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'One Hour Photo'

'The Arts Cafe' displays locals on GHTV

By Chris Hammonds
Assistant Editor

There's a new addition to the GHTV lineup. "The Arts Café" is a new weekly program showcasing local Rome-area artists.
John Hershey with painting
Georgia Highlands College English professor Dr. Jon Hershey and Allen Bell, director of the Rome Council for the Arts, host the show. Hershey's face should be recognizable as the host of the long running "A Novel Approach."

A few of the earlier episodes had student co-hosts.

"The idea started when we began to think about the broad range of artists in and around the Rome area," Hershey says. "We wanted to give them the opportunity to share their work with a new audience."

The show's guests will cover a very wide spectrum of artists, and not necessarily just those involved in the visual arts. Musicians, writers, painters and storytellers can be seen on the show.

Past guests include many recognizable faces, such as Rome High School art teacher Chris Hodges and current and former Floyd faculty members Ralph Peters and Mike Burton.

Campus minister and local artist Frank Murphy will be a guest on the show Oct 1.

Student co-hosts Micha Davis and Ira Gonzalez assisted Hershey on this particular episode.

The show's 15 episodes were taped between late spring and early summer of this year. It began airing Aug. 20 and will run weekly until Nov. 26.

The original list of potential guests far exceeded the 15 that will be seen.

Hershey, who has long worked with the Rome Area Council for the Arts, said, "If there's positive response, we will consider doing more episodes."

New episodes of "the Arts Café" are aired on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and then repeated the following Sunday evening at 8 p.m. on GHTV, Channel 95 (on local cable programming).