There are few places in Ames where all kinds of art can come together under one roof. To this end, Angela Ossian, director of marketing for the Iowa State Center, has brought together a variety of artistic expression for the first-annual Sample the Arts.

“The Ames community has such a strong network of diversity and we want to engage the public in that,” Ossian says.

This has encouraged Ossian to create Sample the Arts, where 20 local organizations will come together to present all forms of art at Stephens Auditorium.

“We needed a space to represent the artists, and Stephens Auditorium was built for this reason,” Ossian says.

With performers such as the Ames Drill Team, Central Iowa Symphony, Dance Co’Motion, Royal Scottish Country Dance Society and WOI radio, Ossian says there will be much for the public to experience.

The event will be filled with performances from local performers, exhibits, backstage tours and a booth where tickets for upcoming shows may be purchased.

“A culturally rich community is a better community,” Ossian says. “The more the public is exposed to what is offered, the more you are able to engage them, and hopefully have them make a commitment.”

One of the local performers will be the Music Men, an a cappella quintet. Members include tenors Randy Compton, Sam Wormley and Paul Anderson; bass Kendal Kline; and baritone Randy Griffith.

Compton says the members were informed of the event and accepted because it is good exposure for their group.

He also stresses the importance of being open to the arts because it improves the quality of life.

The Onion Creek Cloggers and the Onion Creek band will also be among the performers. The band will perform music while the cloggers dance.

They will be playing two or three sets of old-time fiddle music with Irish and Scottish roots, says Nancy Blyler, a member of both the band and the cloggers.

“We don’t often have the chance to show the community what we can do,” Blyler says.

The group also jumped at the chance to participate because of the exposure it would give the group.

She says young people aren’t interested in clogging, and if they do not become interested, the art will die out.

“It’s part of the American heritage; it’s the only dance other than Native American dance that originated here, and it would be a shame if it died out,” Blyler says.

The Ames Children’s Choir will also be performing. The choir has 27 singers ranging from 11 to 17 years of age.

The director, Dr. Sylvia Munsen, likes to show the diversity of the music chosen for the choir. Not only will they be singing American folk music, but will also be performing a Japanese folk song, a South American song and two Hebrew pieces.

Munsen says the choir traditionally has a retreat at the beginning of every season, and this season it is at Stephens.

“It’s a very special opportunity,” she says. “We normally perform for the parents on Sunday, but this time we get to do it in front of everyone at Stephens.”

Munsen says with today’s increased communication through e-mail and other such electronics, communication with actual people face to face has died out, but communication through art is what lasts.

What: Sample The Arts

Where: Stephens Auditorium

When: 1-4 p.m., Sunday

Cost: Free