Firm Information

The Hart Law Group, P.C. is a North Carolina Professional Corporation formed by Mary Hart in 2006. Our firm focuses its practice in the areas of estate and trust planning and administration; probate; civil litigation; business and contract law; residential and commercial real estate closings, transactions, and contracts; property disputes; guardianships; medicaid planning; 1031 tax-deferred exchanges; self-directed IRAs; domestic partnership planning; IRS tax matters, and family law including custody matters and collaborative divorce.

This blog and our website have been developed to provide you information in the matters you are currently facing and to help you through your process. Please browse through these postings, get to know a little about us and make use of the tools we have available here and on our main website.

Thank you for your interest in our firm and we look forward to meeting you.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Hart for Art

Mae Creadick
written by Attorney, Mae Creadick

This past year our own Bonnie Carlin has been organizing “Hart for Art” events: on-site art openings featuring local artists, located at our firm at 93 Church Street in downtown Asheville. On March 21st we hosted Robert Boyer, a young artist whose art is inspired in part by cultural messages of conformity and gender roles. On November 22 of last year, we hosted water-colorist Ben Freeman. We are proud to host artists at our firm, and we’ve had a huge turn-out for these openings. Visit our Facebook page for photos of these past events.

Promoting the arts is a valid service to our community. Through the arts we are able to express our values and inspire others through the beauty or meaning a work of art has to offer. The arts help to support our economy. You can’t walk a block downtown without running into an art or craft gallery, live music, a theater or street performance. According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, “arts and culture represent 3.25% of the nation’s GDP – a larger share of the economy than tourism and agriculture.” Store owners that surround these art venues also benefit from the increased traffic.

from the Robert Boyer Reception
Art is good for business. Art drives the tourist bus in Asheville. Where would Asheville’s economy be without the Bele Chere craft shows of the past? Or the beautiful gardens and architecture of the Biltmore House? Due to art and culture, tourists come from around the world to visit Asheville in search of these authentic experiences. A 2014 analysis of Dun & Bradstreet data counts “750,453 businesses in the U.S. involved in the creation or distribution of the arts that employ 3.1 million people—representing 4.2 percent of all businesses and 2.2 percent of all employees, respectively.”

Art is good for our health as well. According to national statistics, “1/2 of the healthcare institutions in the U.S. provide arts programs for patients, families, and even staff. 78% deliver these programs because of their healing benefits to patients—shorter hospital stays, better pain management, and less medication.”

Art also enhances education. My husband and I are lucky to have our child enrolled in ArtSpace Charter School. I truly believe that children are able to enhance their academic performance through the arts integrated education including music, drama, dance and fine arts. According to America for the Arts, “students with an education rich in the arts have higher GPAs and standardized test scores, and lower drop-out rates—benefits reaped by students regardless of socio-economic status.”

Through “Hart for Art” we support local artists like Robert Boyer and Ben Freeman with the hope to improve not only his individual income, but an overall appreciation for the arts. Please join us for our next Hart for Art event on Friday, August 22, 2014 at 5:00pm at 93 Church Street.
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