The Layman Group will be hosting its biggest social event of the year Feb. 10 at the Event Center Downtown in Opelika. The semi-formal dress code requires one specific piece: a mask.
A two-part event, the Gala will begin at 6 p.m. and the Masquerade at 8:30 p.m.
"The Gala is the first part--more formal, more expensive seats," said Channing Broderick, assistant to the director of The Layman Group. "That's when the speaker will be speaking. After, at the masquerade, is when everyone will loosen their tie. That's when the party crowd comes in."
Broderick said the night is for fundraising and raising awareness.
"The Gala, if it's not gaining the funds that night, it's putting the seeds within the members of the community who can make those changes, who can go and talk to other people," Waller said. "The Gala is for us to sow our seeds for the future. The Masquerade is the same way, but on a lighter scale. To really let people know, 'Wow, this is a really cool organization that threw this event for us. I think I want to follow them the rest of this year.'"
The last Masquerade garnered nearly a third of the organization's social network following. Waller hopes for as good a turnout this year.
The Layman Group has been a part of the community for four years.
"This is our second official full season, but we have been around doing underground things," Waller said. "We've been doing things before we got the space in downtown Auburn. We were The Layman Arts a long time ago, but we transformed into The Layman Group."
Waller said TLG is "the Jerry McGuire of arts organizations."
"If you are an artist or a member of the community, we want to take these artists and put them into great situations in their profession, their career, what they do," he said. "As if we're an agent, and that's a blue-chip running back coming out of high school, we want to put them in the best situation."
Waller said they strive to improve how art is viewed by the community.
"There's this tunnel in which art is getting to the community," he said. "We want to take that tunnel, take a baseball bat and crack the heck of out it so there is no tunnel, just this open-air passage of the arts to the people of the community. We want to make sure there's much more exposure, appreciation, advocacy, excitement about the arts."
Waller said art isn't just paintings or sculptures in a museum.
"We're talking about the feeling you get when you are around people who appreciate the same thing and who love other people with other cultures and thought processes and open-mindedness," he said. "When we say the arts we mean much more than just what you're looking at. It's the whole cause and effect."
TLG consists of 10-11 people, including four to five directors and six to seven student ambassadors like Broderick.
"It is small," Broderick said. "We're very close-knit."
Broderick said it would be impossible for the group to function without the number they have. She and other ambassadors and directors have been planning the decor and events for the night, which will include a West African drummer, live painters, poet Sarah Kay, DJ Disco Chris and local food.
Tickets are $25 each or $40 per couple. Waller is offering a discount for readers of The Plainsman: mention the newspaper and receive 20 percent off the ticket price.
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