Press Releases

In the 2005 comedy-drama “Junebug,” Madeleine, a sophisticated art dealer from Chicago, visits North Carolina to check out a self-taught “outsider” artist. She and her brand-new husband extend the trip to meet her eccentric in-laws in a small North Carolina town. This homecoming story of clashing cultures, family complexities, and small-town life was written by University of North Carolina School of the Arts alumnus Angus MacLachlan. The film was shot in Winston-Salem, as well as Pfafftown and McLeansville.   

The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that 18 individual properties and districts across the state have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The following properties were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee and were subsequently approved by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer and forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register.

A partnership between the North Carolina Symphony (NCS) and the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) has received a prestigious Yale Distinguished Music Award. Symphony Education Director Sarah Gilpin and Martin Middle Magnet School orchestra director Anita Hynus will attend Yale’s fifth biennial Symposium on Music in Schools, which will take place June 4-7 in New Haven, Conn.  

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.