Staff Interview: Courtney Billingsley – Silent Auction Manager

Courtney Billingsley

The Cherrywood Art Fair staff starts working early in the year to bring you the best art fair in Austin. This week the spotlight is on our dedicated Silent Auction Manager, Courtney Billingsley. Courtney is a full-time Event Manager, with a passion for nonprofit organizations and community engagement.


WHAT’s your day job?

Events Manager Boys & Girls Clubs of the Austin Area


WHAT’s your favorite hobby?

My favorite hobbies include planning parties, drinking coffee, golf and chasing my two little kids around.


WHAT are you MOST excited about for this year’s fair?

I’m most excited to see our auction items and children’s & professional art pieces fly off the tables and into people’s homes!


WHAT’s your favorite East Austin hang out?

Figure 8 Coffee Purveyors


WHAT Austin celebrity should come shop at the CHERRYWOOD ART FAIR?

Jen Hatmaker (author and inspiration) should bring her incredible family and check out the unique artists!


IF you could pick any local, family-oriented act (a band, artist, musician, activity, dance team, theatre troop, etc.) to perform at the fair, WHO would it be?

My entire family is entranced by any Acapella group- so creative, it’s a winner for the fair!

Staff Interview: Marketing/Media Manager

Christy Butler



Former creator, publisher and editor of Jewell Magazine, Christy Butler has always been an advocate of shopping local. Currently, she is eager to help Austin businesses with a variety of Marketing and Public Relations efforts through her company Jewell Media. She has been a gung-ho resident of ATX for 17 years.



WHAT’s your day job?

Jewell Media


WHAT’s your favorite hobby?

Cooking is one of my biggest passions; it is one of the few things that can 100% de-stress me. I was never much of a baker until I had kids. You are never loved more than when you give them a warm, home-baked cookie.


WHAT are you MOST excited about for this year’s fair?

To connect with the Austin Artisan community and scratch off every name on my holiday gift list.


WHAT’s your favorite East Austin hang out?

I love to tuck myself away at Sawyer & Co. for meetings and I always jump at the chance to hang out with our friends at Rain Lily Farm. The graphic design studio I work with, Brink Creative, also resides on an Eastside Farm. The Eastside hangout list is really endless!


WHAT Austin celebrity should come shop at the CHERRYWOOD ART FAIR?

Erykah Badu (TX celebrity) – she’s also been know to break out on the spot with a jam for a good cause.


IF you could pick any local, family-oriented act (a band, artist, musician, activity, dance team, theatre troop, etc.) to perform at the fair, WHO would it be?

Cilantro Boombox, Golden Dawn Arkestra, Afrofreque

Volunteers Make The Fair Shine!

Our fair would not be possible without our dedicated volunteers who donate their time year after year to make Cherrywood Art Fair one of the most successful not-for-profit fairs in Central Texas. They volunteer for many reasons but it’s not always to simply help the fair be successful or to gain event experience. More often than not, they volunteer to ensure that proceeds from the fair continue to support Chula League’s Little Artist BIG ARTIST arts mentoring program.

So today, and everyday, we thank our volunteers. We are humbled by their giving hearts, support of local art and dedication to the laBA program!

We hope that you will consider volunteering for the 2016 Cherrywood Art Fair. Please contact our FANTASTIC new Volunteer Coordinator – Carmen James. She can answer general questions or help find the perfect role for you.

WHAT’s your day job?

I’m Literacy Specialist at a Spanish immersion elementary school.

WHAT’s your favorite hobby?

I love sewing and making colorful things, and recently I’ve gotten into printmaking. I’m excited to show a few woodcut prints at the Women Printmakers of Austin gallery for E.A.S.T.

WHAT are you MOST excited about for this year’s fair?

I’m super excited to be involved in the fair this year and to get to know everyone. I’m planning to get some unique Christmas gifts for my family (jewelry? ceramics?), and I’ll definitely make a stop at the German Christmas cookie trailer.

WHAT’s your favorite East Austin hang out?

It’s a tough call, but one of them is Gourmand’s.

WHAT Austin celebrity should come shop at the CHERRYWOOD ART FAIR?

I think Willie Nelson would appreciate the artsy East-side vibe.

IF you could pick any local, family-oriented act (a band, artist, musician, activity, dance team, theatre troop, etc.) to perform at the fair, WHO would it be?

The multimedia storybook Ivy and the Wicker Suitcase by local musician Brian Beattie, which features loads of Austin musical talent, sounds pretty amazing.