Press Releases

Shelby Stephenson, award winning poet, educator and recipient of a North Carolina Award for literature, will be installed as the state's poet laureate in a ceremony with North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory on Monday, Feb. 2, 5:30 p.m. in the historic State Capitol, House of Representatives Chamber, One E. Edenton Street in downtown Raleigh.

The North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame is honored to announce its 2015 induction class. The 10 new members, listed alphabetically, are Jeff Bostic, Joe Bostic, John Clougherty, Freddie Combs, Rick Hendrick, Gene Littles, Jerry McGee, Lenox Rawlings, Charlotte Smith, and Andrea Stinson.

North Carolina Symphony Music Director Grant Llewellyn and Sandi Macdonald, President and CEO of the North Carolina Symphony today announced programming for its 2015/16 season, the orchestra’s 83rd season and Llewellyn’s 12th season as Music Director.  

Resident Conductor William Henry Curry and the North Carolina Symphony will perform an all Tchaikovsky program on Friday, Jan. 30, at noon in Meymandi Concert Hall in Raleigh.  The concert will feature Tchaikovsky’s Cossack Dance from Mazeppa, his Symphony No. 4, as well as a world premiere orchestration by Curry of Tchaikovsky’s Military March.

Blackbeard returns to the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort as a newly expanded exhibit opens to the public on Saturday, January 24. The exhibit includes new artifacts from Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge and a new Conservation Laboratory.

The Tryon Palace Foundation will host its annual fundraising event, “WinterFeast: Oysters, Brews and Comfort Foods,” on Friday, Jan. 30. This indoor/outdoor event will be held at the North Carolina History Center from 5:30-8:30 p.m. and tickets are limited.

The 33rd Regiment North Carolina State Troops first saw battle at New Bern on March 14, 1862. There the unit lost 32 men and 28 were wounded. Union Brig. Gen. John G. Foster reported the capture of the 33rd Regiment’s commander, Col. Clark M. Avery, and 150 of his men during the battle. It is likely that the regiment’s flag, a standard wool bunting flag of North Carolina, was captured at the same time. 

A gift for the New Year will be presented to the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center Jan. 20 at 2 p.m., in the form of a cannon carriage crafted by students at Lenoir Community College. The wooden carriage has been reconstructed based on original drawings and will be placed in the casemate, a fortified structure where the cannon would be located. It is part of the Civil War 150th anniversary commemoration administered by the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

Celebrating 86 years of service in 2015, the North Carolina State Highway Patrol remains dedicated to fulfilling its primary mission — promoting a safer state. A new exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh will highlight the organization’s history and showcase vehicles, firearms, uniforms and more from 1929 to the present. The exhibition North Carolina State Highway Patrol: Service, Safety, Sacrifice will open Saturday, Jan. 31, and run through Aug. 2, 2015. Admission is free. The exhibit was produced in conjunction with the North Carolina State Highway Patrol and the Highway Patrol Hall of History.

This March the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) presents Art in Bloom, its inaugural festival of art and flowers. The four-day event, March 19–22, features 45 floral masterpieces inspired by the NCMA’s permanent collection and created by world-class floral designers. The festival includes master classes, floral demonstrations, presentations by the floral designer for the Royal Family, family activities, a wine tasting, and many other events.