Opening Night

ARTS North Carolina has prepared our industry for two major Legislative Agenda items – sustaining grant funding to the North Carolina Arts Council and passing a high school graduation requirement in the arts. Our message of the critical role of the arts in economic development and in training creativity for a competitive North Carolina economy has been heard as evidenced in Governor Perdue's budget recommendation to sustain the grants funding.

Now the stage is set and opening night is close at hand. The General Assembly convenes May 12 and ARTS Day is May 18 & 19. We kick off our advocacy work by coming to Raleigh and speaking face-to-face with Legislators and then sustaining the conversation until closing curtain, whenever that might be. Early registration deadline for ARTS Day is this Friday, and the hotel rates of $75 are only good through May 3. Time now to make your plan: artsday.artsnc.org.

ARTS Day is more than advocacy; it is an opportunity for learning, networking, and being infused with powerful, collective energy. Workshop and training leaders include:

• Tuesday Workshop - It's the Economy...
  • Linda Carlisle – Secretary of Cultural Resources
  • Mary Regan – Executive Director of the North Carolina Arts Council
  • Ardath Weaver – Director of Research for the North Carolina Arts Council
  • Margaret Collins – Director of Creative Enterprises and the Arts - Piedmont Triad Partnership
  • Feather Phillips – Executive Director of Pocosin Arts Center (Columbia)
  • Barbara Spradling – Director of the Innovation Institute at the McColl Center
  • Rob Pulleyn – Artist (Marshall)
  
  
• Wednesday Legislative Training
  • Louisa Warren – Lobbyist for North Carolina Justice Center (Advocacy 101 Presentation)
  • Franklin Freeman – Chief of Staff for Governor Jim Hunt, Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, and Senior Assistant for eight years to Governor Mike Easley
  • Secretary Linda Carlisle
  • Invited Legislators – Representatives Becky Carney, Rick Glazier, Linda Johnson, and Deborah Ross, and Senator Tom Apodaca

Be sure and plan time either before the workshops on May 18 or before you leave Raleigh on May 19 to visit the astounding and description-defying new galleries at the North Carolina Museum of Art. The galleries are free and open to the public.