has actively used the space for over 20 years. A native of Sampson County, the Sunset Avenue auditorium has been a major part of her life and many others in Sampson. That ongoing love is what inspired her to reach out to the arts council, and now the community.

“Any kind of support would help tremendously,” Matthews said. “Those curtains have not been replaced in 25 years. I’ve been renting that auditorium from the city schools since 1998 to do my dance concerts and my performance concerts. I’ve always supported the city schools, because I think it’s a great auditorium. I mean, it was built in the ’50s, but the acoustics in there are just phenomenal, it’s unlike anywhere else in the county.

“Since 1998, they’ve probably done new curtains maybe only the first year I went there,” she added. “The back curtain was never long enough to go to the floor. So we always had to add a piece every year so you didn’t see feet walking behind the curtains during performances.”

Matthews said it was her latest shows that really pushed her forward in requesting aid to have the curtains fixed.

”I mentioned it to a member of the school board after my concerts this year,” she said. “Because we were having to patch gaping holes in the back of the curtain, it just looked really unprofessional. I mentioned it to the school board chairman (Dr. Linda Brunson), and she mentioned it to the board. After that, the board was able to use a percentage of the school budget to replace the front curtain.

“The back and sides were going to be about a $7,000 to fix,” Matthews explained. “So, they reached out to me and told me that, on my request, they had replaced the front curtain. But they asked if I could reach out to anybody in any way about trying to raise the $7,000 to replace and continue the installation. With that, we would replace the back curtains, the side curtain and we’d have a curtain that would go all the way to the floor, one you wouldn’t have to add a piece to.”

All those interactions led to the Sampson Arts Council’s fundraiser, which at the time of publication, had earned just over $1,3oo. Of those monies, a majority of it came from International Minute Press, who got the ball rolling on donations.

“Kara reached out to us about the Sunset Ave School performing arts stage being unable to be completed without further donations,” Minute Press Owner Andrey Schulte said. “We have always had a great business relationship with the Clinton City Schools and felt the need to be a part of this, not only for our relationships but because we are only as good as the community we serve. And if we can help elevate our community’s children through education, Minuteman Press of Clinton is more than happy to step up to the plate.

“We donated to help get the ball rolling and hope others in the community can help get this project to the finish line,” he added. “Reminds me of a statement from Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai ‘Let us remember — One book, one pen, one child and one teacher can change the world.’ Soon we can add one completed stage at Sunset Ave School to that list!”

Donatelli and Matthews both expressed it’s their greatest hope the project reaches completion, and the stage can regain more of its former charm.

“We use it, of course, for when we do our Artist in the Schools program, for when the artists come and perform here,” Donatelli said. “In the past, when I grew up here in Sampson County, years ago, and when I first moved to Clinton, that facility was used as the Sampson Community Theatre, it’s where we had shows. I’ve been a part of shows on that stage, and dance recitals on that stage as well, as many other people here in our county and city have. We at the Arts Council just feel like it’s a great project to support and we’re hoping that people will help support it.”

“My personal thoughts on it is that the auditorium is a beacon of Clinton City Schools,” Matthews added. “A lot of people in the community only ever see that auditorium. I grew up here when that was the middle school, and then my children came through the city school system using that auditorium. It’s used for awards assemblies and for talent shows. A lot of times concerts were brought to Sunset Avenue because you have almost 1000 seats in there. And so, that auditorium is really important to this community and we just want to help them complete this project.”

The deadline to donate was originally this Friday, Feb. 28, but Matthews and the Arts Council have extended that date until March 20.

“The Arts Council has done a campaign, and they have raised some money, and then I have reached out to some people in the community as well to share the information,” Matthews said. “We’re going to extend the deadline to March 20, and that would allow us to reach more people in the community. The donation is 100 percent tax deductible because it would go to Clinton City Schools. You don’t have to be a person who had children in the Clinton City Schools, because all people in our community benefit from that auditorium.

“It’s not just a public school, private school sector project because there’s so many people that benefit from that space.”

For more information through the Sampson Arts Council contact Donatelli at director@sampsonarts.org or 910-596-2533. For donations visit — sampsonarts.net/curtain-fund. Matthews said interested parties can also reach out to Clinton City Schools through John Lowe at 910-592-8688.