Busy Graham has had a passion for the arts since she was just eight years old when she took lessons from her great-grandfather, a church organist. As her family has always been invested in the arts, she continued to take art classes and music lessons. When Graham was 12 years old, she and her family moved to Tunisia, North Africa, for her father’s Peace Corps job. There, she immersed herself in a new culture and new forms of art, which helped shape her into the person she is today.
Graham was always interested in jazz, classical, and chamber music, and by the time she got to college, she was introduced to folk music and knew she’d found a true calling. She taught music, dance, and French in schools in Vermont, North Carolina, Denmark, and France. She founded two nonprofit organizations dedicated to the arts: Carpe Diem Arts and Class Acts Arts (recently renamed Artivate). Although based in Silver Spring, Carpe Diem Arts has brought many programs to the Eastern Shore, including art camps and retreats, which the 67-year-old Graham hosts at her 10-acre Royal Oak home.
Graham has made a significant impact in the arts community in Talbot County as an advocate, supporter, and fundraising liaison for many schools and organizations. According to Talbot County Arts Council Executive Director Gerry Early, she’s raised more than $113,000 the past 10 years through various fundraising efforts.
“I have had the pleasure and privilege of being associated with her for a number of years, as she works tirelessly to bring arts enrichment programs to children in local schools, as well as to people in healthcare and senior living and other special circumstances,” Early says. “She is simply fantastic.”
We spoke to Graham about her endeavors, inspirations, and affiliation.
In your words, how does Talbot County Arts Council serve the community?
I just think they are a tremendous resource in terms of arts advocacy, helping the community understand the value of the arts, and appreciate the richness that visual, literary, and performing arts can bring to communities and schools. They have community arts development grants for organizations, arts-in-education grants for the schools, and many grants for various community arts activities. The whole board is very committed, and I appreciate that they make an effort to go and see these programs in action, too. I think that’s very critical. Not all arts councils share that commitment. I think it’s essential that you see the work that you’re helping to fund.
How do you and your organization, Carpe Diem Arts, support these art programs on the Eastern Shore?
I’ve been on the school end of things, applying for grants and going through all those steps in arranging for programs in the schools. My nonprofit, Carpe Diem Arts, is the umbrella under which I’m doing quite a lot of programming on the Shore. We do a monthly series at Brookletts Place on the second Tuesday of every month, September through May. I also have been doing a series of programs at the Tapestry Gallery in Bellevue. We’ve been doing the summer solstice and winter solstice concerts at St. Michaels auditorium in partnership with the St. Michaels Community Center. We’ve also partnered with others in Talbot County, including the Chesapeake Multicultural Resource Center, and we’ve invited Talbot Mentors to come to concerts. We’ve done some choral projects on the Shore as well, working with the Easton High School choir. I gave the Arts Council the idea of finding funding to support the first-ever literary journal to give high school students a chance to build their portfolio for college admission, and to have their work showcased and appreciated.
Why do you think it’s so important for people to be involved in these art programs?
I find that these programs really do lift people’s spirits. To be there and to see people truly engaged in a shared experience of the arts is so gratifying, whether it’s an audience of seniors or elementary school students or middle schoolers or the public. That’s what keeps me going. I think the arts can be lifechanging and transformational. You never know what is going to strike a chord for someone. That really does make a difference. Whether it’s visual, literary, or performing arts, I would love to see it be a greater part of all of our lives, and to make it accessible to everyone.
What do you hope that the Talbot County Arts Council and other arts education programs will be able to accomplish in the future?
There’s always so much more that we could always do. It’s always a challenge to find the funding to do it. I would love to see more residencies in the schools. Talbot County is a model in terms of truly recognizing the value [of art programs]. Talbot County Public Schools has a wonderful superintendent, Kelly Griffith, who totally understands why the arts are important and why we cannot afford to let them go. She has expressed support for the idea of bringing our Ukes On The Move! ukulele program into every elementary school in the county. My big quest is to try to make that dream come true.
I think learning to play an instrument when you’re in third or fourth grade is so important. We have the First Strings program, which is wonderful. And the ukulele program is, I think, a perfect complement because kids can learn to play, and within four weeks or four lessons, they can play hundreds of songs. It’s a springboard for a lifetime of music-making, and then we follow it up wherever possible with a songwriting resident. So, by the time they reach those middle school years, they have that outlet for creative expression to write their own songs and to play music on their own, with friends, and at family gatherings. You’ll be the life of the party. It’s such a great opportunity, and the ukulele is affordable, portable, and delightful. You can’t play the ukulele and not smile at the same time. I am hopeful that we can get the funding to make that dream come true.
