Fairmont Arts & Humanities Commission prepares for annual awards

Mar. 9—FAIRMONT — The Fairmont Arts and Humanities Commission is getting ready for its 40th Annual Awards Ceremony in which residents are honored for their contributions to the local arts community.

The Commission's awards ceremony, which is free to the public, will be Sunday, April 14 at 3 p.m., at Central Christian Church, 1640 Big Tree Dr., Fairmont. After the awards presentation, many of the honorees will perform and the visual artists will display some of their work.

In his 17th year as an instructor and his 4th year as band director of the West Fairmont Middle School's 6th Grade Beginning Band and the Rivesville Middle School Concert Band, Josh Tharp has almost double middle school band participation at both schools — feeder schools for Fairmont Senior High — to 140 students.

Under his directions the bands, including the two Marion County ensembles, have earned consistent Superior and Excellent Ratings at Concert Band Festivals in West Virginia and Kentucky. And his Webster County Band was the first ever elementary band program in the state to participate in a WVSSAC Concert Band Festival sanctioned event in 2018.

At last year's WV Region 10 Band Festival, both of Tharp's local bands were awarded by all three adjudicators with higher and more consistent Superior ratings than ever before. Under his leadership, the WFMS 6th Grade Beginning Band became the first such group in Marion County and in Region 10 History to earn a Superior Rating at the event, while Rivesville earned straight Superior ratings from all three judges for the first time in school history.

In May 2024, the Rivesville Middle School Concert Band will become the first such group in Marion County history to perform at an out-of-state venue when it plays at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. Also, the same Band was recently awarded a VH1 Save the Music Foundation Grant during the 2023-24 school year.

Tharp graduated magna cum laude from Morehead State University with a bachelor's degree in music education and summa cum laude from union College with a master's degree in educational leadership.

Honoree Riley Moore, daughter of Audra and Chris Moore, had an affinity for the arts at a young age. She took dance classes at Movements in Dance in Fairmont until the age of 13 and took guitar and trumpet lessons at Fairmont State University. Having watched her family and friends in shows with Fairmont State's Academy for the Arts, she decided to audition for her first show in sixth grade.

Since then, she has had ensemble and major roles in a number of shows, including "Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.,""Into the Woods Jr.," "Shrek the Musical Jr.," "Beauty and the Beast Jr." and "A Christmas Carol" with the Academy for the Arts. She has also taken private voice lessons with Leigh Anne Riley and Briana Pudsell.

With the Morgantown Theatre Company, she starred in and was dance captain for "The Little Mermaid" and "Annie." She was also a member of the teen ensemble in Fairmont State's Town and Gown staging of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." She was selected for and attended the 2022 W.Va. Governor's School for the Arts to study acting at Marshall University.

Riley is the vice president of Fairmont Senior's National Honors Society and a three-year member of the Madrigals Chamber Choir, a four-year member of Student Council and a two-year member of Mu Alpha Theta. And next month, Riley will compete in WV's annual Poetry Out Loud event in Charleston. Sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts, the event requires high schoolers to memorize and recite three poems of their own choosing for an audience. Winners get $200 and will represent the state in the national competition.

And next year, she will attend West Virginia University and major in journalism with a minor in theater.