Have you heard the buzz?

By Guest Blogger Carroll Leggett

Spectacular Gala, Tony Bennett Concert, and Free Community Days Are Highlights of Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts Opening Celebration

In a month or so – specifically Friday, Saturday, Sunday, September 10-12, Winston-Salem will be buzzing. The Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts will have its grand opening with more activities than any one person can take in, and there is something for everyone in your family.

Friday night is the Gala. Revelers will gather at The Center early in the evening for a party that runs from six to midnight with great food and drink and decorations that will defy believe. The various Schools at UNCSA have come together with sets that will dazzle and amaze and entertainment that will include performances from the “Romeo and Juliet balcony” in spectacular Reynolds Place from both West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. There will be entertainment in every nook and corner of the Center, including in the new Hanesbrands black-box theatre.

Then 15-time Grammy winner Tony Bennett will perform just up the street at the Stevens Center. After his concert, one of the East Coast’s best known DJs will spin records until midnight in a ‘70s disco setting in the Hanesbrands Theatre.

Friday night’s Gala events are paid events, but after the formal ribbon cutting at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, all events are free. There will be non-stop entertainment until 5:00 p.m. and on Sunday from noon until 5:00 p.m. There will be more than 100 artistic and cultural experiences.

Members of The Arts Council and its Funded Partners will sponsor activities that run the gamut. Arts and crafts for children; dance performances; lectures; panel discussions; poetry slams and theatrical extravaganzas. A highlight on the two “Community Days” will be the premier of Bouncers, a dramatic comedy about a group of working class British bouncers at work and art play.

Kids will delight in the Children’s Theatre production of Aladdin, Jr. and Piedmont Opera’s presentation from Jack and the Beanstalk. Budding authors can attend a creative writing seminar. The symphony will have a string quartet. There will be films and games and crafts from the Children’s Museum and international dance performances. Sawtooth Center will sponsor artist demonstrations in their classrooms.

Race at break-neck speed in your prized sneakers and you will never get to all the choices that will be available and attractive to you for free. Again. One hundred or more.

Storyline will be on site to collect stories from Forsyth County residents. Decide if you would like to participate and get your thoughts together about what you know that it is important to preserve.

Piedmont Craftsmen will sponsor the inaugural exhibition in the Milton Rhodes Center’s main gallery. This will be spectacular show that features work by some of its most talented craftspeople over the decades. In another area, winning works of art by students from the Forsyth County School system will be displayed.

One can get breathless just thinking about this amazing smorgasbord of arts and cultural activities – all free during “Community Days,” Saturday and Sunday, September 11-12.

For information concerned Friday evening’s ticketed events, including the Tony Bennett concert, you may visit The Arts Council’s website, http://www.inttothearts.org/ or call 336.722.2585.

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Posted by Triad Smarty Pants at 5:00 AM