Press Release

Winston-Salem, NC (August 5, 2010) – The principal gallery in the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts will be named for Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC. The 1,800 sq ft space just off the main Spruce Street entrance foyer is equipped with state-of-the-art lighting that will make it possible for The Center to mount important exhibitions of various media.

 

“Womble Carlyle and its individual attorneys have a long history of support for the arts in Winston-Salem,” said Keith Vaughan, Womble Carlyle’s Managing Member. “It is not surprising, then, that when we considered the Arts Council’s Comprehensive Campaign, we wanted to be supportive and participate at a significant level. Making it possible for The Center to have a professionally designed gallery to host exhibitions that will delight members of this community for decades to come seemed a particularly appropriate way to do that.”

 

The inaugural exhibition will be by Piedmont Craftsmen whose members include some of the nation’s most talented craftspeople. It will have works from 45 artists in all media from Piedmont Craftsmen’s five-decade history. Included will be its founding member in clay, Tom Suomalainen (1963), metal artist Dempsy Calhoun (1971), mixed media artist Akira Blount (1989), wood artist Keith Allen (1996) and glass artist John Geci (2005). This exhibition will run Sept. 7 – Oct. 23. It will be followed by IDENTITY, a show opening November 16 featuring large-scale installation artists from the Penland School of Crafts.

 

“Year after year, Womble Carlyle and its attorneys step forward to provide leadership for a host of important activities in our city and county,” said J.D. Wilson who is co-chairing the campaign with his wife Janie. “They give generously and they make an enormous difference. The Arts Council appreciates their continuing support for arts and cultural activities and particularly what they have done to ensure the success of our three-year, comprehensive campaign and the construction of the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts.”

Calder Womble, son of Womble Carlyle Name Member B. S.Womble, was a key player in the formative years of The Arts Council and in the arts council movement which began in Winston-Salem and spread across the nation. Today there are some 5,000 arts councils nationwide.

 

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County in its early days, as now, was volunteer driven. Calder Womble helped establish a solid future for The Arts Council by chairing the Bylaws Committee and serving as a vice President in 1958. In 1959, he served as the Chair of the Annual Fund as The Arts Council pioneered the concept of united campaigns for the arts. Womble also served as the Chair of the Endowment Fund Committee from 1959-1963. The charter for ACA, now known as Americans for the Arts and based in New York, was signed in Womble’s office. 

 

Womble is a part of a legacy of volunteerism and support among the members of Womble Carlyle that continues today. His colleagues, such as Name Member Irving Carlyle, who served on The Arts Council’s Advisory Board in the 1950s, and his brother William Womble, Sr., played an active role in making Winston-Salem and Forsyth County a better place in which to live, work and conduct business. Linwood Davis chaired The Arts Council’s New Dimensions Campaign from 1979-1982 to renovate the Sawtooth Building and Winston Square Park. Bill Womble, Jr. and wife Erna, both members of the firm, served as co-chairs of The Art Council’s 2008-2009 Annual fundraising campaign.

 

The Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts in Winston-Salem, NC, will open Friday, September 10, with the Light Up the Arts Gala headlined by Tony Bennett and presented by Hanesbrands Inc. A Community Weekend presented by Reynolds American and Wachovia, a Wells Fargo Company, will feature more than 100 free arts and cultural experiences under The Center roof on September 11 and 12.

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County was established in 1949 and was the first locally established arts council in the United States. The Arts Council enriches the quality of life for people in Winston-Salem and neighboring communities by raising funds for the arts, advocating for the arts, sponsoring events in conjunction with other arts organizations, providing educational opportunities, strengthening cultural resources, developing social capital, and aiding economic development.  Its continued effectiveness can be attributed to the thousands of dedicated volunteers and contributors who are firmly committed to the idea that Winston-Salem is the “City of the Arts & Innovation."

 

 

Womble Carlyle is a full-service business law firm with a focus on innovative solutions to client needs. The firm supports the Association of Corporate Counsel in the ACC Value Challenge, which seeks to better align legal services with the needs of corporate clients.

The firm is located in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic regions, and serves clients nationally and globally, with more than 500 attorneys in 11 offices: Atlanta, GA; Greenville, SC; Charlotte, Greensboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, and Winston-Salem, NC; Washington, DC; Tysons Corner, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Wilmington, DE.

In the community, the firm is the first law firm to receive the Thurgood Marshall College Fund Corporate Leadership Award as well as the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve Freedom Award.

 

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For additional Information, please contact

Christine Gorelick

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County

336.722.2585, EXT. 123

cgorelick@intothearts.org