Washington, DC –Jane Chu, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), will visit Burnsville, Penland, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilson, and Durham, North Carolina, August 21–23, 2017. While in the state, she will visit arts organizations funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, and give remarks at a public event in Asheville.

Chairman Chu will begin her trip on Monday, August 21 in Burnsville, where an NEA FY 2017 Our Town grant to the Toe River Arts Council is supporting the creation and installation of a glass and steel marker for the western entrance gateway to the city. Burnsville is also part of the North Carolina Arts Council’s SmART Initiative. While in Burnsville, Chairman Chu will tour Town Square and visit the Toe River Arts Council’s gallery, followed by a visit to a local artist’s glass studio.

Next, Chairman Chu will visit the Penland School of Crafts, where the NEA is supporting their artist-in-residence program with an FY 2017 grant. Chairman Chu will tour Penland’s studios and gallery and discuss their community education program.

That evening at 6:00 p.m. at The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design in Asheville, Chairman Chu will
give remarks about the ways the arts are bringing vitality to North Carolina communities while also supporting our national and local economies. Following her remarks, Chairman Chu will participate in a conversation with Wayne Martin, executive director of the North Carolina Arts Council. This event is free and open to the public but there is limited seating so please register in advance. Prior to the public event, Chairman Chu will tour The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design.

On Tuesday, August 22, Chairman Chu will travel to Winston-Salem where she will meet with leadership of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company, which received an NEA FY 2017 grant to support the biennial National Black Theatre Festival.

Next, Chairman Chu will visit Greensboro, where she will meet with ArtsGreensboro, which received an FY 2017 NEA grant to support program development for the Van Dyke Performance Space at the Greensboro Cultural Center, and a performance by select members of Dance Place (Washington, DC) resident companies and the Van Dyke Dance Group. ArtsGreensboro is also a partner on the National Folk Festival, which the NEA also supports through a grant to the National Council for the Traditional Arts. As part of this visit, Chairman Chu will join ArtsGreensboro and as well as several other Greensboro recipients of recent NEA support in a conversation about the arts in Greensboro.

While in Greensboro, Chairman Chu will also tour Elsewhere, where the NEA is supporting a site-specific residency and fellowship program for Southern artists through an FY 2017 grant. The Chairman will meet artists currently participating in Elsewhere's residency and view the museum's three-stories of inter-media artwork and installations created from the collections of the former surplus store.

On Wednesday, August 23, Chairman Chu will visit Wilson, where through grants to the city of Wilson, the NEA has supported the repair and conservation of internationally-recognized artist Vollis Simpson's original large-scale Whirligigs. As part of this visit, Chairman Chu will observe the conservation process and tour the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park.

That afternoon, Chairman Chu will meet with two organizations in Durham supported by recent NEA grants: American Dance Festival and the Durham Arts Council. At the American Dance Festival Chairman Chu will talk with leadership to learn more about their performance and education programs. Then, she will meet the Durham Arts Council at the American Tobacco Campus, where she’ll learn more about local efforts to renovate the historic factory buildings into an office, arts, entertainment, and residential complex, as well as Durham's SmART Vision Plan.

To find recent direct NEA grants to North Carolina organizations, visit the NEA’s grants search.

The following events are open to the media but closed to the public, except where noted below. Media who wish to attend must RSVP in advance to the NEA at auclaire@arts.gov.

August 21, 2017–Burnsville, Penland, Asheville
10:00–11:30am Site visit with Toe River Arts Council
Location: 10–10:40am Tour of Town Square and Toe River Arts Council’s gallery (102 West Main Street). Tour will begin at Burnsville Town Center, 6 S Main St, Burnsville, NC 28714
11-11:30am Visit Kenny Pieper’s glass studio, 2778 Halls Chapel Road, Burnsville, NC 28714

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Emil Kang, National Council on the Arts member
Denise Cook, executive director, Toe River Arts Council
Wanda Proffitt, Yancey County economic development director
Denise Dickens, public art consultant
Cheryl Stewart, public art consultant
Nancy Trovillion, deputy director, North Carolina Arts Council
Kenny Pieper, artist
Mayor Theresa Coletta, Town of Burnsville, NC
Jamie McMahan, Yancey County Planner
Chris Deyton, North Carolina DOT county maintenance engineer

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1:00–3:00pm Tour of Penland School of Crafts
Location: Main office, 67 Doras Trail, Penland, NC, 28765

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Emil Kang, National Council on the Arts member
Jean McLaughlin, executive director, Penland School of Crafts
Penland School of Crafts students, instructors, resident artists

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5:00–5:45pm Tour the Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Location: 67 Broadway, Asheville, NC 28801

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Emil Kang, National Council on the Arts member
Stephanie Moore, Executive Director, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Marilyn Zapf, assistant director and curator of programs, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Geraldine Plato, board president, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design
Mike Marcus, assistant director of Property Development and Creative Placemaking, Center for Craft, Creativity & Design

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6:00–7:00pm Public Event—Remarks and Conversation. This event is open to the public.
Location: The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, 67 Broadway, Asheville, NC 28801

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council

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August 22, 2017–Winston-Salem, Greensboro
11:00am–12:00pm Site visit with North Carolina Black Repertory Company
Location: Sawtooth School for Visual Art (Gallery), 251 Spruce St N, Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Nigel Alston, executive director, North Carolina Black Repertory Company
Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, chair of the board and executive producer of the National Black Theatre Festival

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2:00–3:00pm Site visit with ArtsGreensboro
Location: Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N Davie St Suite 201, Greensboro, NC 27401

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Amy Grossmann, local director, National Folk Festival
ArtsGreensboro Board members
Local arts leaders

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3:15–4:15pm Site visit with Elsewhere
Location: 606 South Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27406

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
George Scheer, executive director, Elsewhere
Emily Ensminger, director of programs, Elsewhere
Leila Villaverde, president, board of directors, Elsewhere
Jacqui Gilliam, chair, Greensboro Arts Sustainability Task Force

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August 23, 2017–Wilson, Durham
10:30am–12:00pm Site visit with City of Wilson
Location: Site visit will begin at Whirligig Park, 301 Goldsboro St S, Wilson, NC 27893

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Henry Walston, chairman, Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum
Jeff Bell, executive director, Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park and Museum
Conservators
Nancy Trovillion, deputy director, North Carolina Arts Council

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2:30–3:15pm Site visit with American Dance Festival
Location: Samuel H. Scripps Studios, 721 Broad Street, Durham, NC 27705

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Jodee Nimerichter, executive director, American Dance Festival

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3:30–4:30pm Site visit with Durham Arts Council
Location: American Tobacco Campus, 318 Blackwell St, Durham, NC 27701

Participants:

Jane Chu, chairman, National Endowment for the Arts
Wayne Martin, executive director, North Carolina Arts Council
Jim Goodmon, CEO, Capitol Broadcasting
Sherry DeVries, executive director, Durham Arts Council
Nancy Trovillion, deputy director, North Carolina Arts Council