By Anne Ruisi
Noted Christian singer Charles Billingsley is the headliner of a Nov. 3 concert at Samford University Wright Center featuring the Alabama Symphony Orchestra.
Presented by the Samford University Wright Center and Portraits of Hope, the 7 p.m. concert is a departure for Billingsley as it’s an evening of American standards and classics with songs from his recently released album, “The Shadow of Your Smile.”
Portraits of Hope is a collection of original artworks inspired by the women of the Lovelady Center, a faith-based residential center for women recovering from addiction.
Beverly McNeil of Mountain Brook, who represents artists, is the originator. Her husband, John McNeil, is Lovelady’s COO, and she wanted some of her artists to paint portraits of the women at Lovelady.
“The artists painted the portraits during the pandemic,” McNeil said. “They did it by live sittings, Facetime, Zoom and photos.”
The women pictured wrote their stories to go with the portraits, where they describe their own personal experiences with addiction and of how their lives were transformed through recovery.
The portraits and stories were published in March in a book titled “Portraits of Hope.” The website Portraitsofhope.charity offers a closer look at the book.
The concert came about after McNeil contacted the ASO and Samford University Wright Center, she said Billingsley is a Samford alumnus, and the Wright Center was happy to make its facilities available. In fact, 20% of the concert’s ticket sales are earmarked for the university’s arts department.
For concert tickets, go to tickets.samford.edu.
