I spoke to the Portland Rotary Club last week and in preparation for that talk, I thought a lot about what it is about art and local venues that are important to our day to day quality of life. I mean, why should people care whether we have an arts presence at all? Who needs all that artsy fartsy stuff, anyway? There are, after all, certainly more demanding issues to tackle like domestic violence, world hunger, peace, oil spills, etc. - not necessarily in that order, of course.

So, I tried to imagine a world that certainly functioned but had no art. Our cars and boats would all look the same. One house would look just like another. There would be no music on the radio; only talk, talk and more talk. TV? The same - talking only: no stories to portray and no theme music. No movie theaters to serve as a brief escape so you can rest your brain for awhile. Your walls at home and at your workplace would be bare. No painted pictures, no sculpture, and no colors to soothe or stimulate. Your trips to the grocery store would have shelf after shelf of white boxes and cans with black lettering describing the contents. No pictures to represent what's inside. Function all around but without the textures, colors, and inspiration that art provides.

I don't know about you but that's not really appealing to me at all. Our local arts centers afford a proving ground for artists be they musicians, actors or visual composer that touch your world in ways you may not have considered before. It's about giving us the inspiration, hope and beauty that in turn provides the space to consider solutions to the major issues we've got to solve. Support your arts centers throughout this region - with your time, money and patronage. They make a major contribution to our communities.

Upcoming Artisan Events:

• Friday, June 4, 5:30 - 7:30 - "First Friday" Opening Reception. "Guys and Dolls" Art Exhibit. Art Center for the Islands. Admission: Free.
• Friday, June 4, 7:30 p.m. - "Jack and the Beanstalk" Houston Children's Theatre production. Port Aransas Community Theatre. Tickets: $15/$5.
• Tuesday, June 8, 7:00 p.m. - "Rialto Rhythms" Weekly Open Acoustic Jam. Rialto Theater. Admission: Free ($5 contribution suggested).
• Daily through June 12 - "Deborah Males and J.P. Morton" Art Exhibit. Rockport Center for the Arts. Admission: Free.
• Daily through June 23 - "First Look" Debut Art Exhibit by Norma Gafford and Mary Rush-Griffin. Main Gallery, Rialto Theater. Admission: Free.
• Fridays and Saturdays, June 25 through July 10, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, July 11 at 2:00 p.m. - "Showtime on the Showboat (or Don't Throw Garbage in the River)" Summer Melodrama. Live on Stage. Rialto Theater with special performance TBD at Sail South Texas 2010. Admission: $12.

Jen Jones is a member of the Board of Directors of the Rialto Theater, an IRS 501(c)(3) charitable organization fostering art and education through visual art, music and live stage productions in the historic movie theater in downtown Aransas Pass. Her day job is in real estate at Coldwell Banker Myers-Gallagher. If you have someone you'd like to spotlight in this column, drop her a line at jen@jenscoastalbend.com.