[Tom Edgerton]

Thanks, Alex; I did feel honored to be asked. But I wanted to publish the list because a lot of folks who have posted on this Forum are included in the show. I saw it for the first time this weekend and was excited about the quality of the group.

Tying the competitions to a PSOA Academy is a trial balloon by the folks in Tallahassee. It makes sense for several reasons:

1) Local artists who might feel they don't have a chance in the International Competition are encouraged to come forward.

2) It strenghthens local artists' awareness of each other--"community" in other words. We will meet each other face-to-face during the weekend's events.

3) The regional Academies become a larger draw because the public attends the show, instead of just thirty artists coming for the workshop.

4) Local art teachers and art students are contacted and urged to attend the show and the demo at no cost, increasing interest in the young in portrait and figurative art. They begin to consider additional artistic possibilities.

5) All of this--of course--raises the visibility, and advances the mission, of the Portrait Society (a non-profit organization).

We publicized it largely through the state ambassador program within PSOA. We e-mail regularly with over a hundred artists here in North Carolina, and we directed interest to the PSOA site for additional info. PSOA also mailed a call for entries to all their members in this region.

In short, everybody wins.