Cumberland Winds, a Clarksville Treasure
November 30, 2021
Written by Dr. Dewey Browder
APSU History Professor
Clarksville, TN – There is a community treasure here in Clarksville that gets too little credit but continues to entertain and inspire over and over again, year after year. That community treasure is the Cumberland Winds.
This non-profit organization presents a variety of ensembles that include a concert band, the Jazz Project (big band), brass and woodwind quintets, horn quartet, jazz combo, a Dixie band, and a German band. These musicians offer everything from concerts to solo performances that please all ages and celebrate as the occasion demands.
Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development presents Lifetime Achievement Awards to Dan Hanley, Mark Holleman
August 24, 2021
Clarksville, TN – The Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council (AHDC) presented lifetime achievement awards to two Clarksvillians who have made outstanding contributions to the community’s artistic and historic heritage.
During Saturday’s Flying High celebration for Customs House Museum and Cultural Center, AHDC presented the lifetime achievement in art award posthumously to Dan Hanley and the lifetime achievement in heritage award to Mark Holleman. Jodi Hanley received the award for her husband, who had been notified earlier of the honor.
Dan Hanley’s Artistic Achievements
Dan Hanley steadily applied his creative abilities over many years as a designer and builder of homes and residential communities. In recent years, he turned his full attention to his life-long interest in painting—an interest he had kept alive and active for some 40 years since he graduated college with a degree in art & business administration.
Hanley’s work is represented in many private and corporate collections. His paintings and home designs have received a number of professional awards. His original artworks have brought prices in excess of $20,000.
Hanley served on Clarksville’s Public Arts Commission and worked regularly in support of the Customs House Museum and Cultural Center. Following the devastating 1999 tornado that struck Clarksville, he served on the Mayor’s Recovery Task Force, chairing the Design Review Board and the Design Standards Development Committee.
His community contributions continued his family heritage, going back to his great grandfather’s emigration from Ireland to Clarksville in the late 1860s. His great grandfather, grandfather, father, and Dan Hanley himself have all left their mark on many of Clarksville’s architectural treasures.
Hanley lived what he called a “Tom Sawyer” boyhood in his parent’s home near the Cumberland River. He often drew from this background for his subjects, describing his paintings as representations of “… a neighborhood of ordinary folks, unaware that they were living extraordinary lives, in extraordinary times—unwittingly heroic in their struggles to provide for families and build a community, making themselves matter.”
Mark Holleman’s Heritage Contributions
While Hanley’s family was influential in shaping Clarksville’s architectural landscape, Mark Holleman has been busy preserving and enhancing it. It is evident that Holleman loves Clarksville’s heritage. And he has used this love to keep the city’s history alive in a number of creative ways.
He has used public art to bring our history into the present. Holleman worked with Main Street Clarksville to spearhead the creation and installation of a statue of “John Montgomery,” who, in 1784, purchased land at the confluence of the Cumberland and Red rivers and is credited with founding Clarksville. That group, along with the Leaf-Chronicle, commissioned the “Morning After” sculpture to remember the devastating tornado that swept through downtown in 1999.
Holleman has made sure we will remember the streetcar days of Clarksville when he purchased a trolley car to take folks around town. He even preserved some of the streetcar track that was being removed from Franklin Street and installed it in his Riverside office.
Holleman and his wife Ricki have preserved one of the lovely homes that date from the 1920s and ’30s and line Madison Street. He takes photos to mark Clarksville’s current history and shares them with many folks around town. Visitors to the St. Bethlehem Coldwell Bankers office can see many of his photos along with artifacts from the Courthouse, Arlington Hotel, the Roxy, and Baker and Dowdy Barbershop.
Historic Collinsville Pioneer Settlement opens the weekend of June 5th
June 1, 2021
Clarksville, TN – On June 5th and 6th, Historic Collinsville Pioneer Settlement located in rural Montgomery County, Tennessee, will celebrate its 2021 season. The 40-acre, open-air property showcases pioneer life from 1840-1900 with 16 authentically furnished buildings.
Historic Collinsville Pioneer Settlement set to open June 5th
May 16, 2021
Clarksville, TN – Historic Collinsville Pioneer Settlement in rural Montgomery County, Tennessee, celebrates its 2021 season-opening weekend June 5th-6th. The 40-acre, open-air property showcases pioneer life from 1840-1900 with 16 authentically furnished buildings.
Celebrate Youth Art Month with Arts for Hearts Clarksville
March 1, 2021
Clarksville, TN – Arts for Hearts Clarksville, a program of the Clarksville-Montgomery County Arts and Heritage Development Council is celebrating Youth Art month during March with a challenge to Clarksville youth to create a piece of artwork using watercolors.
Youth Art Month is a yearly celebration during the month of March that promotes Art and Art Education in schools and communities across the nation. This year’s theme is “Art Connects Us.”
Arts for Hearts Clarksville to host Supply Drive for Art in November
November 8, 2020
Clarksville, TN – Give artfully this November to Arts for Hearts, a program providing free art classes and workshops throughout the Clarksville area.
It is officially Fall and the season of caring and giving is fast approaching. Now is the perfect time to give back to the community by volunteering, giving or hosting supply drives to support your favorite local nonprofits.
Arts for Hearts in collaboration with Habitat for Humanity Restore and Eagle’s Wing Ministries will host a “Hearts Need Art” supply drive from November 9th-22nd.
Austin Peay State University CECA Announces 2020 Ovation Award winners, final program lineup
March 5, 2020
Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University (APSU) President Alisa White and the APSU Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts (CECA, or “seek-ah”) invite community members of all ages to the 2020 Ovation Awards, a family-friendly celebration of the arts.
Family-Friendly Favorites Coming in March to Planters Bank Presents… Film Series at the Roxy Regional Theatre
February 26, 2020
Clarksville, TN – The Roxy Regional Theatre is serving up a host of family-friendly favorites in March with the return of the Planters Bank Presents… Film Series, beginning with Disney’s beloved animated classic “Cinderella” on Sunday, March 1st, 2020 at 2:00pm.
Tickets for the first film in the series are now available at the Roxy Regional Theatre during regular box office hours (9:00am to 2:00pm, Monday through Friday, and one hour prior to show times).
SpiritFest offers Fun, Family-Friendly Activities before Christmas Parade
November 18, 2019
Clarksville, TN – The Fifth Annual SpiritFest – a holiday event from 2:00pm – 5:00pm on Saturday, December 7th – will offer a bounty of free activities, including visits with Santa Claus, rides on the Express Bus, four kids’ inflatables, live music on the new Downtown Commons stage, ice skating, art and gift markets, food trucks and a live nativity with animals.
Pillars of Hope 9/11 commemorative art exhibit to be held at Clarksville-Montgomery County Public Library, September 4th-23rd
August 29, 2019
Clarksville, TN – Clarksville-Montgomery County has a personal and profound connection to September 11th with many military heroes and families calling Clarksville their home.
So it is no surprise that almost 2000 tiles have been hand painted by Clarksville-Montgomery County residents as part of the Pillars of Hope: Remembering our Heroes through Art and Reflection since late 2012. A project dedicated to the memory of the September 11th attacks on our nation that honors and remembers those who serve our country.