A! Magazine for the Arts Archive

Heart of Appalachia celebrates the joy of music

For many people, their musical performance lives end when they graduate from school. The Heart of Appalachia Community Orchestra offers them an opportunity to continue making music.

In This Issue

• State Line Wind Symphony keeps music alive The desire to keep music alive and a great deal of prodding by former students, colleagues and musicians was the impetus behind the formation of the State Line Wind Symphony.
• Community band thrives in Johnson City From an 85-year-old tenor saxophone player to high school freshmen, the Johnson City Community Band is made up of people who just love to play music.
• ETSU alumnus Chesney has a very good year According to Billboard, the venerable music industry publication, Kenny Chesney earned $39,800,000 — more than any other musician in pop or country music except Taylor Swift — during the past 12 months.
• Arts for Youth Spotlight: Luke Ponce Luke Ponce's musical background began in church.
• Walls' art is on exhibit at Tennessee State Museum An exhibition of fine art nature photography by Tennessee native Benjamin Walls is on exhibit at the Tennessee State Museum.
• Festival seeks entries in art contests It's the time of year for visual artists to get their photographs or artwork ready for the competitions of the Virginia Highlands Festival. The exhibits are open for the public from Friday, July 29 through Sunday, Aug 7.
• Writers' Day features various workshops The 2016 Writers' Day of the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon, Virginia, features a variety of workshops for writers in several genres.
• July brings talent to Storytelling Live Storytelling Live!, the International Storytelling Center's teller-in-residence series, continues its season in July.

A! Extra

• Mellon Grant puts African art at center of research and conservation project The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts a $1.5 million grant that will support in-depth technical examination, conservation and art historical studies focused on the museum's stellar African art collection.
• Betsy White returns to museum The Board of Trustees and staff welcome back Betsy K. White as director of William King Museum of Art.
• BCM welcomes new development director and appoints education & outreach manager Schaap Freeman joins the organization as the development director, and Scotty Almany has been promoted as the museum's new education and outreach manager.
• ISC launches storytelling kit "Telling Stories That Matter" is a free toolkit for educators, peace builders, students, volunteers, business leaders and other individuals.
• Asheville Art Museum Receives Grant from the Henry Luce Foundation The Henry Luce Foundation recently awarded the Asheville Art Museum a prestigious two-year American Art program grant of $375,000 to support the reinterpretation and reinstallation of the museum's permanent collection and the first catalogue of the museum
• River's Way: Big ideas come from a small place River's Way maintain a small office and big ideas. Founded in 1993, the nonprofit organization states its mission as "providing team centered activities and adventures for people of all abilities with an emphasis on special needs populations."
• Hungry Mother Festival celebrates 43 years The longest running festival in a Virginia State Park, The Hungry Mother Festival, will be celebrating its 43rd year this summer.
• Lou Reid and Carolina celebrate The Crooked Road with record and video release The Crooked Road is a 330-mile driving route across Southwest Virginia where authentic American music traditions first took root in mountain communities.
• Hungry Mother Festival celebrates 43 years MARION, Va. — The longest running festival in a Virginia State Park, The Hungry Mother Festival, will be celebrating its 43rd year this summer. It was started by a small group of local women who were stymied in their outdoor painting activity by rain. The
• Tennessee Arts Commission awards over $4m in annual grants across the state The Tennessee Arts Commission has awarded 345 Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Grants Awards totaling $4,476,520 to help fund arts and cultural activities for arts organizations, schools, local governments, nonprofits and artists in Tennessee.
• "Born in Bristol" earns shortlist honors in French film festival The Tennessee Department of Tourist Development's "Born in Bristol," a 53-minute documentary profiling the 2015 recording of Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited, earned shortlist honors at the 63rd Annual Cannes Lion International Festiva