United Arts Council of Greensboro

UAC News

8/26/10 Opening Reception for Synthia SAINT JAMES Exhibit Sunday, August 29

African American Atelier Announces “Colorfully Bold: The Creative World of Synthia SAINT JAMES” art exhibit opening Sunday, August 29th at 3 p.m. at the African American Atelier, 200 North Davie Street in the Greensboro Cultural Center. 

Synthia SAINT JAMES, international award winning artist and designer of the first United States Postal Stamp for the Kwanzaa holiday, has to date written and or illustrated 13 children’s picture books, 3 poetry and prose books, 4 children’s activity books, a cookbook, and a postcard book.  In reviews her artwork has been described as “ebullient”, “bold”, “creates paintings that remind one of Matisse cutouts in their clear line and intense color” and “joyful”. “We are honored to bring the art of Synthia SAINT JAMES to the share with Greensboro and surrounding communities.  We invite the community to join our Board of Directors and staff at the opening reception on Sunday, August 29th, 3 pm, and we encourage participation in the workshops,” said Alma Adams, Co-Founder, African American Atelier, and Curator for the Colorfully Bold: The Creative World of Synthia SAINT JAMES exhibit.

This project received support from the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Cultural Resources, and the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

The African American Atelier, Inc. is supported with an investment from the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro.  In addition, support is received from the County of Guilford. 

 

8/11/10 A Special Evening with Rocco Landesman in Greensboro on September 11

The United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro is pleased to present cocktails and conversation with Rocco Landesman on September 11th in Greensboro. Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, will share stories of community transformations through the arts, and the positive changes, both economic and socially, that the arts can bring to our community. Four Greensboro organizations have been recipients of NEA grants, including the recent award for the Downtown Greenway as well as support to the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Eastern Music Festival, Triad Stage and the Elsewhere Collaborative. Due to limited seating capacity, this event is by invitation only.

8/11/10 Greensboro Artist, Jim Gallucci, Immigrant Gate II in Raleigh Sept. 9

Immigrant Gate II, a sculpture created by Greensboro artist Jim Gallucci, will be officially unveiled at its new permanent home in Millbrook Exchange Park, in Raleigh NC, on September 9 at noon.

The artwork is part of an important series of gate works created by Gallucci: "This gate was designed in remembrance of my family coming to America, as Italian immigrants, in the 1930s. America represented new challenges and a better future for their family. The design embodies the American ideal with the stars and waving stripes, and the symbolism is instantly recognizable to anyone in the world."

The dedication will feature remarks by Mayor Charles Meeker and artist Jim Gallucci, along with a Naturalization Oath Ceremony, followed by light refreshments.

Photo courtesy of Pigeon

 

 

7/28/10 Dirty Fingernails Exhibit Opens on August 6 at Center for Visual Artists

Don't miss Greensboro's one-of-a-kind student art exhibit, Dirty Fingernails, for it's 5th year at the Center for Visual Artists (CVA). This exhibit will showcase over 300 young artists, ages 3-15, who attended summer art camps at CVA.

Opening Reception will be held during First Friday, August 6 from 6-9 pm. The celebration will continue on Saturday, August 7, from 12pm - 2pm, with an art-filled interactive activities for children, food, music, silent art auction, and sale of student works. All donations received during the celebration will support the CVA Scholarship Program for young artists needing financial assistance to attend art camp. The exhibit will be on display through August 27th.

For more information about Dirty Fingernails, please contact the Center for Visual Artists at (336) 333-7475 or visit their website at www.cvadirtyfingernails.org. CVA is located on the 2nd floor of the Greensboro Cultural Center.

 

7/28/10 Fundraising Presentation & Artist Workshop at Elsewhere July 28, 5-7pm

“Fundraising Tools for Artists” at Elsewhere Collaborative 606 and 608 S. Elm St., Greensboro, NC 27406. For directions or more information please contact George Scheer, Collaborative Director at wanderingzoo@elsewhereelsewhere.org or by phone at 336.549.5555

 

7/27/10 National Arts Education Week Announced

The U.S. House of Representatives passed H.Con.Res. 275, legislation designating the second week of September as "Arts in Education Week." Authored and introduced by California Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA), this resolution is the first Congressional expression of support celebrating all the disciplines comprising arts education.This is a very positive showing of support for arts education and comes at a key time when Congress is making plansto overhaul federal education policy.Take two minutes to send a message of support for arts education to your member of Congress!

The resolution seeks to support the attributes of arts education that are recognized as instrumental to developing a well-rounded education such as creativity, imagination, and cross-cultural understanding. H.Con.Res. 275 also highlights the critical link between those skills and preparing our children for gaining a competitive edge in the global economy.This is an important message for policy makers to acknowledge as they prepare to reauthorize federal education policy.To send a message to your member of Congress in support for arts education, please visit our E-Advocacy Center.

As a House resolution, the bill does not require signature by the President upon its passage.

 

7/15/10 NEA awards Downtown Greensboro presitgious grant

Action Greensboro announced that The National Endowment for the Arts has awarded the Downtown Greenway a grant of $100,000 as a part of its Mayor’s Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative (MICD 25).  From over 200 applicants from across the country, the Downtown Greenway project was selected as one of 21 grants totaling $3 million.

The grant will support the restoration of an abandoned railroad underpass in a section of the Downtown Greenway to be known as Morehead Linear Park.  This phase which is to be constructed beginning this fall starts at West Lee Street and the Freeman Mill Road ramp and runs north along Freeman Mill Road to Spring Garden Street.

The Downtown Greenway is a planned 4 mile urban walking and biking trail that will loop around downtown Greensboro, and will enhance the urban landscape with a green space that will encourage alternative transportation, promote fitness, and provide connectedness and well-being for our residents and visitors in an aesthetically pleasing environment. The loop itself provides a unique opportunity for Greensboro to have the only one of its kind in the state and one of the few in the country. In addition, with the connections to the extensive existing and planned trails systems in the city and the county, this loop will connect residents from all parts of the community and beyond. 

The Downtown Greenway is a partnership between Action Greensboro and the City of Greensboro.  The first ¼ mike section has been completed and is open to the public.  It is expected that the trail will be designed and constructed over the next 5 years.

For additional information, updates and progress announcements, visit www.downtowngreenway.org.

 

7/13/2010 Twenty-one Arts Programs Receive Support

UAC Announces Investments in Cultural Partners - The United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro (UAC) announces investments into the local creative community totaling $530,000 to twenty-one arts programs. The Cultural Partner Grant Investments are the first of four grant investment programs the UAC will administer in FY 2011. The new Multicultural Arts Investments will be announced in September, Teacher Art Grants announced in November and Regional Artist Grants announced in April, 2011.

This $530,000 UAC investment will support a wide variety of arts and culture programming, part of a creative community locally that has an estimated impact of $30.7 million. Among the recipients are nationally recognized Eastern Music Festival, Triad Stage, Green Hill Center for NC Art and the Elsewhere Collaborative. The Greensboro Symphony, Carolina Theatre, Community Theatre of Greensboro, Music Academy of NC, African American Atelier, Greensboro Ballet, City Arts Music Center, NC Dance Project, Weatherspoon Art Museum, Guilford College Gallery and Caldcleugh Multicultural Center received funding for their outstanding outreach and diverse programs while Greensboro Opera, Reasons 2 Rhyme, Bel Canto Company, Touring Theater of NC, Greensboro Historical Museum and the Vital Grace Project received funding for their quality artistic programs that encourage cultural tourism.

"This year's grantees embody the variety and depth of Greensboro's creative community. The United Arts Council is pleased to provide support to these organizations that will bring the arts to more than 500,000 individuals, generate cultural tourism and enhance the education of our children," commented UAC Board Chair, April Harris.

Cultural Partner Grant Investments are open to organizations and individual artists. The UAC is a private granting organization that makes investment decisions based on an objective process including application review by a panel of qualified arts professionals and UAC board members. Funding decisions are based on the quality of the artistic product and each applicant's demonstration of how their work promotes one or more of the UAC's strategic focus areas: serving and engaging our diverse community; positioning Greensboro as a cultural destination; and/or fostering education of our children through the arts. A complete listing of programs receiving support follows.

The UAC received 41 applications with a total funding request of $1.5 million, similar to applications received last year. Due to a challenging economy, despite growth in the overall number of donors by nearly 300, funding for the Cultural Partner Grant Investment program is down by $100,000 from 2009-2010 due to three major factors: a reduction in public support from Guilford County by $33,333; a movement of $30,000 in support from the NC Arts Council to the Multicultural Arts Investment program; and a shortfall in the 2010 UAC campaign. The new investment program, the Multicultural Arts Investment, has an application deadline of July 30, 2010.

"We worked very hard to keep the grant pool at the highest funding rate possible, despite our challenges," said Interim President/CEO Altina Layman. "Like many nonprofit organizations across the nation, we've experienced a difficult fundraising environment due to the economy. Though average gifts were down, we did see an increase in the number of donors. We believe this increase is a vote of confidence for the direction the UAC is moving in."

UAC FY 11 Cultural Partner Grant Investments (in alphabetical order)
African American Atelier...$16,000
To support five exhibitions, four artist workshops for adult learners and year-round education outreach programs at 11 schools and one community center, ten Saturday Enrichment workshops for youth, and three week Summer Arts Camp

Bel Canto Company...$9,500
To Support the three concerts for their subscription concert series: [By] Request, Rejoice!, and Rytmus. Funding will be used to pay artist fees, to purchase new music, and to promote the program of work to markets outside of Guilford County.

Caldcleugh Multicultural Center...$2,350
To fund lighting and sound equipment rental and student transportation for a project to introduce and educate African American youth in grades 4-12 in technical theatre. This project will incorporate lighting and sound technology workshops for the participants and an opportunity for the participant to light a performance for We Are One at Caldcleugh Center.

Carolina Theatre...$36,000
To support programming at the Carolina Theatre that will attract and engage Greensboro's diverse populations.

City Arts Music Center...$12,500
Purchase of percussion equipment to start the Greensboro Youth Percussion Ensemble.

Community Theatre of Greensboro...$29,000
To support CTG's Acting Up After School, a summer theatre camp experience and after school classes for children in grades K-8 who live in Partnership Village and to support CTG's Centerstage production of 1, The Musical. Centerstage is an audition-only performance troupe for students in grades 6-12.

Eastern Music Festival...$90,500
To support the annual five week music festival and summer study for musicians 14-22 by providing financial assistance toward professional musician and faculty salaries.

Elsewhere Collaborative...$20,000
To support the Living Museum, International Artist Residency, educational programming and weekly events, including ETC Collective programming with the aim of building national recognition for Greensboro as a national center for experimental arts.

Green Hill Center for NC Art...$51,000
To support exhibitions during the coming year that appeal to a large audience base, are thoughtful, evocative, of the highest caliber, and are not replicated in other venues within the state or region. To provide education programming that encourages intellectual engagement at every level, from the preschool child to the life-long learner and stimulates thinking and engagement with art, artists and the creative process. To support the development of a comprehensive communications plan to position Green Hill Center as an important statewide contemporary art organization.

Greensboro Ballet...$13,500
To support Build a Ballet, an education program that involves all students from an entire high school in the creation and production of an original ballet work.

Greensboro Historical Museum...$6,500
Support for the performance of James Evans, the story of a Cone Mills worker in the '20s and '30s, and related workshops to Guilford County Schools art students at the middle and high school level at the Greensboro Historical Museum.

Greensboro Opera...$15,000
To support the production of Mozart's The Magic Flute the Opera

Greensboro Symphony Orchestra...$81,000
To support the service fees for the professional musicians of the orchestra which perform for the Masterworks, POPS and Chamber series throughout the year.

Guilford College Art Gallery...$3,000
To support four exhibitions and visiting artists who will examine the theme of Green and Beyond in various ways:  Bryant Holsenbeck will create, with community assistance, and installation made entirely from recycled materials and will discuss her year-long commitment to living without using disposable plastic. Susan Mullally will exhibit photographs of homeless individuals and the objects they keep and discuss ideas of spiritual and economic sustainability. Patrick Dougherty will have an exhibition and create a monumental outdoor public sculpture made from locally harvested tree saplings. Subhankar Banerjee will display his photographs of the National Arctic Wildlife Refuge and will speak about the effects of climate change and industrial development on the Alaskan Arctic.

Music Academy of NC...$22,500
To support educational programs for children and young adults in the Greater Greensboro area.

NC Dance Project...$4,000
To support artist fees, outreach classes, and meet-and-great reception with the artists.

Reasons 2 Rhyme (Josephus Thompson III)...$13,500
To support Reasons 2 Rhyme, a spoken word poetry series at various venues around Greensboro. Three MoSoul Poetry Festival events, three Poetry Cafés, Boundless, and Freedom Slam are the events in the series.

Touring Theatre of NC...$7,440
To produce and present three different programs in the UpStage Cabaret at Triad Stage. These productions consist of the following: two productions from Touring Theatre's pilot project entitled "Page to Stage" which will consist of professionally, but minimally staged productions drawn from the richly diverse wealth of Southern literature and a re-run of 2010's Letters from Leokadia.

Triad Stage...$90,500
To support professional artist salaries for the 2010-2011 season of Triad Stage. Season will include The Glass Menagerie, Educating Rita, Steel Magnolias, The Sunset Limited, Masquerade, and A Christmas Carol.

Vital Grace Project (Duane Cyrus)...$3,210
To support the Vital Grace Project which will bring several highly accomplished professional African-American dance artists to Greensboro to present a series of dance workshops and performances. The goal for Vital Grace Project is to present and build awareness for arts and cultural offerings geared towards voicing the African-American experiences.

Weatherspoon Art Museum...$3,000
To support an artist residency with Stacy Lynn Waddell, serving 4th and 5th grade students who are part of an underserved Greensboro community. The residency will comprise a week long program with approximately 30 students; a visit to the museum for those students; a culminating event for students, families, teachers, and peers; and a teacher workshop integrating art and social studies.

 

6/17/2010 New Multicultural Arts Investment program

The United Arts Council announces a new investment program targeted at Greensboro's African American, Asian American, Latino and Native American populations. For more information on this new grant program, click here.

6/17/2010 UAC Announces New Interactive Community Calendar... ExploreGreensboro.com!

The United Arts Council is pleased to announce the newest, interactive community calendar for arts and culture events in Greensboro and the Triad...www.ExploreGreensboro.com.

       With the help of funding from the Piedmont Triad Partnerships Dept. of Labor WIRED grant, the UAC worked to establish this new online community calendar to serve residents and visitors with information about Greensboro's vibrant arts scene. Arts organizations and others who provide community programming may post their events for free on the site. Users have complete control over how they view events - and have lots of options for saving events to their planners, e-viting their friends, postin on their Facebook pages, sending a tweet and more. An application for the popular smart phones will be available at the end of July which will enable users of the site to access events, maps and special offers. For more information, contact Altina Layman at alayman@uacarts.org

6/17/2010 Art Can! Feed the Hungry...Fun  Fourth Public Art Project to Aid Greensboro Urban Ministry's  Food Bank

Art Can! is a new Fun Fourth attraction, sponsored by the United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, to create a temporary public art installation made of canned foods items. Architects Shermin Ata of Shermin Ata Architects with Micah Martin and Emily Hinton of Moser Mayer Phoenix Architects have joined forces to design a U.S. Flag public art installation constructed out of Campbell Soup cans. Fun Fourth attendees will be able to watch the installation as well as construct their own designs made out of donated canned goods.

       "We're pleased to bring our creative community together to help stock and replenish the Greensboro Urban Ministry Food Bank at a time when folks generally aren't thinking about feeding the hungry. It's a wonderful example of how Art Can! make a difference," said UAC Interim President and CEO Altina Layman.
       Want to help? Canned food donations will be accepted for the project at the Freedom Run and Walk on June 26th, 1776 performances at the Carolina Theatre on July 1 and 2nd and Kickoff Block Party on July 2nd. Donations will also be accepted at the Parade and Street Festival on Saturday, July 3rd in designated areas marked by balloon columns. Construction will take place on July 3rd mid-morning to early afternoon in the parking lot off of Davie Street, near Summit Station Eatery.
       Prior to June 26th, donations may be dropped off at the following downtown locations: Carolina Theatre, Action Greensboro and the Greensboro Cultural Center between 11am - 5pm Monday-Friday. On July 4th, donations may be made at the News & Record Pops Concert and Gate City Fireworks Spectacular at Grimlsely High School Stadium.

 

5/21/2010 UAC Announces New President/CEO: Thomas Philion Returns to Greensboro

The United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro is pleased to announce the new President/CEO for the nonprofit arts organization. Concluding a six-month national search for a successor to former President/CEO Jeanie Duncan, UAC Board Members have selected Thomas Philion, former President/CEO for the Eastern Music Festival and more recently, President/Executive Director of the Seattle Symphony in Seattle, Washington. Philion assumes his new post July 15th.
       "We are thrilled that Tom has accepted the position.  Tom has an outstanding track record of success -- both here and in Seattle -- and I have no doubt that he will hit the ground running.  Tom excels at essentials like building relationships with funders and developing collaborations among many different community groups. However, Tom goes far beyond the essentials in everything that he does, and that is what we are most excited about. He brings a high level of creativity and innovation to every project and every task. He is not afraid to take chances. He is also very straightforward about his enthusiasm for the arts, and people respond to that. Tom is exactly the right person at the right time, and we believe he will take the arts community in Greater Greensboro to a new level.  I look forward to working with him," said UAC Board Chair, April Harris.
       Philion has more than 30 years of experience as an arts administrator and performer. He has earned the respect of leaders across the country for his innovative approach to the challenges facing the arts industry. Philion is a graduate of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, and has served on the boards of KING-FM and Benaroya Hall (Seattle), United Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, Piedmont Blues Preservation Society and the League of American Orchestras. He was also a Salzburg Fellow in 1993.
       "I'm honored that the Arts Council has asked me to return to Greensboro for this new challenge -- working on behalf of the many great arts institutions, performers, artists and arts enthusiasts who are committed to making Greensboro and North Carolina such a wonderful place to live and work," noted Philion. "The creative community is one of Greensboro's greatest assets, and I know we can work together to find the right partners and resources to leverage those assets and let the world know what we have here."

 

UAC Wishlist

• Large flat screen TV & speakers for presentations
• Large paper shredder
• Electric stapler
• Rotary paper cutter