Athens, Ga has more to give to society than just Georgia Football and an impressive bar scene. Walk around downtown on any given night, and you will see and hear the true heartbeat of Athens, art. UGA students and local artists alike gather around places like the Morton Theater, UGA Fine Arts Building, Ciné and more, to present their talents for our enjoyment. With such a large and diverse group of people, and talents, there is some form of art to enjoy day in and day out.

This week Ciné Bar and Café on W. Hancock Avenue hosted Café Apollinaire, a showcase of local arts. William Bray, the founder of Georgia Fine Arts Association, presents this event twice a year at Ciné, and is free to the public. William was an undergraduate student at the University of Georgia, before he went on a 15 year educational odyssey. This odyssey indulged him in many cultures, arts, and places, including Johns Hopkins, Oxford, and Yale. William has now gone full circle, and is devoting his life to make art a part of other people’s lives back in his home state. A large part of this mission in Athens goes to the Café Apollinaire event.

“I founded the Georgia Fine Arts Academy 35 years ago and we’ve had programs at the Daffodil Farm in North West Georgia, programs for at risk inner city kids in Atlanta, we’ve had students from the public school system for emotionally behavior disabled students, and then moving to Athens we have established the Café Apollinaire”.

This event presented four 10 minute long plays written by UGA fine arts students, local musicians, poetry readings, and other demonstrations of visual surrealist art.

Even though the next time you can go to this event will be in April 2016, the University of Georgia is hosting their own event, Spotlight on the Arts. This celebration of local art will be going on until November 18.  Check out this link here for more information on the events being held for Spotlight on the Arts.

Five Seventy News 11/5/2015- Café Apollinaire from Ryan Sander on Vimeo.