Artwork will be displayed at Nine-twentynine Coffee Bar Saturday outisde of the design magazine pages littering the wooden tables. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m “Ask 4 More Arts…and Coffee” will take place, an art show in the coffee bar’s basement featuring live music and artwork created by Starkville artists, photographers, sculptors, T-shirt printers and other artisans.
John Weichel III, sophomore communication major and co-planner of the event along with Faith Spann, sophomore communication major, said the show is a good opportunity to give credit to the Mississippi State University Department of Art as well as support an artistic philanthropy.
“I go to Reformed Univeresity Fellowship; I’m on the outreach team. It’s our job to put together events, and I’m very passionate about the arts and the arts community,” he said. “A lot of times our art department is really good, and they don’t get credit; I thought it would be a good opportunity to support the arts community on campus, because it’s going to be student work.”
According to the Jackson Public Schools’ website, Ask for More Arts is an organization that “emphasizes integrating arts education into regular instruction in the elementary classroom.” Through the program, creative activities will be integrated into subjects like math, social studies and science.
Spann said she and John became friends through RUF and he approached her to help plan the event based on her interest in becoming an art curator after graduation. Spann said her arts-related career goals got her involved in the event as well as Ask for More Arts itself, an organization she first encountered working at an art gallery in Jackson.
“I went to the gallery in Jackson I worked at over the summer, and they were having an exhibit for participants in Ask for More Arts Collaborative and I thought it’d be great,” she said.
At the Jackson exhibit, Spann said impressive work from children learning under Ask for more Arts was on display, revealing the program’s effectiveness at providing creative outlets for students.
“I saw art from some of the kids participating in that collaborative. It was really amazing art, you could see they were inspired, and it was cool to see the foundation really helped them be able to accomplish that,” she said.
For Weichel, experiences taking arts classes in high school stuck with him. He said those remembrances cultivated his engagement with Ask for More Arts as the event’s charity.
“I was involved in music classes in high school. I did a ceramics class. It’s such a good way to learn and it’s a good outlet,” he said. “A lot of time creativity is moved toward the back and other things like math and science go toward the front, but in reality, it’s important that we have creative outlets. If we suppress that, the world doesn’t look as beautiful as it should.”
As well as benefitting Ask for More Arts, the event supports local artists by opening the show to all types of art entries. Spann said “Ask 4 More Arts…and Coffee” will exhibit a diverse range of work, including live music.
“We asked for people to give us all sorts of art, not just paintings or drawings. Along with paintings we’ll have photography, T-shirts, CDs, anything that people made themselves,” she said. “It’ll be a wide spectrum of different things.”
Anna Ballard, senior art major, will be hanging prints in the show. She said she researched Ask for More Arts when she heard of the event and discovered a personal connection to the ideas fueling the program.
“I used to work at Mission First in downtown Jackson teaching arts to kids. None of those kids had had art before, so I think there’s a really big need for that,” she said.
After selecting a relevant philanthropy, while searching for a venue Spann and Weichel approached Nine-twentynine about hosting the event after spending time at the coffee bar since its March opening. Weichel said the owners of Nine-twentynine, Joe and Neil Couvillion, appreciate the arts and were supportive of the event happening at the coffee bar.
As well as offering music and art, Nine-twentynine will sell coffee at the event. Wine may  be brought by attendees willing to pay a corking fee.