Forecast Music, the Piedmont Triad’s premier contemporary music group, 

About the group:

Forecast Music is an adventurous, not-for-profit new music group based in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad, comprised of several of the world’s finest composers and performers living right here in NC. Our mission is to present new and innovative American concert music of varied aesthetic visions in relaxed, alternative performance spaces as well as traditional concert venues. In these eclectic programs, many different musical perspectives are allowed to collide and complement each other as they may. Forecast Music concerts are carefully curated to highlight certain ideas, musical and otherwise, and to promote collaboration with artists in various disciplines. Each concert is concise, presenting several works in approximately an hour, allowing ample time for interaction between the audience, performers, and composers. It is our hope that by presenting numerous works highlighting varied styles and trends, the audience will sample the music of the recent past, today, and the future, sparking an interest in the extraordinary music being made by living composers.

Forecast Music was founded in Brooklyn , NY in 2001 by four composers looking to find a hands-on way to get their works performed outside of the usual academic or traditional concert arenas. The founding members were Julie Harting, Eric Schwartz, Giancarlo Vulcano, and Gal Ziv. The group became an active part of New York City ’s vibrant contemporary music scene from 2002-2009. During that time the group evolved from its origins as a contemporary music band, presenting the works of just its four founding composers, to a wide ranging non-profit contemporary music organization, performing work from composers throughout NYC and around the country in innovative, accessible fashion. An annual call for scores began in 2005, and literally thousands of scores flowed in from across the globe over four years. Forecast Music has always presented a mix of premieres and the all important second, third, and beyond performances for composers, but in 2006 began to annually commission new work from local composers, a thrilling part of the ever expanding new music mission. In 2010 Forecast began the transition from New York City to Winston-Salem , North Carolina . Now in our second season here in North Carolina we are all set to assume the mantle of the Triad’s premiere contemporary music organization, and we couldn’t be more excited!

This project was made possible, in part, with funding by The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County in our City of Arts and Innovation and the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Part of the Republican Supermajority’s “tax reform” scheme that many North Carolinians are not aware of are the proposals which would take sales tax breaks away from non-profits. Arts organizations and other non-profits would no longer would have the sales taxes they pay rebated. Non-profits would have to collect a 6.5% tax on all admissions, performances, event tickets, classes and workshops, and membership/subscription fees. According to the Arts council of Winston-Salem’s Chief Operating Officer, Richard Emmett, the implementation of these schemes would essentially amount to a 15% reduction in their over-all operating budget. “This will also hit social service non-profits and universities hard.” Emmett said.

The House legislation (HB985) has currently been sent to the Rules Committee, which effectively means it is dead. In Phil Berger’s state senate, however, SB394, SB669, and SB677 remain alive and are sitting in committees waiting for a vote.

SB669 is a bill sponsored by Berger that calls for a study to be done on reducing the state income tax rate as well as studying a complete elimination of the income tax. This would, of course, be paid for by expanding sales taxes to services, slashing non-profit tax exemptions and placing an enormous burden on North Carolina’s non-profits.

SB394 is sponsored by both Democrats and Republicans and addresses an elimination of income taxes while paying for it with expanded sales taxes, eliminating sales tax breaks for non-profits, and adding taxes for services and admissions to events. It also specifically targets arts based non-profits (which are a major part of Winston-Salem’s branding appeal as a community) From the current version of the legislation:

Charges for an entertainment or recreational activity listed in this subsection 4 are taxed at the general rate set in G.S. 105-164.4. Charges include admission charges, user 5 charges, registration charges, membership charges, and charges for amenities. Offering an 6 activity listed in this subsection is a service.

Charges for admittance to any of the following entertainment or recreational 8 activities:

a. A live performance or live event of any kind.
b. A movie or another audiovisual work.
c. A museum, a cultural site, a garden, an exhibit, a show, or a similar attraction or a guided tour at any of these attractions. Charges that enable a consumer to play or participate in, or use property or a facility to play or participate in, any of the entertainment or recreational activities listed in this subdivision. A consumer’s play or participation can be in person or online. Charges for online play or participation include charges to acquire virtual goods or attributes.

“There would be a considerable impact if we have to collect 6.5% on admissions.” Mr. Emmett stated. “Right now with our audience building efforts and the tough economy it would just make things more difficult for arts-based non-profits and venues.” Emmett pointed out that collecting sales taxes would not only raise ticket, class fees, workshop fees, and membership prices it would add an extra logistical burden for the collection and payment to the state of the sales taxes.

CCD spoke off of the record with another local, non-profit administrator who gave another cause for these proposals to give pause to non-profits. If part of the tax burden is shifted from income taxes to sales taxes that only represents a shift for the tax payer in how they pay not IF they pay. These changes would hit non-profits harder because it would represent big cuts in their operating budgets while at the same time adding a tax burden to them that has never before existed.

Merritt Vale, President & CEO of the Winston-Salem Symphony said, “It would have a adverse effect on non-profits and even more on arts organization.  It would change the landscape and would require us to pass the increases along to consumers or take the hit.”  Vale also pointed out that there would be increased administration costs and that taxing memberships makes them less attractive to patrons.

State Rep. Ed Hanes Jr.(D-NC72), whose district is home to Reynolda House, SECCA, and other Winston-Salem performing arts venues told CCD, “This new tax on our arts community will severely impact our ability to deliver culture and creativity across our State. Going forward members of the legislature should think very deeply on the impact if this new tax strategy and the consequences of adopting such a strategy.”

Mayor Allen Joines, noting that Winston-Salem is the City of Arts and Innovation recommended moving slow on major changes to the state tax code.  ”We haven’t seen the final piece of legislation.” The Mayor told CCD, “We are concerned about this.  We need to look at this, and I would be cautious moving forward.”

The Art Council of Winston-Salem has issued a call to their supporters and patrons to contact their representatives in Raleigh in order to lobby against these tax code changes.

Read full article and Senate Bills here: http://www.camelcitydispatch.com/corporate-and-income-tax-break-proposals-threaten-non-profits/

Hanesbrands Theatre is pleased to be able to present two critically acclaimed high-definition simulcasts  - This House and The Audience.  

This House, is a funny, touching, and suspenseful political epic written by James Graham.   It’s 1974 and the corridors of Westminster ring with the sound of infighting and backbiting as Britain’s political parties battle to change the future of the nation, whatever it takes. In this hung parliament, the ruling party holds on by a thread. Votes are won and lost by one, fist fights erupt in the bars, and ill MPs are hauled in to cast their votes.  It’s a time when a staggering number of politicians die, and age-old traditions and allegiances are thrown aside in the struggle for power.

James Graham’s biting, energetic and critically-acclaimed new play strips politics down to the practical realities of those behind the scenes who roll up their sleeves, and on occasion bend the rules, to maneuver a diverse and conflicting chorus of MPs within the Mother of all Parliaments.  It will be showing on Monday, May 20 and Tuesday, May 28 at 7:30 pm.

The Audience, starting Helen Mirren will be showing Monday, June 17 & Monday, June 24 @ 7:30 PM, Friday, June 28 @ 8 PM & Saturday, June 29 @ 4 PM.

On April 28, 2013 Helen Mirren once again won an award for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II, adding the Olivier Award for Best Actress, won for her performance in The Audience, to her Oscar for her performance in The Queen. One of Mirren’s co-stars in the production that explores the secret meetings between the monarch and her Prime Ministers during her 60 year reign, Richard McCabe, won the Best Actor in a Supporting Role Award. The Oliver Awards are Great Britain’s equivalent to the American Tony Awards.

In The Audience Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in the highly-anticipated West End production of The Audience, broadcast live from London’s Gielgud Theatre as part of National Theatre Live.

For sixty years Elizabeth II has met each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace – a meeting like no other in British public life – it is private. Both parties have an unspoken agreement never to repeat what is said. Not even to their spouses. The Audience breaks this contract of silence – and imagines a series of pivotal meetings between the Downing Street incumbents and their Queen. From Churchill to Cameron, each Prime Minister has used these private conversations as a sounding board and a confessional – sometimes intimate, sometimes explosive.

From young mother to grandmother, these private audiences chart the arc of the second Elizabethan Age. Politicians come and go through the revolving door of electoral politics, while she remains constant, waiting to welcome her next Prime Minister.

The Audience reunites writer Peter Morgan and Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren following their collaboration on the critically-acclaimed movie sensation The Queen.

The Audience is directed by Academy Award-nominated director Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours) and presented in the West End by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Robert Fox and Andy Harries.

The Hanesbrands Theatre at The Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts is located at 209 N. Spruce Street in downtown Winston-Salem.

Tickets for the National Theater of London Live in HD screenings are $15 for students & $18 for adults and can be purchased by calling the Hanesbrands Theatre Box Office # 336-747-1414 or through the Hanesbrands Theatre website www.hanesbrandstheatre.org.

This article written by CNance with The Camel City Dispatch

Where the Trail Ends is a film following the world’s top free-ride mountain bikers as they search for un-ridden terrain around the globe, ultimately shaping the future of big mountain free riding. This unparalleled story documents man’s challenge of mother nature and himself showcased through a cast of colorful characters. This is the most progressive and ambitious mountain biking ever attempted resulting in an entertainment adventure unlike anything experienced before. A journey into some of the sickest trails and terrain available on planet Earth.

Mock Orange Bikes is sponsoring the screening and proceeds from the event will go towards the building of a local artist designed bike rack for the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts. Mock Orange Bikes has helped facilitate the creation and placement of other bike racks in downtown Winston-Salem including the newly dedicated bike rack outside of a/perature Cinemas and the bike rack outside of Camino Bakery among others.

Athletes featured in Where the Trail Ends include:

Darren Berrecloth: Singlehandedly responsible for the modern state of freeriding, Berrecloth introduced BMX-styled tricks into big mountain freeriding, has competed in every major event in the game, and continues to blaze a new path wherever he goes.

Cameron Zink: Zink’s trademark 360 and fierce determination have allowed him to win every major competition in freeride, including Crankworx Slopestyle and Red Bull Rampage. Where The Trail Ends bears witness to Zink’s dominance, ferocity and style.

Kurt Sorge: Sorge has stood on the podiums at Red Bull Rampage and Chatel Mountain Style. In Where The Trail Ends, he takes these skills to terrain that has never seen tire marks.

Andreu Lacondeguy: One of the best dirt jumpers on the planet, Lacondeguy’s famous for the double backflip he landed in front of a crowd of 20,000 at Whistler’s Crankworx.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased through the Hanesbrands Theatre Box Office in person, and by phone at (336)-747-1414.

“A lot of my colleagues really questioned the decision,” he said. “A lot of people actually would say to me, ‘You realize that Orchard Gardens is a career killer? You know, you don’t want to go to Orchard Gardens.’”

But now, three years later, the school is almost unrecognizable. Brightly colored paintings, essays of achievement, and motivational posters line the halls. The dance studio has been resurrected, along with the band room, and an artists’ studio.
The end result? Orchard Gardens has one of the fastest student improvement rates statewide. And the students — once described as loud and unruly, have found their focus.
“We have our occasional, typical adolescent … problems,” Bott said. “But nothing that is out of the normal for any school.”
The school is far from perfect. Test scores are better, but still below average in many areas. Bott says they’re “far from done, but definitely on the right path.”
The students, he says, are evidence of that.
‘I can really have a future in this’
Eighth grader Keyvaughn Little said he’s come out of his shell since the school’s turnaround.
“I’ve been more open, and I’ve expressed myself more than I would have before the arts have came.”
His grades have improved, too. Keyvaughn says it’s because of the teachers — and new confidence stemming from art class.
“There’s no one particular way of doing something,” he said. “And art helps you like see that. So if you take that with you, and bring it on, it will actually help you see that in academics or anything else, there’s not one specific way you have to do something.”
Keyvaughn has now been accepted to the competitive Boston Arts Academy, the city’s only public high school specializing in visual and performing arts.
“All of the extra classes and the extra focus on it and the extra attention make you think that, ‘Hey, oh my gosh, I can really have a future in this, I don’t have to go to a regular high school — I can go to art school,’” he said.

Chris Plunkett, a visual arts teacher at Orchard Gardens school in Roxbury, Mass., spoke with NBC’s Katy Tur about the success of the arts program that led to an inspiring turnaround for students.
Chris Plunkett, who has taught visual arts at Orchard Gardens for the past three years, said the classes help develop trust between the faculty and students. During one particularly memorable project, he asked his eighth graders to write a memoir about a life experience and what they learned from it and then create a self-portrait.
“I couldn’t believe how honest and candid they were, and how much I learned about them,” Plunkett said. “I mean it was really, it was one of the most incredible things I’ve seen in eighth graders.”
Noting that kids need more than test prep, he added, it may have seemed “a little crazy” to get rid of the security guards to hire art teachers but “I definitely feel it was the right move in the end.”

To see video link, please visit:

http://dailynightly.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/18005192-principal-fires-security-guards-to-hire-art-teachers-and-transforms-elementary-school?goback=%2Egde_41332_member_237905067

Morris is an award-winning community advocate for local businesses and the arts, and has worked with artists, city officials, community groups, and local businesses to promote the City of Winston-Salem as the “City of Arts and Innovation.” Morris is the co-creator of the “Scene in Winston-Salem Scavenger Hunt” and “Treks in the City: Winston-Salem,” which raised some $20,000 for the Downtown Winston-Salem Foundation.. She  won a Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership  Excellence Award in 2011 for the Scavenger Hunt and another in 2012 for Treks in the City: Winston-Salem. She has served on the board of the West End Neighborhood Association for the last five years.

Morris is a member of the Winston-Salem Centennial Commission. She is coordinating community outreach efforts and organizing special events to be held during the four-day Centennial celebration in mid-May.  One of her projects is working with local artists on public art installations that will be included as part of the Centennial celebration.

Morris is a native of Winston-Salem and graduate of the University of West Florida in Pensacola, FL.

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the first locally established arts council in the United States, enriches the lives of area residents every day. It raises funds and advocates for the arts, makes grants for arts in education, sponsors events with other arts organizations, strengthens cultural resources, develops social capital, and aids economic development.  In its 2012 grant cycle, The Arts Council made Organizational Support Grants to 21 Funded Partners totaling $1,625,000. Total grants made in its four grant categories – Organizational Support, Wells Fargo Arts In Education, Innovative Projects, and Regional Artist Projects — was  $1,801,150.

A native of Winston-Salem and graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Bowman has spent her professional life working in the non-profit sector.  While at Believe in Bristol, she worked with downtown merchants, artists, city officials and downtown stakeholders to organize, market and brand downtown Bristol as a state-recognized Arts and Entertainment District.

Her most recent accomplishments included a highly successful collaborative effort with the Virginia Tourism Corporation for the creation and placement of a LOVE sculpture in the heart of downtown that celebrates Bristol as the Birthplace of Country Music and promotes the Virginia is for Lovers campaign.

“Katherine is a much-welcomed addition to The Arts Council and is a perfect fit to support the work of our board of directors, staff members and volunteers,” Arts Council president and CEO Milton Rhodes said.   “She has a strong passion for the arts and will spearhead our marketing efforts in concert with our funded member arts organizations to further promote and enhance Winston-Salem’s reputation as the City of Arts and Innovation.”

“Much of Katherine’s work will be focused in three key areas,” Rhodes added.  “First, she will market the arts as a vehicle for enhancing economic development and job creation; second, she will work closely with educators to make sure the arts are part of every child’s education; and third, Katharine will promote the vibrancy that continues to emerge from the incredible arts events and organizations in downtown Winston-Salem.”

“We appreciate the support of the Winston-Salem Foundation for providing funding for the marketing position,” he added.

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, the first locally established arts council in the United States, enriches the lives of area residents every day. It raises funds and advocates for the arts, makes grants for arts in education, sponsors events with other arts organizations, strengthens cultural resources, develops social capital, and aids economic development.  In its 2012 grant cycle, The Arts Council made Organizational Support Grants to 21 Funded Partners totaling $1,625,000. Total grants made in its five grant categories – Organizational Support, Wells Fargo Arts In Education, Innovative Projects, Regional Artist Projects, and Advertising Assistance — was $2,025,826.

Thanks to Gary Taylor, Choreographer of WS Festival Ballet, Chris Heckman, provided music for film, and performers & staff at WS Festival Ballet for sharing this video with the Arts Council and allowing us to share it with the community!

Time Laps Angels Video: http://vimeo.com/61657196

For more information about WS Festival Ballet visit their website at www.winstonsalemfestivalballet.org.