Meet the woman trying to bring ‘creative life’ to downtown Macon

Melissa Macker took to social media days ago to mark the 10 years she’s been executive director and led The 567 Center for Renewal.

The occasion also marked The 567’s 10th anniversary as an independent non-profit organization working to, as its brief mission statement says, “bring creative life to downtown Macon.”

The longer mission statement says the center’s purpose is to provide “a community space for entrepreneurs, artists and musicians who will bring a collaboratively creative life to downtown Macon and surrounding areas through events, classes and business development.”

In a phone conversation, Macker said her role with The 567 was a surprising shift for her but something that could have hardly turned out more satisfying. She said it’s given her the opportunity to use her gifts to serve others in a unique way and work with Middle Georgia’s most creative people.

“My degree is actually a master’s degree in public garden management – that’s what I wanted to do,” she said. “I grew up in south Florida, went to college in Alabama and moved to Middle Georgia in 2009 when my husband, John’s, job brought us here.”

Macker said the two became part of New City Church which had already started The 567 as a café music venue that put artwork on the walls and provided start-up office space as a small businesses incubator.

“That was before my time here, but I’m told it was about the only downtown music venue besides The Hummingbird and that there weren’t that many places for artists to show their work,” she said. “The church wanted to do something to give back to downtown and help the community thrive here.”

Location and focus changed from Cherry Street to First Street and from music and art to art and art classes and related events, even though an original street number, 567, stuck as its name. The gallery is now located at 456 First St.

Macker came on board in 2010 at the same time The 567 became an independent non-profit.

Though it was a shift, Macker’s move from garden to gallery wasn’t totally random. She said she did minor in non-profit management and in her high school days attended an arts magnet school.

“So though I wasn’t really an artist myself I grew up around artists and have always enjoyed being in the arts community,” she said. “So in a lot of ways I was prepared for this.”

Macker said on the art side of The 567, she get to encourage and promote artists, an appreciation for the arts in the community and then as an added bonus she helps community members create art, many for the first time. That’s done through painting, pottery and other classes The 567 began offering in its early days.

Though the COVID-19 pandemic has curtailed activities across the board, The 567 persevered with online shows and classes and in-person activities are slowly re-emerging.

“We’ve started a handful of smaller, weekly classes and the gallery has reopened but we don’t have the big opening receptions for shows like we used to on First Fridays,” Macker said. “It’s just not possible to have crowds together like that but we miss them a lot. You realize how much gets done and how much learn from listening and talking to people as you bump into them at those events. We are having a virtual opening for our new show, a group show of 3D art of various media, Aug. 7 at 3 p.m. on Facebook Live.”

As for the classes, all are conducted with extreme care given to social distancing, sanitizing workspaces and following CDC health guides, Macker said it’s rare anyone is disappointed rather than thrilled that they’ve created something and that usually the response is, “I can’t believe it turned out so well.”

And of course Macker has thoughts on the impact of coronavirus on The 567 and local artists.

“We’re making it and that says a lot,” she said. “We’re making it and that’s more than I thought I’d be saying four months ago. I had no idea how we would but donors and grants and federal funding have helped and we keep taking it a month at a time. We’ve deepened on our board and our supporters are so great. As for artists, I think we have yet to see the full impact of the pandemic on the arts but artists are creative and resilient and they think outside boxes in art and life. They keep pressing on.”

Though Macker said she never considered herself so much the creative type, she often surprises herself as she listens to others, distills what she’s thinking and hearing, and plans for new 567 programming – often doing things that are a bit groundbreaking.

“My role involves practical matters like strategic planning, marketing, bookkeeping and budgeting which I love,” she said. “But it seems whatever you plan often goes a different direction – like this whole year. But even so, it’s amazing what The 567 has gotten to do and what we’ve been able to bring to people. The graffiti walls we were able to place in alleys around downtown are one example and our art scavenger hunt is a recent example. It’s been a good 10 years for me and for The 567 and, despite the curves we’ve been thrown and times wondering if I or we would make it, it’s so rewarding. It wasn’t what I was planning out of school but if I had to design my dream job – this is basically it.”

Macker said she’s looking forward to 10 more.

Information about ongoing shows, activities, classes and online and in-person events are at The 567’s site at www.the567center.org.

Contact writer Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.