Paragon Plaza by Freedom Friwi

One of the fastest growing areas in SmallWorlds is its art community, a community driven by the creativity of many talented artists plus the support of art collectors, galleries and its long history of art contests and events.

It's always exciting to see the arrival of new artists in SmallWorlds and it's good to know that there are galleries and players in-world who are willing to give their support.

Paragon Plaza is an organization that supports new and growing SmallWorlds artists through its monthly art contests. The Paragon mission statement summarizes its purpose really well:

"To provide a venue for up-and-coming artists in the SmallWorlds community; to promote a sense of community among SmallWorlds artists, to further appreciation of art and artists; to celebrate art and the creative process."

I caught up with Paragon's Public Relations Officer, Christine Knight, to find out more.

Freedom:  I bet you've got quite a team at Paragon. Who do you have on board?

Christine:  Sunnyd Rockon is our Chief Operations Officer, Christine Knight is our Public Relations Officer, Ali Thiel is our Paragon Auction House Manager, and Jessica Bennett 3rd is our Executive Assistant; our work is very much a team effort!

The current Paragon Plaza Team - Christine Knight, Sunnyd Rockon, Ali Thiel and Jessica Bennett 3rd - with a selection of Paragon's latest winning contest entries.

Freedom:  How long has Paragon been on the art scene?

Christine:  Paragon was founded October 2009 by Rock Promotions and Sunnyd Rockon. Rock retired in January and turned operations over to Sunny.

Freedom:  Tell me about the Paragon art contests.

Christine:  Our art contests are held monthly with prizes totaling 27,000 gold (which are awarded by a Judges Panel score system), and also token-bought prizes for our People's Choice winners (as voted for by the public at Paragon Plaza). We are a non-profit organization, and we truly love working to further Art and Artists in SmallWorlds.

We'd like to thank our Judges for their work each month in judging the contests; they are fine artists and collectors who give us impartial scorings based on sound art criteria, and they take the time every month to fill this vital duty for us. Thank You Judges!

Freedom:  Recently, Paragon Plaza ran the Benefit Art Live Auction to raise funds for future art contests, how did the auction go?

Beautifully! We raised 196,000 gold to support our monthly art contests (which will carry us through the next 6 months). We couldn't have done it without the generous donations of art, and purchases in the auction, from the SmallWorlds community. Thank you to everyone!

Freedom:  I'm pleased it was a success! Are there any other ways that the SmallWorlds community can support Paragon?

Christine:  Yes, by shopping in our monthly art auctions at Paragon Auction House (which holds auctions from the 10th-17th of every month); by making a direct donation (through the purchase of flowers) in our Donations Room; by donating unwanted items to our Thrift Shop, or by direct donation of art to Sunnyd Rockon.

Note: please donate items to Paragonplaza Thrift, that's Sunny's avatar for handling Thrift Shop items/donations.

Freedom:  What does the future hold for Paragon Plaza?

Christine:  More art contests, LOL! We try each month to set a theme that inspires artists to bring their own creativity into full play. The wide range of viewpoints continually amazes and delights us, and the public!

Thanks Christine!

Paragon is currently holding its August art contest with the theme 'Life's a Beach', so why not make a visit and vote for your favourite piece. Want to enter a Paragon contest? Then keep an eye out in the Creativity & Art forum for news of Paragon's new contest in September.

~ Freedom Friwi