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.

The Grandin Theatre needs to raise $28,000 to reach its funding goal.

The Grandin Theatre has announced a public campaign to raise funds to replace its film projectors with digital equipment. Executive director Kathy Chittum outlines the details in a press release she sent, excerpted below. —MikeA

• Theaters around the country are converting to digital as a result of production companies abandoning the 35mm format.  20^th Century Fox has stated that they will no longer support 35mm film after December 2013.
• The GT will convert all four screens to digital.
• With a successful digital conversion capital campaign, the GT will hope to complete the digital conversion during by mid-April.
• During conversion, the GT will need to shut down screens on a rotating basis for a few days, minimizing the impact upon our business/patrons.
• Digital conversion is a significant step forward in implementing the strategic plan for GT’s future by the GTF executive and Board
• Digital conversion will enhance the GT experience by providing better sound and visual quality for our patrons
• The digital conversion will not result in an increased ticket price
• The digital conversion will cost approximately $210k
• The GTF is excited to announce that we have made significant progress in achieving our capital campaign goal through generous grants from the Roanoke Valley Women’s Foundation ($95k), the Taubman Sustainability fund ($50k), and from our members ($37k) such that we now have $182k on hand.
• The GTF invites the general public to partner with us in helping us achieve our fundraising goal by sending donations of ANY AMOUNT to the GTF, 1310 Grandin Road, Roanoke, VA 24015 or donating via our website, www.grandintheatre.com  to insure that the GT remains a vibrant part of Roanoke’s regional culture community by providing the very best in cinematic arts.
• We look forward to many exciting events this year, our first-ever film festival will be held in April 2013, stay tuned for more details!

The Virginia Museum of Transportation today announced a feasibility study to look into whether it will be possible to get its world-famous 611 steam locomotive working again. What do you think of the idea? Sound off in the comments.

The 611 engine at the Virginia Museum of Transportation.

Rail fans have long hoped to see the Virginia Museum of Transportation’s historic Norfolk & Western Class J-611 steam engine roll down the tracks again under its own power.

Today, the museum announced that it’s organizing a study to find out what it will take to get the 611 fully operational.

Called “Fire Up 611!,” the study isn’t a guarantee the engine will actually be fired up. The committee will look not just at what repairs and upgrades the 611 might need, but what sort of financial strain a restoration would put on the museum’s day-to-day operations.

If bringing the beloved streamlined 611, which was built in the Norfolk and Western Railway’s Roanoke shops, back to life turns out to be feasible, the transportation museum will have to put out a call to the international rail community to raise the funds, Museum Executive Director Bev Fitzpatrick said. The engine is considered the most modern steam locomotive in existence.

A volunteer team of steam engine enthusiasts has stepped forward to conduct the study. They include Atlanta, Ga. software consultant Cheri George, Birmingham, Ala., historic rail equipment restorer Scott Lindsay and Roanoke rail safety consultant Preston Claytor, all of whom volunteered on the 611’s crew during the interval when Norfolk Southern used it for passenger excursions, 1981 to 1994.

The museum is launching a fund raising campaign today to pay for the study’s expenses, said museum public relations director Peg McGuire. Should the task of getting the 611 operational prove to be out of the museum’s reach, the funds will go into an endowment to pay for the locomotive’s upkeep as an exhibit.

 Click here to read the rest of the story.

From Sunday’s column:

The Roanoke Valley SPCA’s annual “Best in Show” fundraiser will begin at 6:30 p.m. Friday in the atrium of the Taubman Museum of Art.

More than 200 artists have contributed paintings, drawings and sculptures that will be for sale during the reception. As a new element, participants were encouraged to create artistic versions of dog and cat houses and pet beds. At least half the proceeds of each sale benefit the animal welfare organization. Purchased pieces can be picked up after 8 p.m. Friday.

The physical show lasts only through Friday evening, though a virtual exhibit and sale of the remaining unsold art will continue through the end of March on the Roanoke Valley SPCA’s website and Facebook pages.

The nonprofit’s calendar committee will select a piece from the show for the cover of its 2014 Pet Calendar. Last year, Troutville artist Judith Lochbrunner won the Best in Show prize with her painted paper collage “Play Day.”

Other prizes will be awarded by guest judge Karen-Sam Norgard, an artist and professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. Sponsored by HomeTown Bank, the event will feature music from the Jeff Todd Trio.

Admission is $5; children 12 and under, $1. For more information, call 339-9247 or visit rvspca.org/events or the Roanoke Valley SPCA page on Facebook.

As an addendum to Sunday’s story on successful Kickstarter campaigns in Southwest Virginia, here are three new Kickstarter projects in our region seeking funds right now:

“Run Devil Run — A Short Film”

http://tinyurl.com/rundevilfilm
Category: film & video
Town: Roanoke
Seeking: $850
Raised so far: $400 (Update: Fully funded!)
Deadline: Tuesday
Daleville actor Ian Kyle seeks funds to complete the editing of a short crime drama filmed in Roanoke.
$100 reward: Thank you card, poster, movie DVD, soundtrack CD, movie still, executive producer credit.

“Support My Debut Music Video!”

http://tinyurl.com/debutvideo
Category: pop
Town: Roanoke
Seeking: $3,000
Raised so far: $1,216 (Update: $1,266)
Deadline: March 2
Roanoke singer Amanda Stathos, 22, wants funds for a music video to accompany her song “Used To Be.”
$100 reward: A cd, autographed photo, a copy of the video with additional “making of” footage and credit as a producer.

“A treehouse for my son”

http://tinyurl.com/birthdaytree
Category: art
Town: Martinsville
Seeking: $500
Raised so far: $230 (Update: $255)
Deadline: March 10
Construction worker Chris Murdock, 27, wants funds to buy materials to build his son a treehouse as a birthday gift.
$100 reward: A thank-you phone call from Murdock’s son.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: The status of the Mail Pilot email app project was incorrect in the initial version of this story, which has since been updated. Your columnist regrets the error. —MikeA

Photo courtesy of Jeff Rowberg. Keyglove allows the wearer to operate a computer by waving and turning their hand and touching their fingers to sensors on the palm and fingers of the glove.

Yancey Strickler had a surreal and exciting experience when he recently returned to Blacksburg to visit his parents.

Just down the road from his parents’ house, he saw signs for the filming of an independent Western called “Restitution,” funded by more than $6,000 raised through Kickstarter.com, the company Strickler co-founded.

Kickstarter is an online funding site that allows a creator to pitch a project and ask people to pledge money to make it happen. In exchange, the backers often receive copies of the finished project or other rewards.

Already high profile, Kickstarter saw its renown grow exponentially in 2012, when 17 projects exceeded $1 million in funding.

“I don’t think it’s even something that we thought about or planned for or even hoped for,” Strickler said of the site’s multimillion-dollar successes.

Photo by Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times. Haden Polseno-Hensley, the 34-year-old co-owner of Red Rooster Coffee Roaster in Floyd, has run four successful Kickstarters in a row.

Though the Roanoke and New River valleys can’t boast Kickstarter campaigns on that scale, they have their share of success stories.

Roanoke computer technician Jeff Rowberg raised $12,000 to help manufacture a sensor-studded glove that performs the same functions as a computer mouse and keyboard. Virginia Tech professor John Boyer, known by his nom de plume, “The Plaid Avenger,” raised $23,000 to create an educational cellphone app. Floyd businessman Haden Polseno-Hensley had enough successful campaigns that he said he is done for now. (Full disclosure: I ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for an anthology project in July that raised $10,000.)

According to figures provided by Kickstarter spokesman Justin Kazmark, as of this month there have been 40 projects successfully funded through Kickstarter that were launched within a 50-mile radius of Roanoke. Blacksburg has the lead with 12, Roanoke has 11, and Floyd comes in third with 6. In the most recently successful project,Blacksburg student Clara Keller sought $525 to make a functional mermaid costume. She’s raised $545 so far.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

From my Inbox to you:

The Radford University Arts Society is hosting their second annual Give Your Heart to Art benefit on Valentine’s Day. The profits of the benefit will go to the RU Art Museum acquisition fund, but of particular note to Roanoke is that the event honors Dorothy Gillespie.

Ms. Gillespie passed in September, but she was a huge supporter of the arts both in the Roanoke and New River Valleys and internationally. Gerry McCarthy of Roanoke is going to present a documentary he made on the life and career of Gillespie.

For more information: http://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/news/releases/2013/january/feb–14-arts-benefit-will-celebrate-dorothy-gillespie.html

From my Inbox to you:

“History Is Served”

Christy Coleman on the Road to Emancipation: From Proclamation to 13th Amendment

Christy Coleman

The History Museum of Western Virginia is pleased to present our annual History Is Served luncheon in the Hotel Roanoke’s Crystal Ballroom on Sunday, February 17, 2013.  This event, a favorite “must-do” in the region, includes guest speaker, delicious lunch, and silent auction.

It is our honor to announce as our guest speaker this year Christy Coleman, President and CEO of the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar. Ms. Coleman will speak on the Road to Emancipation:  From Proclamation to 13th Amendment.  She will discuss how, on September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln published what would become known as the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. This document enraged the South as being unenforceable and further proof that Lincoln intended to end their way of life. Radical Republicans in the Union also raged against the document for not going far enough to end slavery in these United States. When the proclamation was released January 1, 1863, it contained few of the caveats of the preliminary document. The impact has been debated; however, it laid the groundwork for the 13th Amendment which officially ended slavery in the United States.

 “History Is Served” is made possible in part by the generous support of W. Scott Hengerer, CMFC, CPRC, Senior Financial Advisor with Ameriprise Financial and Howell’s Motor Freight.

WHEN:  February 17, 2013, noon – 3 p.m.

WHERE:  Crystal Ballroom, Hotel Roanoke.

COST: $75.00 per person

For more information or to purchase tickets, please call the Museum at 540-224-1206, deadline February 13, 2013 Read more »