Upcoming Events
News
Kick-off for 2nd Saturdays
Marvin Wiggins, jazz musician, is the performer for Friday night, June 11--this will kickoff the 2nd Saturday weekend event. It will be from 6-8pm weather permitting on the deck adjacent to Salon Steven on Herritage St. - no charge. The shops and restaurants will be open to the public.
Here is an excerpt from an April 2010 article that Nancy Saunders did highlighting Marvin Wiggins, "A Grifton native, Wiggins began his musical career playing with his brother, the late Robert Wiggins, known as "The Red Topper." He played with him for several years before relocating to the Washington, D.C., area, where he performed with several local bands and well-known recording artists Gene Chandler, Percy Sledge, Little Sonny Warner, Joe Quarterman and others. Wiggins and his group "The Groove Connection" perform locally and throughout the country."
African American Heritage Music Project
The newest piece of the heritage music project is to attempt to secure for copying or photographing memorabilia of the time period of 1930 through the present. We are specifically looking for memorabilia that documents musical events of musicians hailing from this area or concerts that occurred in one of the many establishments around the community. Additionally, we are looking for photographs that document the time period – perhaps what an average street looked like, people engaged in everyday activities of daily living, etc.
Through the Creative Economies: Placed Based Economic Development grant for 2009-2010 we have hired Jason Perlmutter from Chapel Hill to conduct this research. Examples of items that can be brought to the Arts Center are recordings, photographs, film clips, newspaper articles and other memorabilia related to the African American music traditions of our community. We will scan photographs, make copies of film clips and recordings and photograph other memorabilia. We are not asking that you leave your original document with us - only share with us for a few moments to help us better record the significant history that is so rich and deep in this community.
Jason will be at The Arts Center on Friday, June 11th from 2pm – 6pm and Saturday, June 12th from 10am-2pm. You do not need an appointment – please just drop in. We will be in the Conference Room and anxious to hear the stories that go along with the memorabilia. Thank you in advance for sharing these memories! Looking forward to seeing you.
Spaces Still Available for CCA Summer Camps
The Community Council for the Arts is excited about this year's summer camps. The summer theme "Artful Antics Around the World" will allow campers to explore other cultures and countries while participating in meaningful and fun art experiences. Space is still available for children ages 1-16. Camps include Moppets Performing Arts Camp, Art Camps (for all ages), Mommy & Me Camp, Craft Camp, and Sensational Science Camp. Information is available at our website www.kinstoncca.com and at The Arts Center, 400 N. Queen Street, Kinston, NC 28501 (252)-527-2517.
Grassroots Grant Winners Announced
Top Left: Harrison Smith – Grainger-Hill Performing Arts Center;
Back row: Annie Kornegay – Kinston Charter Academy; Teresa Singer – Northwest Elementary School; 
2nd row Brenda Griffin -Southeast Elementary School and Carolyn Crossland – Lenoir Community College; front row is Keisha Parks -Friends of the Library and Karen Hodges, Trinity Drama
The Grassroots subgrants totaled $10,000 distributed by the CCA for the Arts in Lenoir County!
John Brown awes students
The John Brown Jazz Ensemble was once again in Kinston following a performance and educational concerts in the Spring of 2009. John Brown, director of jazz studies – Duke University along with four other professional musicians hailing from New Orleans, Raleigh, Durham and Fayetteville resided among us for one week. They were in Kinston/Lenoir Co. through an Arts & Education Grant successfully funded for the CCA from the NC Arts Council, a State agency. This grant provided funding for the hiring of John Brown and his ensemble to work in the Lenoir Co. Public Schools for one week and to present a community concert. The jazz ensemble began conducting programs on Monday, March 8th with a core group of students - band and music students at Woodington Middle School. Each day the ensemble, offered in addition to the core student group class, a combination of small classes, master classes, and concert performances. These activities were requested by music/band teachers & principals throughout the school system. In addition to Woodington Middle School, the ensemble worked with students from Elementary Schools: Contentnea-Savannah, Banks, Moss Hill, and Southwood; Frink Middle; and North Lenoir & Kinston High Schools and presented a concert, open to the community at South Lenoir High School. The ensemble also worked with the Jazz Studies program of the CCA which meets every Wednesday afternoon. This program is funded through an invitational grant of the NC Arts Council known as TAPS (traditional arts programs for students). Participants are referred by their music teachers to the program. There is no charge for a student to participate. The small ticket price charged for the concert benefitted the TAPS program of the CCA and will assist with the purchase of music. The jazz TAPS program of the CCA is the only one of its kind in North Carolina. The group is available, for a donation to the CCA for performances. These performances are scheduled by contacting Sandy Landis, slandis@kinstoncca.com at the Arts Center. TAPS is under the direction of Charles Richberg, Kinston High School and Jennifer Sinclair, Woodington Middle School.
Esperanza Spalding brings a crowd
In keeping with our tradition of bringing world class music to our community, the CCA presented the young and extremely talented bassist-composer-singer Esperanza Spalding in concert in the Arts Center on March 4th. Ms. Spalding was born and raised on what she calls “the other side of the tracks” in a multi-lingual single parent household in Portland, Oregon. She taught herself the violin and by age 15 was the concertmaster of the Chamber Society of Oregon. She enrolled at Berklee College of Music at age 16 and became the youngest faculty member ever hired at Berklee at age 23. Her concerts have included Kennedy Center, a Stevie Wonder tribute at the White House and the recent Nobel Peace Prize ceremonies, Oslo, Norway. Ms. Spalding, now 26 “rocked the rafters” to a full house with her voice and instrumentals accompanied by her equally talented backup ensemble on piano, bass and drums. The audience was “wowed” by her performance and although some claimed “not my kind of music” they were impressed by the quality of her performance. Impressions as the audience filtered from the Arts Center following the 90 minute non-stop performance were “fantastic”, “unbelievable”, “marvelous”, and “amazing”. If you were present, thank you and we hope that you enjoyed this performance -if you were not, trust us – there are many more exciting things to come!
The Arts Center and Tourism
The Arts Center contributes to tourism. How?? In the month of March, due to just the activities of the Arts Council we have rented 50 motel rooms for artists in residence in our community. At an average of $100/room that’s $5,000 and does not include meals, gas, sundries, etc. which at an average of $50/person/day is (180 days = 15 people totaling 15 days of stay) equals $11,250. In addition, the Arts Center, due to the artist’s tech riders has spent an additional $5,000. The total, $12,250.00 has been spent in our community through the artistic programs of the Arts Council in just one month. This does not include the grants that supported the artistic fees which totaled $29,000 or the volunteer hours. Also it does not count the artists visiting other attractions in our community or other visitors utilizing the Arts Center for events. These events not only bring visitors who rent motel rooms or stay in private rooms, but also spend dollars, particularly with the hospitality industry -caterers, florists, linen services, etc. The Arts Council is a good investment in Kinston/Lenoir County.
