Officials cut the ribbon for the opening of Pearl City Clay House (January 24, 2023)

Infinity Performing and Visual Art‘s new venture, Pearl City Clay House, held a ribbon cutting ceremony Tuesday.

Infinity Executive Director Shane Hawkins said while they offer youth programming, they often received requests to offer programming for adults, “For a long-term sustainability plan, Infinity needs to bring in more funds that aren’t grant-based or fundraising. So we thought, why not start something for adults and for families to do together that will help benefit the youth program at Infinity? So, thus the idea for Pearl City Clay House. We’ve had excellent support from funders, both federal, local, and regional, so there’s just a lot of people that went into making this a success.”

Clay House Program Director Debra Eck said a lot of different activities are available at the facility, “Starting from paint your own pottery, and going all the way up to making and firing your own pottery. We also offer workshops in contemporary crafts like felting, or embroidery, or bookbinding, or modern mending.”

Eck said there also is a gallery space that can be rented out for events that includes a kitchen and its own restrooms.

She added they will be doing a special craft for Doors Open this Saturday, January 28 where people can paint a tile or make their own clay fortune cookie.

Pearl City Clay House is located at 220 East Second Street.

For more information, visit pearlcityclayhouse.org

EDITOR’S NOTE: As a point of transparency and disclosure to our audience, Infinity Performing and Visual Arts is a corporate underwriter for WRFA and has provided a financial contribution for the general operations of the station within the past year. Funding we receive for General Operations is not used to fund our coverage of local news in the community. That is only made possible through a Community Service Grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist, Ron Graham, Chautauqua County Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director Randy Anderson

Co-founder of Chautauqua Striders and the Infinity Performing Arts Program, Ron Graham, was recognized at the Robert H. Jackson Center Wednesday.

Chautauqua County Sports Hall of Fame Executive Director Randy Anderson said Graham has become an advocate and mentor for Chautauqua County youth, “Today we are recognizing a man who has devoted nearly 50 years of his life to the design, development, and implementation of youth initiatives; emphasizing athletics, academics, delinquency prevention, and the performing arts.”

He said Graham co-founded Striders with the late Dan Feather, “The idea behind the 1979 formation of the Chautauqua Striders was to help young people reach their potential both on the track and in the classroom with the slogan being ‘Champions On and Off the Field.'”

Anderson said during Graham’s tenure as executive director and coach between 1979 and 1990, he had several athletes who earned NCAA division 1 scholarships and also had students who competed in NCAA Division 2 and 3.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist also presented Graham with a certificate of recognition.

Graham was diagnosed earlier this year with stage-four gastroesophageal cancer.

Tory Irgang, Chautauqua Region Community Foundation executive director; Sydney Maggio, JHS Class of 2024; Jeffrey Hughan; Sara Rafaloski; Ella Storms, JHS Class of 2024; and Shane Hawkins, Infinity executive director announce the creation of Infinity’s Lexy Hughan Memorial Fund

A fund in memory of the teenager who died following a hit-and-run accident on December 31 has been established at the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation.

Infinity Performing and Visual Art’s Lexy Hughan Memorial Fund will be administered by CRCF and will distribute grants annually to the arts organization. This is the first fund at the Foundation that is set up to directly benefit Infinity.

According to Infinity’s Executive Director Shane Hawkins, the fund will support classes and additional programming, with input from Hughan’s parents, as to what would have been important to Hughan.

Lexy Hughan began taking piano and dance lessons at Infinity at the age of 3. Over the years, she expanded her artistic journey with a variety of instruments, dance classes and art.

Lexy was only 15 years old when she died.

Proceeds from Infinity’s fundraising event, featuring autographed sports memorabilia, has led to the creation of an agency endowment fund to enrich the lives of future Infinity students.

Contributions to the fund were also raised by Hughan’s classmates at JHS through a flower sale at the high school. Class representatives also reached out to all the Jamestown Public School buildings to take up a collection in Hughan’s memory. In total, they raised $2,000 to be added to the fund.

Donations to Infinity’s Lexy Hughan Memorial Fund can be made through the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation by mailing a check to 418 Spring Street, Jamestown or online with a credit card at crcfonline.org.