FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 25, 2007

CONTACT:  Pat Verner, Program Director

Members of the Cabarrus Arts Council Board of Directors and staff refined their vision for the council’s new theatre and galleries at a retreat last week at Pity’s Sake Lodge in Kannapolis.

Perry Mixter of Boone, a consultant who works with arts and other nonprofit organizations all over the state, led the group as it considered the opportunities and challenges presented by the new facilities in the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse.

The arts council is renovating the courthouse to include three art galleries and a state-of-the-art performing arts theatre.  Construction is expected to begin soon, and the first exhibitions in the galleries will open March 26 with theatre performances following in the fall.

At the retreat, the group informally agreed that the arts council will take the time needed to plan for these exciting new spaces. They decided to make 2007 the “year of the galleries” by offering a full schedule of art exhibitions with a festive grand opening in June.  A few theatre performances will be offered in the fall of 2007.  The official grand opening will take place in 2008 and kick off a full year of both adult and family performances.

“It is a pleasure to be asked to work with such a clearly well-run organization,” Mixter said.  “It is exciting to work with the Cabarrus Arts Council leadership to determine a master plan for developing and implementing the new visual arts and theatre programs that will surely have such a major positive impact in Cabarrus County in the years ahead." 

The retreat was held in the beautiful Pity’s Sake Lodge, thanks to board members Phyllis Beaver and Mike Legg.  An ARTS North Carolina grant partially funded the consultant for the retreat.

The arts council’s first exhibition in the new galleries will open March 26 featuring works by Noyes Capehart Long.  The exhibition, “The Way of the Cross,” will include a suite of 14 woodcuts depicting the final journey of Jesus down the Via Dolorosa.  A retired Appalachian State University professor and author, Capehart Long has had works in the Smithsonian Museum, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Mint Museum and the North Carolina Museum of Art. 

The first major national touring exhibition, photographer Michael Cunningham’s “Queens:  Portraits of Black Women and Their Fabulous Hair,” will follow May 21-June 29.   The black and white portraits are featured in a companion coffee table book and will be accompanied by essays by journalist George Alexander.  A commercial photographer who lives in Washington, DC, Cunningham also produced “Crowns:  Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats” and its accompanying coffee table book. 

For information about the Cabarrus Arts Council, please call 704-920-ARTS (2787) or visit www.cabarrusartscouncil.org.

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