Northeast Georgia Community Concert Association canceling upcoming season

Stephens County — The Northeast Georgia Community Concert Association is canceling its upcoming season as planned.

The association board of directors made the decision at its recent meeting. The season would have started in the fall and ended by mid-2010.

The group has done well in recent years, and attendance is at an all-time high, said Terry Carter, president of the association.

But recent economic conditions have prompted what was a very tough decision, he said.

“When you have people losing jobs, county employees taking furloughs, record unemployment rates, and people have to watch their budgets closely, we did not feel right in pushing forward for the next season,” Carter said.

The directors do not want to jeopardize the financial cushion the concert association has built up, he said.

Other institutions are facing difficulties, such as the Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, which did not make its fundraising goal for the first time in history this season, Carter said.

As for future seasons, he said, the plan is to get the association back up and running as quickly as possible.

“There is no doubt,” Carter said. “We just feel the right thing to do was to postpone this season, and we can come back stronger the following year. We are not going away. We are just postponing the upcoming season.”

The association hopes the hiatus will also allow for more volunteers to become involved with it and appreciates the public’s understanding during this time, he said.

Bill Wheeler of the Georgia Baptist Conference Center in Toccoa, where the concert association shows would have taken place for the upcoming season, said the venue understands the association’s position.

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