State Arts Grants Headed to Valley Theaters and Studios
De Armanville, AL · September 20, 2026
Pour a slow second cup this morning. Whether you are tuning into the student documentary broadcast at four or catching live music tonight, the valley has an easy Sunday pace in store.
The Lead
Local performing arts groups across Calhoun County will open their upcoming seasons with fresh state backing following the Alabama State Council on the Arts’ latest distribution of more than $3.9 million in cultural grants. In the valley, the Anniston-based Community Actors Studio Theatre secured $6,200 specifically earmarked to expand its youth theatrical arts instructional program, while municipal arts programming received a $9,600 allocation to fund community-wide cultural events and public presentations for 2026–2027. For area families, the funding stabilizes ticket prices and directly offsets production costs for hands-on student workshops that draw young actors from the surrounding rural communities. Instructors begin auditions for the fall season next month, with youth workshop registration opening through community recreation boards in early October.
Local Pulse
Jacket Media Documentary Premieres Statewide Today Schools Student filmmakers debut their original feature documentary on Alabama Public Television today at four in the afternoon.
Downtown Merchants Unveil Autumn Window Displays Business Retailers along Noble Street launch festive seasonal storefronts this week, welcoming shoppers ahead of Tuesday's official fall arrival.
Today's Outlook
- High 93°F · Low 70°F — Mainly clear
- Keep sunscreen handy and seek shade during midday outdoor chores under the afternoon heat.
What's On Around Town
Today
USSSA Baseball Tournament Choccolocco Park (954 Leon Smith Pkwy), Oxford, 9:00 AM Championship bracket showdowns across the youth diamonds all afternoon.
Fall Social on the Plains White Plains Elementary School (5600 AL-9), Anniston, 1:00–5:00 PM · Free Local craft vendors, baked goods, and autumn family activities.
Melissa Etheridge Oxford Performing Arts Center (100 Choccolocco St), Oxford, 7:00 PM · Paid Soulful blues and rock anthems live on the historic stage.
Tomorrow
- ServSafe Manager Training Calhoun County Extension Office (1702 Noble St), Anniston, 10:00 AM–4:00 PM · Paid
- Historic Main Street Oxford Board Meeting Oxford City Hall (145 Hamric Dr E), Oxford, 4:30–6:00 PM · Free
- Youth Football League Games Choccolocco Park (954 Leon Smith Pkwy), Oxford, 5:30 PM
Tuesday
- Little Explorers A to Z Preschool Class Anniston Museum of Natural History (800 Museum Dr), Anniston, 11:00 AM
- The Hidden Whimsy Grand Opening The Hidden Whimsy (1108 Woodstock Ave), Anniston, 1:00 PM · Free
- Youth Football League Games Choccolocco Park (954 Leon Smith Pkwy), Oxford, 5:30 PM
Spotlight & Story
- The School Road Campus Long before yellow buses lined School Road, this valley parcel hosted the rural DeArmanville Junior High, where students gathered beside cast-iron woodstoves. Today, the Oxford-district elementary school educates over four hundred neighborhood children right where community chalkboards were first raised.
De Armanville Daily Digest — compiled from local sources as of 6 AM. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.
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