The Young Artists Conference is scheduled for today from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. central time at Liberty Elementary School in North Judson.

Besides the morning activities, nationally-known ventriloquist Beth Sutton-Cummins will entertain in the afternoon.

The conference is for all Starke County students in first through fifth grades. It costs $5.00 and lunch is provided. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the book fair begins at 8 a.m.

We asked Marilyn Lucac if any past attendees have been inspired to go on to pursue writing or the arts.

“We’ve had some go into dancing, we’ve had some that are writing, a lot of them have gone on to college to pursue different things,” said Lucac.

Marilyn said the purpose is to expose the children various art forms.

“They get exposed to some of the finer arts: writing, we have artists here, we have ventriloquism, we have dance, so every year we try to get a little bit of variety, but we focus on the finer arts,” Lucac said.