Written by Ben Cox – This month the Brownwood Art Center will hold their Art, Music, People 3rd Thursday gathering, but its focus will be on a specific person: event founder Fred Spencer, who recently passed away.

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Spencer started AMP in the “spring of 2016 because he loved all kinds of music, he didn’t have a favorite style, he loved it all” says Jonathan Dunlap, head of Public Relations for the Brownwood Art Association. “Fred was always very community minded, in his own way he was always looking for something to put out there for families to have something to do.” Dunlap, along with event co-host Wiley Wood, plans to continue the event and “make it successful and grow, that would be a way we would like to honor his legacy.”

While no particular songs are being specifically planned, many of the musicians who will be there are planning to play something in memory of Spencer. He enjoyed sitting at the door and signing acts in to play while assigning them their times. “His chair will be there at the front where he always sat, I’m sure it will always be there. And I think that he will be there with us (on Thursday), as well.” Artists can also bring a flower to place in the chair as a way to show their appreciation for Spencer.

Local musicians, shop owners, and others who knew Spencer plan to be there on Thursday to celebrate the man that started this event, and honor his efforts to improve Brownwood by bringing art and music to the people who live there. Spencer’s personally created art will be on display for the entirety of August, another way the Arts Center plans to remember him.

AMP is held every third Thursday at the Brownwood Art Center, 215 Fisk Avenue. It is an open mic event that welcomes local musicians to play their music in front of an audience, surrounded by works of art from local painters, sculptors and other artists. 

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