How Nina Simone influenced an NC professor’s journey
October 6, 2024
When Brenda Flanagan arrived at JFK Airport in 1967 from her home on the island of Trinidad, the 19-year-old had $10 in her pocket, a phone number for an American social worker and a closely guarded dream to become a writer.
One of the first people she shared that dream with was none other than N.C. native and civil rights activist Nina Simone. Flanagan would spend a year working as a nanny for the singer’s daughter.
Simone was one of several important catalysts in Flanagan’s life, and perhaps the most influential in opening her eyes to the creative possibilities for a young Black writer. Looking back, Flanagan also has regrets for not heeding some warnings about her personal life that Simone gave her at the time.
It’s all part of the memoir the 77-year old-Davidson College English professor is in the midst of writing.
With new maestro, Charlotte Symphony lines up diverse series
September 15, 2024
It’s a big season ahead for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, as it welcomes its new Music Director Kwamé Ryan.
The organization’s 12th music director and the first person of color in that role, Ryan takes the helm following a year of tremendous growth and innovation for the symphony.
That includes a financially bolstered orchestra, which more than tripled its endowment in 2024, new programs like the CSO Roadshow — a mobile stage that allows the symphony to perform in neighborhoods all over Charlotte, and new forays into immersive and electronic music. This season will reflect the forward-thinking mentality of the symphony and Ryan, as it continues to prioritize diversity both in the form of musicians and its repertoire, including new music by living composers.
Latin band UltimaNota shares its sound across Charlotte
May 26, 2024
When Tony Arreaza speaks about his band UltimaNota’s recent successes around Charlotte, one phrase keeps popping up. “It was magical,” the Venezuelan-born guitarist and composer said as he shares each new part of the group’s story.
But there’s clearly something more than magic at work for UltimaNota, now in its 15th year. The group, which bills itself as a “blend of tropical rhythms with a modern twist” features an international roster of seven musicians, originally from Venezuela, Mexico, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.
What began in 2009 as a cover band to play at weddings and restaurants has greatly evolved. The group now writes, performs and records its own music. That transformation, which began during the pandemic, opened the door to new performance opportunities, including a recent live performance with the Charlotte Symphony, as well as national recognition for the band.
Deadly NC textile strike of 1929 inspires new musical at UNCC
April 28, 2024
A tumultuous time in North Carolina history is serving as the inspiration for a new musical being developed at UNC Charlotte.
The show is called “Threads,” and it explores the deadly 1929 textile workers strike at the sprawling Loray Mill in Gastonia. Those events lasted months and captured the nation’s attention. They ended violently, too, with the murders of the local police chief and Ella May Wiggins, a mill worker and single mother raising five children.
Wiggins, who was white, worked 12-hour shifts six days a week at the nearby integrated American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City. She had become a voice for the striking workers through her poignant protest ballads.
She’s also the central figure in the musical.
“This is an untold story in this community that I think is really timely and really important,” said UNC Charlotte assistant professor of musical theater, Laura Waringer, a co-director of the show. Many of its themes — labor rights, race relations, gentrification and feminism — will resonate with contemporary audiences, she said.
ArtPop Street Gallery Project Recycles Billboards as Clothes
September 3, 2023
For the last decade, the nonprofit ArtPop Street Gallery has partnered with outdoor advertising companies to transform unused ad space into huge canvasses for local art.
From highways and light rail stops to bus sides and shopping centers, this year’s class of 20 artists has appeared on seven million dollars worth of donated advertising space around the Queen City and beyond—stretching from Los Angeles to New York’s Times Square.
The exposure is a boon to the artists, but it also comes with a challenge.
The twenty Adams Outdoor Advertising billboards on Charlotte roadways, which represent an important component of ArtPop’s Cities Program, require more than 13,000 square feet of vinyl material each year. And none of it is biodegradable.
“It’s really important that these don’t go to a landfill because if they do they won’t ever disappear,” said ArtPop’s Founder and Executive Director Wendy Hickey. “They’re gonna be here forever.”
So ArtPop takes an innovative approach to ensure it all stays out of landfills: it turns it into fashion.
Storyteller launches celebration of Black women in Charlotte
February 20, 2022
Recently, poet and storyteller Hannah Hasan walked onto the stage of one of Charlotte’s largest theaters, looked out at the 2,100 empty seats and wept.
It wasn’t her first time in Belk Theater. She had been there before to see shows. But now she was doing a walk-through in preparation for a new project — the biggest undertaking of her career to date — and emotions took over.
“I’ve worked really hard my entire career to lift and share and give light and honor
to stories of people who I see every day that deserve that honor,” Hasan said. “And
oftentimes, that’s in small churches and community centers, and on black box stages
and things of that nature. It’s with very little funding and resources…”
For years Hasan has been using poetry and storytelling to explore identity, unearth
and preserve the stories of marginalized communities, and build connections. She’s a
sought-after speaker, workshop leader and event organizer.
Now she’s at the helm of “I Am Queen Charlotte,” a multi-platform celebration of
Black women and their contributions to the Charlotte community, running March 6- 12.
The project includes a documentary-style book and a week of arts and
educational events.
Broadway is Back! Hometown Celebs Share What It’s Like Returning to the Stage Right Now
Winter 2021-’22
The lights are shining bright on Broadway once more after 20 long months of pandemic living. Here in Charlotte, audiences have been celebrating the return of touring Broadway too, beginning with Wicked, Blumenthal Performing Arts’ first major theatrical production since the COVID-19 shut down.
The show drew more than 70,000 attendees over its four-week run and even smashed a box office record in its final days, marking the highest grossing week ever for a Blumenthal presented show at Ovens Auditorium.
As productions ramp up in New York City and all over the country, many things have changed, but one thing remains the same: Charlotte’s talent continues to thrill audiences on some of the country’s biggest stages, both as performers and in key behind-the-scenes roles. Here’s a look at what just a handful of our homegrown talent is up to now and a deep dive into what it’s like to be making theater again.
This growing gallery helps artists of color collaborate and advance
June 27, 2021
On a quiet street in east Charlotte, a two-story house sits at the end of a cul-de-sac. Outside, it looks like any other home. But inside, it’s bursting with creativity and inspiration.
This is 9-18-9 Studio Gallery, a place to nourish local artists — especially emerging artists of color. Here, they showcase their work, meet other artists and collectors, and learn skills to advance their careers.
Its mission: build the largest and most diverse collection of work by local fine artists of color. Surrounded by art, only the open plan kitchen remains at 8838 Balsam Bay Road. That’s by design.
Since early last year, 9-18-9 has been frequently used for gallery events and monthly gatherings of The Palette Table, a private group with 82 members that seeks increased opportunities for fine artists of color. A “Sunday dinner,” prepared by owner/curator Joanne Rogers, follows every meeting.
“I feed the artists because I want that family, nurturing feeling,” said Rogers, 53, who loves cooking Caribbean food from her native Trinidad.
That camaraderie seems to be working: 9-18-9 Studio Gallery has had an impressive first year, despite opening right before the pandemic arrived.
SILENT STREETS: ART IN THE TIME OF PANDEMIC
January 2021
When the world came to a halt in early spring 2020, so did museums everywhere. Doors closed, shipments stopped, planned exhibitions were put on hold. Then cities across the nation erupted in protest, as communities faced a reckoning with long-term injustices and systemic racism. The concurrent events posed a challenge: How could the Mint best serve the community through the crisis and uprising, while also facing financial uncertainty and logistical challenges caused by the pandemic?
“This gave us [an] opportunity,” says Jen Sudul Edwards, PhD, the Mint’s Chief Curator & Curator of Contemporary Art. “Instead of showing an exhibition that seemed incongruous with the times, we were able to construct something that reflected the times.”
BACKSTAGE WITH THE BAND’S VISIT | Producer Orin Wolf and Writer Itamar Moses talk about their multiple Tony Award-winning show
Summer 2019
When Orin Wolf saw an early screening of the film The Band’s Visit, he had an immediate impulse: to put it on stage. “It was a moment of clarity for me that doesn’t happen very often in my life,” says Wolf. Some eight years later, his initial inspiration would become one of the most celebrated and critically-acclaimed musicals of all time.
Winner of 10 Tony Awards in 2018, this story of an Egyptian military band that gets stranded for one night in a remote Israeli village is now beginning a national tour, and Charlotte audiences will be among the first to see it. The Band’s Visit comes to Knight Theater Aug. 6-25.
Liz Bertrand 