FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 14, 2007

CONTACT:  Pat Verner Community Relations Director

ARTS COUNCIL GALLERY IN HISTORIC CABARRUS COURTHOUSE TO BE NAMED FOR JUDGE ADAM GRANT

Alice Grant has given the Cabarrus Arts Council $25,000 to name the first art gallery in the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse in memory of her husband, prominent District Court Judge Adam Grant.

Mrs. Grant said she had been looking for an appropriate memorial for her husband since his death in 2001 and believed she had found it with the Cabarrus Arts Council’s art gallery in the historic courthouse.  “He was the president of Historic Cabarrus in its early years and was instrumental in helping save the building when it was almost torn down,” she said.  “He also helped get the annual ‘Law Day’ reinstated, and it used to meet in the historic courthouse.”

Glenda Steel, a friend of Mrs. Grant who is on the arts council board of directors, said she thought of the Grants when the idea of naming the galleries first came up.  “I knew that Alice loved art and wanted to memorialize Adam,” she said.  “He was a popular and well-loved judge in Cabarrus County, so an art gallery in the historic courthouse seemed like a perfect fit.”

Naming a gallery for her husband of almost 25 years also is appropriate because Judge Grant supported his wife’s passion for art.  “He used to sit at museums, reading travel guides and waiting patiently, while I took all the time I wanted,” said the former art teacher. “In each of our homes, he set aside a place for me to have a studio.”

The creation of the Judge Adam Crawford Grant Jr. Memorial Gallery is part of a construction project that began this week at the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse.  Three rooms on the first floor will be turned into art galleries, the theatre on the second floor in the old courtroom space will be transformed into a state-of-the-art performing space and the currently unfinished third floor will be finished to contain dressing rooms and offices.

So far the arts council has raised more than $300,000 for the project and future programming, including $100,000 from Sue and Roy Davis to name the theatre. “Naming this art gallery for Judge Grant is a poignant tribute to a beautiful love story,” said Noelle Scott, arts council executive director. “It was lovely to meet Alice and hear about their life together.  Alice’s own work as an artist and his work to save this beautiful building make this such a fitting tribute to his life and their love.”

Adam Grant was District Court Judge for 23 years including nine years as Chief District Court Judge.  He was recognized nationally for a program he started in 1990, “Meet the Courts and Law Enforcement.”  A series of public education programs for ninth-grade students, the program introduced more than 7,500 teens to the legal system and educated them about alcohol-related offenses.  President George H.W. Bush awarded him an annual Points of Light citation for the program.  He subsequently received the National Commission Against Drunk Driving’s Education and Prevention Award, and was one of nine recipients in the United States for the Improvement of Justice Award. 

He was recognized in 1995 with the Concord Rotary Club’s Distinguished Rotarian Award.  In 1998, he received North Carolina’s highest civilian award, the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, from then Governor Jim Hunt.

Born on Valentine’s Day in 1947, Kannapolis native Grant was a graduate of A. L. Brown High School and Wake Forest University where he received both undergraduate and law degrees.  He was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Concord where he served as a deacon, elder and Sunday school teacher.  He served as president of the North Carolina Conference of Chief District Court Judges in 1996-1997 and was also an active member of the American Bar Association’s National Conference of Special Court Judges.

The first exhibition in the Judge Adam Crawford Grant Jr. Memorial Gallery will open March 23.  It will feature works by Noyes Capehart Long.  The exhibition, “The Way of the Cross,” will feature 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. 

Additional naming opportunities are available, including two other galleries on the first floor of the Historic Cabarrus Courthouse.  For more information, please call the Cabarrus Arts Council, please call 704-920-ARTS (2787) or visit www.cabarrusartsouncil.org. ###