Courtesy Virginia Tech. Chromatmos I (top) and Chromatmos II by Truman Capone. Each piece measures 5 inches by 19 inches.

Blacksburg artist Truman Capone, a professor emeritus and former director of Virginia Tech’s School of Visual Arts, had works “Chromatmos I” and “Chromatmos II” selected for “SMALL WONDERS, Piccole Meraviglie,” a juried show that took place at LINEA Spazio Arte Contemporanea (the LINEA Contemporary Art Space) in Florence, Italy from April 20 to May 4. Though being selected for the show was an honor in its own right, the show’s jury awarded Capone the grand prize, full participation in the Florence Biennale, to be held Nov. 30 to Dec. 8 in the Fortezza da Basso. Capone’s art competed against artists from 20 other countries.

According to a bio provided by Tech, Capone received his bachelor’s degree from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, a master’s degree from Virginia Tech, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Radford University.

From my Inbox to you. RSO Marketing Director Rodney Overstreet informs me that:

Of the 13 who will receive contracts as a result of this audition, 11 are new contracted positions, and 2 are replacing previously contracted musicians.

The number of musicians on stage at any given concert is dependent on the program/repertoire. With the 2013-2014 season, the maximum total number is now 83.

The Roanoke Symphony Orchestra announces the selection of thirteen new musician members. Auditions took place on Monday, May 6, 2013 at the RSO’s location on East Campbell Avenue in Roanoke. Sixty-five, out of more than one hundred applicants, were invited to audition. Applications came from across the U.S. and as far away as Europe for three Principal positions and ten Section positions.

Music Director & Conductor David Stewart Wiley commented, “In my 17 years at the RSO, I have never been as impressed as I was this week with the artistic level of our Strings auditionees.  Their great artistry, diversity, and a vast range of professional experience bodes well for the continued artistic growth and versatility of the RSO. We welcome these new colleagues and raise the bar of what we can achieve as a stable and innovative regional orchestra.”

Matvey Lapin, currently of Gosport, Indiana, was selected by the RSO to fulfill the position of Principal Second Violin. Lapin earned his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia. Previous performance experience includes positions with the Columbus (IN) Symphony Orchestra, Terre Haute Symphony, and St. Petersburg String Quartet, among others. Lapin was the 2006 winner of the Indiana University Jacob School of Music Concerto Competition.

Kathleen Overfield-Zook of Harrisonburg, Virginia was selected for the Principal Viola position. Overfield-Zook earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from University of Michigan. Her performance experience includes Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra, and The Bloom Trio, among others. Read more »

Did you attend “The Role of the Arts in Economic Development” panel? What did you think? Do you have further questions, or answers to suggest? Please let me know in the comments. –MikeA

DON PETERSEN | Special to The Roanoke Times. Panelist David Mickenberg, former president and CEO of the Taubman Museum of Art, makes a point at the Executive Discussion Series on Wednesday. Titled “The Role of the Arts in Economic Development,” the forum was attended by many artists, university faculty and regional officials.

The regional arts community wants answers.

The questions, articulated with urgency, weren’t new. How does a community sustain the arts financially over the long term, where does the funding come from, who deserves to receive it? How do you battle the perception that arts aren’t essential? Will localities in Roanoke and the New River Valley band together to promote the arts as part of their brand, and if so how?

Wednesday morning, those question were posed to and raised by the five panelists at a roundtable discussion, part of the ongoing Executive Discussion Series co-sponsored by The Roanoke Times and Cox Business. The panel, “The Role of the Arts in Economic Development,” attracted the largest crowd in the two-year history of the series, with about 135 attending the breakfast meeting at the Sheraton Roanoke Hotel and Conference Center.

Moderator Connie Stevens of public radio station WVTF-FM noted that the audience was made up almost entirely of stakeholders: artists, representatives from nonprofits, government officials, university faculty.

The panelists were Roanoke City Manager Chris Morrill; former Taubman Museum of Art CEO and President David Mickenberg; Ruth Waalkes, executive director of the Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech; Amy Moorefield, director of the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University; and Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission Executive Director Wayne Strickland. These heavy hitters didn’t have specific answers to many of the sweeping questions placed on the table, though often they brought up issues of their own.

“I hope this is the beginning of a broader conversation on why we support the arts and what it takes to support the arts,” Mickenberg said.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

This past Sunday, we published a preview of the roundtable in which the five panelists provided written answers to questions about the role of the arts in regional economic development. Click here to read those interviews.

Photo by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS | The Roanoke Times. The Science Museum of Western Virginia, on the fourth and fifth floors of Center in the Square, is still unveiling its exhibitions in preparation for the May 18 opening.

Aquariums, iPads and flat screen televisions. Chandeliers and sculpted ceilings. Floor tiles arranged to make the shape of a giant butterfly. A skylight with colored glass in irregular shapes that seems to match the late Dorothy Gillespie’s aluminum sculptures ascending toward it.

There’s no question that more than $27 million in renovations has transformed Center in the Square.

At a Tuesday morning news conference, Center President and General Manager Jim Sears talked about how the days are gone for good when all a visitor saw in Center’s atrium were two volunteers seated at a desk.

“This project was a great labor of love,” said David Bandy , president of Roanoke architecture firm Spectrum Design, which designed the building. Flourishes such as allowing the science museum’s new butterfly garden to rise through the roof had to be balanced with conservation of historical features to meet requirements for tax credits, he said.

Center has less than two weeks to go until its May 18 grand reopening, with a preview Grand Affair gala scheduled for Saturday. Though on schedule and on budget, the project’s hectic pace to put on finishing touches has become more frantic than ever.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

Photo by STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS | The Roanoke Times.
The newly renovated Center in the Square building features a rooftop deck with a restaurant space, a koi pond still being lined, the skylight for the butterfly exhibit, and a glass railed staircase to an upper deck with a view of downtown Roanoke.

At today’s media day, Kathleen Fort, Center in the Square’s new Volunteer Program Manager, says she still needs volunteers to help with the Grand Affair gala on Saturday, May 11 and the Family Day of Discovery event Saturday, May 18.

Volunteer for a shift and you get in free (admission to Grand Affair is $75, admission to Family Day is $15, children 3 to 17 $10.)

Call Fort at 224-1216 to learn more about what she needs for both events.

Click the picture to see Rebecca Barnett’s photo gallery:

From my Inbox to you:

Hull’s will show Newly Released Movies Starting May 3rd with Iron Man 3

Following the successful fundraising campaign and installation of a state-of-the-art Digital Projection System last year, Hull’s announces that, starting May 3^rd,, movie fans can look forward to Hollywood’s newest movies at Hull’s Drive-In!  Opening with Disney’s Iron Man 3 and Oz: The Great and Powerful, Hull’s Drive-In fans can enjoy the newest films at the hottest prices with adult tickets for double-features still just $7 , kids from 7-11 $3, and kids 6 & under still FREE!   Where else can you see 2 movies for less than the price of one – on the area’s largest movie screen – while feasting on a fabulous Buffalo Creek Burger and freshly popped popcorn – all under the stars?  Nowhere else but Hull’s – proudly providing affordable family-priced entertainment since 1950!

Hull’s Drive-In shows movies every weekend Friday – Sunday, March thru October, with Thursday nights added during the Summer.  New features will be shown for more than one weekend at Hull’s giving fans a chance to plan ahead and avoid bad weather.  For current movie listings, visit www.hullsdrivein.com;  like Hull’s on Facebook;  check your local listings or call the good old-fashioned Movie HotLine at 540.463.2621.

While you’re visiting Hull’s, be sure to drop by the newly renovated concession stand – guaranteed to cut your wait time for that must-have movie snack – from the famous fresh-popped popcorn, candy and cooling beverages to delicious fresh hot grilled specialties!

With larger than usual crowds expected for new movies, gates will open by 6pm nightly.  So, call your friends, grab the family and head out to Hull’s!

Natasha Trethewey

The prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences, founded during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock and others, has inducted two Hollins University creative writing program graduates into its ranks: U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Natasha Trethewey and 1975 Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Dillard, author of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

Trethewey earned her master’s degree in creative writing at Hollins in 1991, and returned last spring to serve as the 2012 Louis D. Rubin writer-in-residence. In the summer the Library of Congress chose her as the 19th U.S. Poet Laureate. Her collection “Native Guard” won the 2007 Pulitzer for poetry.

Dillard is a member of the Hollins class of  ’67 and earned her M.A. in Creative Writing in ’68.

The two authors are in intriguing company. From the Academy press release:

In the Humanities and the Arts, new members include: novelist Martin Amis; novelist and essayist Wendell Berry; philosopher David Chalmers; director and actor Robert De Niro; Pulitzer Prize-winning poets Annie Dillard and U.S. Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey; actor Sally Field; Michael Fishbane, a scholar of Jewish studies; operatic soprano Renée Fleming; jazz musician Herbie Hancock; documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles; French history scholar Sarah Maza; linguist David Perlmutter; artist Judy Pfaff; Stuart Schwartz, a leading historian of colonial slavery; artist Yoshiaki Shimizu; and singer-songwriters Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen.