Press Releases

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that nine nonprofit organizations in the state will receive more than $225,000 as part of the second round of grants for fiscal year 2015.

Life experiences during the Civil War will be shared in a "Music and Literature of the Civil War" program May 16, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Somerset Place State Historic Site. Based on original letters and business records, visitors will get a glimpse of the wartime experience from Somerset residents and will encounter the characters on a walking tour.

The life of a Cherokee warrior, provincial soldier, plus military drill and 18thcentury cooking will fascinate and delight children at Fort Dobbs Summer Camp. Two inaugural sessions will be the week of June 23-26 and July 28-31. Preregistration and a $75 fee is required.

The North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) announces the 2015 summer schedule of outdoor concerts and movies. The summer performing arts series currently includes nine concerts, 22 movies, and several family-friendly performances.

After victories at Fort Fisher and Bentonville, Union Gen. William T. Sherman occupied Raleigh with 75,000 troops camped at the State Capitol. The State Capitol will commemorate that tenuous Civil War period of 150 years ago with a free encampment program and tours featuring character actors at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and hourly 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. Reservations are recommended and can be made by calling (919) 733-4994.

Award-winning director James Moll traveled across the country to meet farmers and ranchers in their 20s who are responsible for running their own farms. In the 2014 documentary “Farmland,” he presents an intimate look into the lives and families of six farmers or ranchers. Join a film screening of “Farmland” on Friday, May 29, at 7 p.m. at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. After the film, people associated with the film and local farmers will lead a discussion and Q&A session. Admission is free. The film is not rated.

North Carolina Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn will lead the orchestra, members of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Carolina Choir, and an outstanding cast of actors, directed by University of North Carolina School of the Arts Dean of Drama Carl Forsman, in a theatrical / symphonic presentation of William Shakespeare’s most popular comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  The performances will take place Thursday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m., in Memorial Hall on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and again on Friday and Saturday, May 8-9, at 8 p.m., in Meymandi Concert Hall in downtown Raleigh.

Soldiers from across North Carolina were returning home in May 1865, exhausted at the end of the Civil War. It was a brother's war that divided families and communities, and now healing the nation would begin. "A Soldier's Walk Home" May 11 to 23 recaptures such a journey.

This Mother’s Day weekend Tryon Palace invites visitors to step back in time and embark on a tea tour that will focus on tea culture in 18th century Great Britain and Colonial America. The tours will be held Saturday, May 9, at Tryon Palace in historic downtown New Bern, N.C.

In the 2005 comedy-drama “Junebug,” Madeleine, a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago, visits North Carolina to check out a self-taught “outsider” artist. She and her brand-new husband extend the trip to meet her eccentric in-laws in a small North Carolina town. This homecoming story of clashing cultures, family complexities, and small-town life was written by University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumnus Angus MacLachlan. The film was shot in Winston-Salem, as well as Pfafftown and McLeansville.