Cashing in on art – $5K up for grabs in Marco Island art center raffle

MARCO ISLAND — If you have always wanted to be a patron of the arts, the Marco Island Center for the Arts wants to give you the opportunity. Plus, it could pay off bigtime for you.

They say that when you do good deeds, good will come back to you. The Art Center’s Big Cash Raffle is a stellar example of that principle. Buy a ticket, or preferably a booklet of tickets, for the drawing, and you could take home up to $5,000 to go along with the satisfaction of helping to support the arts on Marco Island.

In addition, ticket buyers receive gifts just for purchasing the tickets. Complimentary tickets for Capt. Brien’s Off the Hook Comedy Club, and a discount card for Marco Island Florist can be yours, just for playing, and your chance of getting those is 100 percent.

Each month between now and April, drawings will be held at the Art Center’s “Second Tuesday Art Socials” for ticket holders, with prizes such as gift cards and dinners at local eateries. Those events also serve as the opening for new shows at the Marco Island Center for the Arts’ headquarters gallery on Winterberry Drive, and feature free hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine, giving art lovers a chance to mingle and enjoy a little light refreshment, while simultaneously exposing themselves to art.

This Tuesday, January 10, the Art Center will open an exhibit of fiber art. Next month, photography is the medium in the spotlight, with a show from the Naples Camera Club.

Then, on Tuesday, April 10, the Grand Prize goes home in the pocket of one lucky winner. The exact amount to be won will depend on how many tickets are sold, said Lynn Holley, executive director of the Art Center.

“People have a really good chance to win with this,” she said. “Your odds with us are way better than with the Lottery.” And think of the works of art you could buy.

Tickets cost $25 apiece, or $100 for a booklet of five tickets, representing a substantial discount (20 percent, for the math-challenged) versus the cost of individual tickets. Tickets may be purchased at the Art Center Monday through Friday from 9 a,m, to 4 p.m., their regular hours, or from an Art Center board member any time.

The Art Center is located at 1010 Winterberry Drive. For more information on the Marco Island Center for the Arts, call 239-394-4221, or go online to www.marcoislandart.org.