Do your part at YMCA arts week

The Davis Family YMCA in Boardman is sponsoring An Afternoon of the Arts Oct. 9 from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. as part of National Y Arts Week.

The free event is open to the public and will feature an art exhibit, dance performances, poetry readings, live music, artists-at-work, kids’ crafts and light refreshments. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the new Art Studio and other facilities.

In conjunction with the event, footprint artist Suzanne Gray is introducing a collaborative project called Cathartic Heeling. The community is invited to participate in this project.

Last year’s project, Peaceful Solutions, garnered footprints from six continents, 17 countries and 19 states and was part of a global art exchange with Box Hill Art Centre in Victoria, Australia.

The montage has since been sent to Hanover Quaker Meeting House in New Hampshire, an elementary school in Tennessee and Angel House in Arizona. Gray’s projects will be part of a 2011 traveling peace exhibit sponsored by Missing Peace Gallery in Dayton.

For more information, call the YMCA at 330-480-5656 or visit ymcaart.blogspot.com.