TCB June 22, 2023 — Rainbow Rave

CITY LIFE

THURSDAY JUNE 22

Savor the Moment Ribbon Cutting Ceremony @ Savor the Moment Bakery (HP) 4 p.m.

Savor the Moment Bakery is excited to announce the opening of its High Point location. Stop by for a ribbon cutting ceremony before enjoying decadent sweet treats. A grand opening celebration will be held Friday at 6. Visit the bakery’s Facebook page for updates.

by MICHAELA RATLIFF

FRIDAY JUNE 23

JUNE 22 - 24

SATURDAY JUNE 24

Glenwood Crosswalk Mural Celebration & Ceremony @ Haywood & Neal St. (GSO) 6 p.m.

Lumbee artist Tamra Hunt created the Glenwood neighborhood crosswalk mural to pay homage to Indigenous/Native families living in the area. Celebrate the completion of the mural with traditional Native songs, stories and ceremonies. Visit the event page on Facebook for more information.

Bookmarks Presents Chris Paul @ Wake Forest University (W-S) 7 p.m.

NBA superstar and Winston-Salem native Chris Paul returns home for a moderated conversation about his memoir Sixty-One: Life Lessons from Papa, On and Off the Court. Purchase tickets on Eventbrite

R&B Summer Nights @ Flat Iron (GSO) 7 p.m.

Performers Bianca Jade, DapYP and Taylor Williams invite you to experience the magic and enjoy a night of exciting R&B tunes in a soulful atmosphere. Learn more and purchase tickets on Eventbrite

Sunny Side Up @ Paddled South Brewing (HP) 8 p.m.

Join Paddled for a night of laughs during this stand-up comedy show featuring four talented comedians: Carl Martindale, David Goolsby, Neil Hoover and Ethan Justice. Hoover specifically has an interesting set, adding humor to topics like losing his leg and growing up poor in the rural south. urchase tickets on Eventbrite

Climb Out of the Darkness @ Jack Warren Park (Lewisville) 9 a.m.

Postpartum Resource Center of the Triad in conjunction with Postpartum Support International is hosting a free event to raise awareness of perinatal mental health disorders where survivors and their supporters are encouraged to walk, stroll or climb out of the darkness. Register in advance at classy.org/team/477881

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You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown @ Centennial Station Arts Center (HP) 2 p.m.

Adults from High Point Community Theatre become kids for a time during this production of You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown. Watch as the Peanuts gang navigates crushes on their peers, celebrates the joy of friendship and other activities in this show for the entire family. Purchase tickets at hpct.net/events/charliebrown

Find more events and add your own to our calendar at triad-city-beat.com/local-events

TCBTix is the local ticketing platform created exclusively for Triad-area community events. It’s free, easy to use, and fully customizable with all-access ticketing features to meet your event’s unique needs.

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t didn’t come as much of a surprise when the board of directors for Triad Stage announced via a press release that they were permanently closing the doors to its 20-plus-year-old organization on Tuesday morning. What was slightly more shocking was the local news’ coverage of the event, or lack thereof.

Ithe domino effect that led to Triad Stage’s closure on Tuesday.

by Sayaka Matsuoka

As you can read in TCB’s piece on the closure, Triad Stage was mired with financial difficulties that ultimately led to its demise. But part of that story is the fact that one of the co-founders of the organization and the artistic director at the time, Preston Lane, was accused of sexual assault and sexual misconduct back in 2020. That story was first reported by Jordan Green, who was senior editor of TCB at the time.

One could argue, nay, insist, that the incident played a crucial part in

And yet, none of the local news reported that part. Not the local TV stations and not our daily paper of record, the News & Record. In fact, the N&R’s piece was the shortest of them all. It wasn’t until Tuesday night that the daily updated their piece to include more context, adding the history about Lane. Yes! Weekly only republished the press release.

It’s hard to decipher why such a significant event would be left out of all of these outlet’s reporting.

In our world, errors of fact are the most egregious of missteps that a journalist can make in their reporting, but an omission of fact is a close second.

But that’s the realm in which we operate. It’s why we continue to write and report and put out papers.

My story took all of 20 minutes to write and put together. We weren’t the first, but we certainly were the most thorough. And that’s how we’ll continue to operate. Because if not us, then who?

Errors of fact are the most egregious of missteps that a journalist can make, but an omission of fact is a close second.

Our mission is to be radically inclusive. I’ve found that it is one thing to say someone is included, but truly another to feel included.

David Bower, pg. 10

“ “

Triad Stage announces closure after 20 years amidst financial difficulties, staffing issues

by Sayaka Matsuoka

On Tuesday morning, the board of directors for Triad Stage in Greensboro announced that the 20-plus-year theater organization was closing its doors.

In a press release, the board stated that “the operation of Triad Stage is unsustainable” and that they had “determined that the only responsible option remaining is to liquidate our assets and dissolve the organization.”

In mid-April, Triad City Beat and other news outlets reported that the theater company, which was founded in 2002, was facing financial difficulties. At the time, Triad Stage leadership had announced that they would be halting operations for the time being and canceling their upcoming production of The Cake. Now, almost two months later, the company is closing for good.

“We are devastated by this outcome,” said Board Co-Chair Cassandra Williams in the release. “Triad Stage has been key to revitalizing downtown Greensboro and an artistic refuge for writers, performers and theatergoers. For 20 years this organization entertained audiences, premiered new work, and introduced schoolchildren to the experience of live theater. We should never lose sight of the good work that has been done here, and we will deeply miss our role in Greensboro’s arts community.”

While it’s true that Triad Stage played an important role within the city’s arts community and the downtown area for the last two decades, the organization hasn’t been without its share of controversy.

As first reported by TCB, one of the co-founders of Triad Stage, Preston Lane, was accused of sexual assault in 2020. Lane was artistic director at Triad Stage at the time. Lane ultimately ended up resigning from the organization and then, three full-time employees were laid off. Shortly afterwards, the board closed the organization completely.

However, in the article from April, Executive Director Kate Holland said that the main issues facing Triad Stage were lack of finances. Holland said she couldn’t comment on the Preston Lane case.

“Certainly resulting from the pandemic, certainly resulting from the shutdowns from pandemic, but also losing the founders over the last few years really affected how people felt about donating to us,” Holland said in April.

After Lane’s departure in 2020 and the theater’s subsequent closing, Triad Stage underwent an intense restructuring and rethinking of the organization’s culture. In 2022, the arts organization reopened after spending the prior two years engaged in intensive diversity and equity training, as reported by TCB

At the time, Artistic Director Sarah Hankins told TCB that the overall process was “exhausting” but that she was “hopeful” for the future.

Tuesday’s press release acknowledges the organization’s shift in culture stating that they “made significant changes to its operating model, including a shift in artistic focus to include newer productions and more diverse storytelling, as well as a reduced operating budget. It also disposed of its offsite

Triad Stage was founded in 2002 by Preston Lane and Richard Whittington.

PHOTO BY SAYAKA MATSUOKA

We are devastated by this outcome.

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scene shop as part of the effort to address its longstanding deficit.”

The release added that “by the time the pandemic forced its closure in 2020, the theater was carrying an accumulated deficit of $1.5 million.”

While the board and staff hoped to open in 2023, their revenue projections fell short “with houses averaging less than half full over the course of the first two mainstage productions.” The decrease in revenue plus the costs of production as well as the downsizing of staff, is what ultimately led to the company’s closure, the release states.

In the next few weeks, Triad Stage will be disposing of its remaining assets and resolving liabilities. The ticket office will remain open to support the Eastern Musical Festival through its 2023 season. Ticket holders will be contacted directly regarding outstanding ticket credits.

“Triad Stage has assets valued considerably in excess of its liabilities and, although the liquidation process will require some patience, it is the organization’s intention and expectation to satisfy liabilities to ticket holders and other creditors in full,” the release states.

In April, the organization hosted a warehouse sale that was scheduled for multiple days, but due to overwhelming popularity, only lasted one afternoon. At the time, Executive Director Holland said the sale wasn’t related to the company’s financial troubles.

“We were planning to clean out the warehouse this summer regardless of the situation,” she said. “It’s just the timing seems to relate to the pause in operations.”

Idea of prepared-food tax in GSO revived during Tuesday city council meeting, emails show lobbyists working behind the scenes

by Gale Melcher

During Greensboro’s city council meeting on Tuesday, the possibility of a prepared-food tax was publicly discussed for the first time in weeks.

Some members of city council, including Mayor Nancy Vaughan, do not support increasing property tax rates outlined in the FY 23-24 budget, which was approved Tuesday night. The budget includes a city property tax rate of 67.25 cents per $100 property valuation, a four cent increase from the previous budget

As an alternative, Vaughan suggested additional funding streams — including a prepared-food tax.

“I feel that not exploring all funding opportunities is irresponsible and puts our city at a competitive disadvantage,” Vaughan said, noting there have been “exploratory discussions about potential revenue sources, such as a prepared food tax.”

Over the past couple of months, Triad City Beat has been chasing answers about a potential 1-percent prepared food tax that would affect all residents of Guilford County. In early May, TCB uncovered conversations that showed some of the city’s most powerful individuals’ — including Vaughan and councilmember Zack Matheny — attempt to pass a prepared-food tax without voter approval by analyzing emails compiled on Open Gate City

Currently, the total state and county sales tax rates for Guilford County is 6.75 percent. With a prepared-food tax, an extra 1 percent would be tacked onto meals served out of local restaurants for both dine-in and carry-out.

When TCB asked Vaughan and councilmember Matheny in May about the prepared food tax’s status, Vaughan replied that there was “no movement.” Matheny said that he “attended some meetings and was copied on emails” but that he “hadn’t heard of anything in a while.”

However, Vaughan seemed to have changed her mind as of Tuesday’s city council meeting.

“A prepared food tax would require support of our residents, our delegation and our legislature,” she said, adding that at the current time the city has not submitted a request.

“The city is doing its due diligence to determine the benefits to our residents, our business and what the budget implications will be. It’s a complicated issue and we are still gathering information,” Vaughan said, noting that there will be “ample opportunity for input and discussion.”

Through the adoption of local acts, state lawmakers have the authority to pass a prepared-food tax. When drafting a local act, the General Assembly can dictate the terms of how a meals tax may be imposed, and may require that constituents get a say in the matter. Voters may be asked via a referen-

dum whether or not to enact the tax. However, emails analyzed by TCB back in May showed that officials in Greensboro were interested in enacting the tax without voter approval

Councilmember Sharon Hightower inquired about the process on Tuesday evening, to which Vaughan replied that the city is “not ready to move forward” and that “we wanna make sure we have a good plan that answers all questions.”

“Who is ‘we’?” Hightower asked.

“It is an exploratory group,” Vaughan responded, and stated further that there are “a number of us looking at what different funding mechanisms could be.”

“The food tax discussion is troubling,” Hightower continued, adding, “because certain ones are having it and everybody’s not having it….I can’t support a food tax without a referendum.”

Who is ‘we’?

In an interview with TCB after Tuesday’s meeting, Vaughan stood firmly behind the idea of a prepared-food tax.

“I think that we would be silly not to consider it,” she said, adding, “and we have the largest coliseum arena in the state.”

TCB’s article from May unveiled how political representatives like Vaughan were having conversations with business leaders like the Greensboro Coliseum’s managing director Matt Brown about passing the tax for revenue.

“All that takes money to maintain, and when you’ve got Charlotte and Raleigh that have a significant amount of legislative support and things like the prepared food tax, we’d be silly not to be speaking with our legislators,” Vaughan said on Tuesday.

Councilmembers Marikay Abuzuaiter and Nancy Hoffmann have also voiced their support for a prepared-food tax in the past.

Hoffmann relayed to Brown in an Oct. 2 email that she was excited about the prospect.

“You know I have favored this for some years,” Hoffmann said, and thanked Brown for “bringing together all the players.”

“Count on me to help in any way I can,” she added.

More recently, Abuzuaiter brought the topic up in a May 9 city council work session. Abuzuaiter mentioned that she is a council liaison to the Greensboro Sports Foundation, saying, “We have been discussing quite extensively — other cities are way ahead of us…Greensboro has the opportunity to become a youth sports town, which we basically are but all of the other cities are so far ahead of us building all these new facilities.”

When asked on Tuesday evening if a voter referendum would be used to pass the tax, Vaughan didn’t give a clear answer.

“I would say everything’s on the table, but again it’s gotta be right for the city, for the county,” she said. “There are just a lot of moving parts, and we’re just not there yet.”

When TCB’s article came out in May, members of city council, including Mayor Nancy Vaughan, as well as other political players denied that there were ongoing conversations about the food tax as of this year.

However, in recent weeks, former Yes! Weekly Editor Jeff Sykes — who now writes a Substack delving into city government and politics called Washington & Greene — has used TCB’s city council email tool to uncover more

This piece is part of our CityBeat that covers Greensboro and Winston-Salem city council business, made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. To learn how, visit triad-city-beat.com/republish.

emails. He then shared emails obtained through public records requests with TCB that appear to explain Vaughan’s change of heart.

These emails reveal months of correspondence regarding a prepared-food tax between Greensboro Sports Foundation President and CEO Richard Beard and representatives of KTS Strategies, a consulting firm and subsidiary company of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton that assists clients with advocacy and business strategy across all levels of government — in both state and federal arenas.

According to the newly analyzed emails, Beard and members of KTS Strategies have been discussing how to pass the tax in Greensboro since last fall.

Emails reveal GSO org working with lobbyists

In a Sept. 27, 2022 email, sports tourism industry leader Hill Carrow connected Beard with KTS Strategies Senior Managing Director Charles “Ches” McDowell — a lobbyist representing clients in all levels of government with a focus on the NC General Assembly — and managing director Nelson Freeman.

Carrow wrote: “Richard and I have worked on sports tourism projects in the Triad for many years, and he is now working to take it to the next level [in] Guilford County…. Richard is running point on an initiative in Greater Greensboro to get legislative approval for instituting a prepared food tax…. I told Richard that you guys were the best, and had done an outstanding job on our World University Games legislative request.”

On that same day on Sept. 27, Beard and McDowell connected via email, with Beard writing to McDowell: “We are working on a project that will require GA support. It would be a local bill and we can discuss more later. We have a community meeting to kick off the project sometime in the next 2 weeks. I would like to get that meeting in before we talk.”

Beard added in a separate email, “I think it would be better for me to get past a meeting scheduled on October 11 before we have a discussion.”

In previously discovered emails, Greensboro Coliseum Managing Director Matt Brown scheduled an initial meeting for Oct. 11 as well as a follow-up meeting for Dec. 2 to discuss their “next steps toward the implementation of a Guilford County wide Prepared Food Tax.” Brown invited a number of city officials and major power players to attend, including Vaughan, Zack

Matheny, Nancy Hoffmann, Beard, Guilford County Board of Commissioners

Chair Skip Alston, former Greensboro Mayor Jim Melvin and President and CEO of Greensboro Chamber of Commerce Brent Christensen.

On Oct. 27, Beard wrote to McDowell to arrange a call the following week.

On Dec. 3, Beard wrote to McDowell, saying that he was “ready to proceed with conversation and engagement of [their] team” and that he wanted to schedule a meeting with key stakeholders like Mayor Vaughan, Jim Melvin and Brent Christensen. Beard added that they “[were] working with HPU on an economic impact study on Sports Tourism in Guilford County.”

Beard then discussed “highlights” from initial conversation, including a “retainer of $10,000 per month for the duration of the assignment” and how the KTS Strategies team would guide them with “any and all conversations with GA members.” They would also assist in developing a strategy with Greensboro City Council members, Guilford County commissioners and local General Assembly members.

“Could we possibly schedule a meeting, in person, the week of 12/12 or 12/19, prior to everyone getting away for the holidays?” Beard asked in the Dec. 3 email. “My goal is to get this engaged so we are ready to move forward Jan 1.”

McDowell confirmed the details and Beard was later sent an engagement letter on Dec. 5 by Amanda Honaker, the company’s government relations advisor. A document discovered through the city’s public records request database shows an agreement for consulting services between Greensboro Sports Foundation and KTS Strategies.

“The term of our representation will start on January 1, 2023,” the agreement dictates.

Beard’s last discovered correspondence is dated Dec. 9 and was sent to Greensboro Chamber of Commerce President Brent Christensen. Vaughan was CC’d on the emails.

Lobbyists, business leaders skirt questions

Despite the preponderance of emails discovered through public records requests, when TCB asked Beard if KTS Strategies had made any movement on the prepared food tax with the General Assembly, Beard replied, “I have no comment.” He replied similarly when asked if the Greensboro Sports Foundation was still working with KTS Strategies.

When asked if anyone else would be willing to speak on the matter, Beard claimed, “There’s no story there,” adding, “I don’t have any comment based on what you’ve already reported.”

Despite Beard’s refusal to answer questions, the state’s lobbying directory, which is updated every 20 days while the General Assembly is in session, provides some insight. The most recent lobbying directory contains all registrations of lobbyists and principals as of June 2.

In Section 2 - Page 58 of the document, Richard Beard for the Greensboro Sports Foundation is listed as a principal — the person or governmental unit who hires the lobbyist and pays for the lobbying. KTS Strategies’ employees Charles F. McDowell, Nelson Freeman, Hampton M. Billips and John C. Easterling are listed as the lobbyists. All four have had Greensboro Sports Foundation listed as one of the principals they represent since January

Emails to KTS Strategies’ employees have gone unreturned for this story.

Vaughan also denied that the city itself was working with KTS Strategies on the prepared-food tax issue.

“We don’t have the contract with KTS,” she said. “Whatever we do has to go through the legislature…I believe that’s what they’re contracted to do at this point, to figure out what the procedure is…there’s really not an endgame at this point.”

The NC House speaker and the moral low ground

Let’s start off by establishing that we don’t generally like to get involved in the personal lives of our elected officials. Just like all the rest of us, they’re not perfect. We prefer to report on their decisions, the policies they embrace, the people they make deals with. And we find their romantic foibles particularly tiresome. Yes, powerful people tend to have a lot of sex, and sometimes it gets weird. Yawn.

But every so often an item about a powerful person’s sex life bubbles to the surface for public consumption so sinister and perverted that it cannot be ignored.

That happened Monday morning, when the alienation-of-affection lawsuit against North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) dropped.

As your iPhone might say, it’s ducked up.

NC is one of just six states that allows for lawsuits of this type, which put a dollar amount on damages caused by marital affairs. Judgments are paid by the cheating spouse’s illicit lover, which in this case is the speaker of the NC House.

The lawsuit alleges — with photos! — that Moore conducted an affair with the wedded partner of a minor political figure in Apex. He is currently an assistant principal whose spouse works in a state department over which Moore held considerable sway.

According to the document, Moore “aggressively pursued a sexual relationship” with the plain-

Jen Sorensen

tiff’s partner in an affair that lasted three years. Besides their own dalliances, the plaintiff’s partner admitted to “group sex with other individuals seeking Defendant Tim Moore’s political favor” and that she “could not end her relationship with Defendant Tim Moore for fear of retaliation” even after the plaintiff had confronted Moore. And when Moore found out that this suit was coming, it alleges, he had an agent install motion-detector cameras on the plaintiff’s property to monitor his comings and goings.

This one scratches a lot of itches. He’s a powerful political figure who is at least partly responsible for flooding our streets with guns, restricting abortion access, gerrymandering districts to the disadvantage of voters in the state and all sorts of other things we hate. If the suit is to be believed, he was not reluctant to leverage his position for sexual favors. And then there’s the whole group-sex business, which is exactly the kind of thing Madison Cawthorn tried to warn us about

Plaintiff asks for just $25,000 against his losses — a fairly trivial sum for political power players in the state. The damage to Moore’s career could cost a lot more. Or will it? After Trump, hard-right voters are willing to forgive a lot more than they used to. Which means Moore can either deny it — photographic evidence notwithstanding — or lean into it. But as of press time his strategy has been to keep silent until he figures his path to daylight.

John Cole Courtesy of NC Policy Watch

The damage to Moore’s career could cost more than the lawsuit.

Winston-Salem’s Pride won’t be marked by hate

by Vikki Vassar

Allowing last week’s TCB article to be the period on the sentence of Winston-Salem during Pride Month left a bad taste in my mouth.

Having been able to observe all of the events after the Radar Brewing Drag Brunch in real time, including the actions of the community afterward — all of the phone calls, the messages, the texts — I knew something needed to be said about the citizens of Winston-Salem.

After the Triad City Beat article, communication bloomed across Winston-Salem. Friends started calling, texting, telling them about what happened at Radar Brewing and asking those friends to not only attend these events going forward, but to keep their eyes open and their phones ready to dial the non-emergency line of the Winston-Salem Police Department for assistance.

At Camel City Playhouse, they donned coordinated T-shirts and offered escorts to attendees to and from their vehicles.

“I felt very aware, but very safe,” says local drag performer CC LaBrie “I’ve lived in large cities and always been very aware of my surroundings. My guard has been down for the past few years, and last Saturday brought it back up, so it was good to have that community support from invisible eyes. The majority of those who attended to protest the Drag Brunch at Radar Brewing weren’t even from here. I feel like that really said something about the community of Winston-Salem, that the anti-drag protestors had to come from hours away. The outpouring of love and support from the Winston-Salem post-drag brunch has been great.”

LaBrie explained how after TCB’s article came out, the owner of Joymongers sat down with her after her drag show at the business and asked her how she was… It’s the same love and support she saw during Art Crush, LaBrie says.

“All of the love from the community reminds me of why I continue to perform and why I know there is still a lot of work to do,” she says. Drag performer Anna Yacht reflected on the aftermath of the Proud Boys coming to town, too.

“It brought the community together and helped shine a light on how the togetherness of the local community can make a difference,” Yacht says. “Pride is all about being the best version of yourself that you can be. Coming together and celebrating each other in love. People love to obsess over these little short headlines and soundbites and miss the larger, better things that happen. People always want to rewrite the narrative to be something worse than it is.”

Despite the fact that right-wing conservatives have begun to villainize drag culture, saying it preys upon children, nothing could be further from the truth.

“My idea of being able to use drag to make some changes and find other talented people and give them a platform to do their art, in an accessible and fun way, is my main goal with my drag. I am trying to give the community my best as a leader,” Anna Yacht says. “Presenting as a woman is seen as an inherently sexual thing, whether you are acting sexually or not. I do drag to embrace the female energy I’ve found within myself, as a performer and

an entertainer and it makes people uncomfortable, but there is nothing sexy about being in a corset for eight hours and taking it off, and looking like you’ve been roasted on a George Foreman grill. You are not sexy after performances.

“Drag is not about the controversy and we don’t want to alter our interactions with the community based on the threat of something bad happening,” Yacht continued.

Instead, Yacht says that increased visibility of the LGBTQIA2S+ community is what the hard right is threatened by.

“Because LGTBQIA2S+ community members are different, because they’re not cis white men that everyone is so used to seeing at the forefront of everything, now that things are changing, some people are feeling threatened and are struggling to keep the world as something they understand, instead of learning about the changes,” she says. “They choose to threaten people’s safety instead of letting folks just be the people they are.”

I had a phone call with my parents immediately after I left Radar Brewing, two folks from the silent generation, who recounted the time members of the KKK visited my ancestral hometown generations ago. The event feels like a throughline to what took place a few weekends ago at Radar Brewing.

“This sounds very similar,” my mother said. “Your great-grandfather told them they should be ashamed of themselves for terrorizing the community.”

But the best community support is the community itself.

And Winston-Salem has shown that we are not only supportive of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, we ARE that community.

“The community coordination and presence is something above and beyond what we ever could have asked for,” Yacht says. “The fact that the community coordination all came from a place of genuine concern, not looking for acknowledgement, is a statement to the love folks have for their neighbors in Winston-Salem. The counter protests, the pro-LGBTQIA+ allies, are so important…. These anti-LGBTQIA2S+ protestors who are so angry, showing up and wanting to hurt other people, emotionally or physically, should not feel that they have enough power to possibly set any plan into action.”

The community of Winston-Salem has made its voice heard, loud and clear. Intolerance is not welcome here. So, if you’re with us, come out to Pride Winston-Salem on Saturday, June 24 and celebrate, because we all belong here.

Winston-Salem has made its voice heard.

‘Just

getting started’: Q&A with David Bower, organizer of Rainbow Rave, a queer music and arts party in Winston-Salem

Rainbow Rave Chief Artistic Director David Bower

PHOTO BY KEVIN M @CZYKYOSELF

Could you give me a brief description of your background and position in Rainbow Rave?

So, my name is David Bower, and I like to say I am the chief artistic officer, ha! But I am also not the biggest fan of titles, but I am the lead organizer. I grew up in the electronic music scene in New York, attended and managed many LGBTQIA2S+ parties, and always felt my best surrounded by these folks that spread love and made me feel seen. I am a raver at heart, and I am a DJ. I have always loved sharing music and bringing people together. Our group is made up of artists, producers, DJs, ravers, production and sound lovers, and scene veterans from around the country that seek to create underground, art-driven spaces that highlight musicians of all styles, backgrounds, and genres while maintaining a safe space for LGBTQIA2S+, femme/female, NB/GNC, and queer people.

How and when did Rainbow Rave start?

Rainbow Rave started July 2022. I wanted to bring an event different from what Winston-Salem offered — safe space creation with no judgment focused on electronic music and art. It was just me and JAM when we started and my close friends who supported me. Two close friends, Jayme and Mark Urmos, who started JAM Digital, helped tell the event’s story through digital media. We filmed me DJ-ing the Pride rooftop party at Bar Piña last year as a promo, and things started to take off. We then did a fantastic outdoor party in September, and we hope to deliver an elevated version of that party this fall.

Shortly after that, I needed help looking for event space that would work with us to grow the event. I spoke with many folks but found the best space: The Millennium Center. The owner, Greg Carlyle, has been working with the underground music scene for many years and was familiar with the complexity of our style of events. Greg was the original supporter of the electronic scene in Winston since the mid-’90s. Some readers may remember the Beyond parties thrown in the Millennium Center with acts such as Rabbit in the Moon and Tiesto gracing the Center during that time. Greg has been a tremendous support to our event and has helped us grow it over the last year with two events under our belt.

Q A

A Q CULTURE | JUNE 2228, 2023

What is the mission of Rainbow Rave?

We aim to highlight LGBTQIA2S+, BIPOC, femme/female, NB/GNC artists and their art forms. We create safe spaces for self-expression, art and dance for our attendees, and we work to provide access to dance music and dance music culture that would otherwise not be represented with a genre non-conforming mindset.

How does Rainbow Rave work to be inclusive?

Our mission is to be radically inclusive. I’ve found that it is one thing to say someone is included, but truly another to feel included. I have experienced this throughout my life, and we work tirelessly as a team to commit to radical inclusion for all folks who think this way too. Our events are 18+ as music and art are central to our commitment, not alcohol. We start with our inclusive ticket pricing. Regardless of someone’s financial status, everyone should be able to attend so we offer income-driven tickets to those requesting assistance. Secondly, everyone is welcome at Rainbow Rave who believe in our commitment to community, artistry, and PLUR: peace, love, unity, and respect. Finally, our events always donate a portion of our ticket sales to a community LGBTQIA2S+ organization locally or beyond to show our support.

With the proliferation of anti-trans, anti-queer legislation, and hate (Proud Boys at Radar, Pride flag vandalized), how does Rainbow Rave respond? How do you all work to keep people safe?

The proliferation of anti-trans/queer legislation and rationalizing hate in public is unacceptable. As a community, we need to work toward peace, love, unity and respect for our traditionally underrepresented folks — these values are perpetuated in our space. And our attendees know this; we believe everyone is equal. We use volunteers in the crowd as ground control to lead our events with love and acceptance. Every person is strictly searched at the door to maintain our security and community.

by Kevin Six

CULTURE

For almost a year, Rainbow Rave, an LGBTQIA2S+ party focused on celebrating queer art, music and dance, has been held in Winston-Salem every few months. Their next event takes place this Friday, June 23 at the Millenium Center. Triad City Beat sat down with David Bower, the chief artistic director of Rainbow Rave to talk about his experiences in the organization and what it has meant to him.

How does the increase in hate affect you all personally?

I was at the drag brunch recently and walked through the crowd of Proud Boys waving my progress flag covered in rainbow paint and glitter. I was called names and bullied but did not respond to their calls. As a community, we have dealt with bullies and hate for as long as I can remember. But this does not mean we should accept it. Building and educating our community and young adults with the ideals of love and acceptance no matter who you are is the way we push forward.

Why is Rainbow Rave important to the community?

Winston-Salem is just getting started with safe spaces. We have a long way to go for true havens where people can genuinely be themselves, free from hate or judgment. You come to a Rainbow Rave because you know you can finally be yourself here. You can create, you can paint, you can dance, and you can smile. These ideals are core to what a community and a family should be, and we have started to see interaction and cooperation to make this happen.

Rainbow Rave has been the utmost joy and center of healing for me, and we are just getting started.

Rainbow Rave events have been taking place in Winston-Salem for the past year. The goal, Bower says, is to have a safe, creative space for queer people to enjoy EDM music and be in community.

PHOTOS BY KEVIN M @CZYKYOSELF

CULTURE

love Black people’: African diasporic celebration

1Love Festival returns to W-S this weekend

by Michaela Ratliff

here were Black folks here, Black folks there, Black folks everywhere.”

That’s how Melva Sampson, assistant professor of preaching and practical theology at Wake Forest University, describes Winston-Salem when she and her husband Darrick Young moved there in 2017.

The couple relocated from Atlanta, known as “Black Hollywood” in popular culture due to the city’s large Black population, plethora of Black-owned businesses and high number of Black entertainers that emerge from the area. The move to Winston-Salem coincided with the National Black Theatre Festival, and the city was abuzz with Black filmmakers, actors and artists. For a short time, the couple felt like they never left Atlanta; however, once the festival ended, the differences between the cities became evident.

“After that week was over, we were searching for that kind of consistency,” says Sampson, who longed for more events centered around Black culture. This inspired the two to create the 1Love Festival, a “celebration of African diasporic culture through music, art, innovation and entrepreneurship.” The

event is a sponsored project of the Arts Council of Winston Salem & Forsyth County and funded by the UNC School of the Arts, American National Bank and Trust and a host of other community organizations. It’s also an extension of the Pink Robe Chronicles, Sampson’s Facebook livestream series that, according to the website, “centers faith and spirituality using the womanist and Afrocentric values of self-determination, serious engagement, and liberating self-love to highlight the importance of collective work and responsibility in healing and sustaining marginalized communities.”

The festival is in its third year, the first being held in Winston-Salem in 2019. The organizers chose to forgo the event in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. This year, the festival added two new locations: Houston and Miami. According to Young, these areas have been popular with relocators in recent years.

“Texas, Florida and North Carolina are three of the top five locations where people are migrating,” he says.

He continues, “We thought it was important that we bring this cultural festival to those areas.”

This year’s festival kicks off on Thursday with events taking place through Saturday. Following an introduction by host and comedian Kevin Smith and a performance by musical storyteller VStarrr on Friday, the majority of the festival will take place the next day. Artistic soul conversations surrounding mental and physical wellness, entrepreneurship and innovation of Black spaces led by Dr. Amber Baker, Young himself and others will kickstart things on Saturday. That evening, Chelsey Green and the Green Project, Charlotte-based R&B singer Nia Zhané and other music acts will take the stage.

According to Sampson, the organizers sought talent whose material aligned with the goals of the festival.

“Who are the artists that are uplifting the culture in a positive and conscious way?” Sampson asked herself while booking guests.

In 2019, Blitz Bazawule attending the festival was the talk of the town. The Ghanaian filmmaker is best known in the states for his participation in Beyoncé’s visual album Black is King, which earned him a nomination for Best Music Film at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2021. Most recently, Bazawule directed the musical reimagining of The Color Purple, set to release this year on Christmas Day. This year’s headliner is the “King of Independent R&B” Eric Roberson, best known for two Grammy nominations and for collaborating with musicians Jill Scott, Musiq Soulchild and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

The objective of the festival is to empower, educate and inspire people about the African diaspora and its history. While the couple stresses the festival is for the entire community to enjoy, the main focus is not to be missed. “We love Black people,” Sampson says. With conviction, Young adds, “Period.”

The 1LOVE Festival takes place June 22-24 at the Enterprise Center and Reynolds Place Theatre in Winston-Salem. A free kickoff event will be held Thursday, June 22 at 7 p.m. at Reynolds Place Theater. Find more information and purchase tickets at 1lovefestival.com or facebook. com/1lovefestival.

‘We

1LoveFestival organizers from left to right: Charity Jackson of the High Point Arts Council, Darrick Young and Melva Sampson COURTESY PHOTO

JUNE 2 4 –JULY 2 9 | 2 0 2 3

Greensboro, North Carolina

live music on the blue ridge parkway

Celebrating 62 seasons of providing unmatched classical music experiences to Greensboro each summer!

June 24

Amythyst kiah

+ Foreign Landers

JUly 1

Sam Bush band

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! easternmusicfestival.org

JUly 8

Jeff Little Trio

+ DaShawn & wendy hickman

saturday evening concerts at 7 p.m.

Galax Smokehouse serving BBQ on site

Free Midday Mountain Music

Daily noon - 4 p.m.

Free Roots of American Music Exhibit

Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

TICKETS at b lue r idge m usic c enter.org

Tell

SHOT IN THE TRIAD

BY CAROLYN DE BERRY

North Davie Street, Greensboro

Kids play in the splash pad at LeBauer Park during Greensboro’s third annual Juneteenth festival.

CROSSWORD SUDOKU

by Matt Jones

Across

1. Probiotic food, perhaps

13. They’ve been in Congress for quite a white

15. Job with a trashy reputation?

17. “As Is” singer DiFranco

18. Raphael’s bandanna color

19. Less flustered

20. Lend support

22. Old radio tuner

24. Bone doctor’s prefix

25. Mental concoctions

27. “If I Ever Fall in Love” R&B group

29. Knotty, in a way

30. ___ franca

32. TV actress Swenson

34. Aims

36. Sum

41. Manual component

43. Twisty dish

44. Cod-like fish

48. Graph lines

50. Date night option

51. It follows everything B.C.

53. Meet head-on

55. Kumquat scraping

56. Mosaic piece

58. ___Clean (infomercial brand)

60. Seeking, in personals

61. Some reading before dinner?

64. They’ll teach you about twang and regional vowels

65. Like some erratic behavior

Down

1. Tried to listen closer, maybe

2. How phones may be set at work

3. Repartee requisite

4. “Everything Is Illuminated” author

5. ___ Forces Day

6. Hebrew letters before qophs

7. Kobe currency

8. Diagonally

9. Phineas ___ (sustainer of a scientifically notable injury)

10. “In ___” (1993 Nirvana album)

11. Comedian Ranganathan

12. Super-sized Starbucks option

13. Uhuru’s source

14. Billy Idol expression

16. Walked (all over)

21. Item to collect in “Myst”

23. Tuna used in poke

26. Shaq’s team, in 2008

28. Literary assistant

31. ___ Cat (pet food brand)

33. Deuterium unit

35. The play-within-a-play in “Noises

Off,” e.g.

37. The whole thing

38. The Met Opera’s program for U.S. cinemas

39. Held back, as stocks

40. Messy carnival game

42. Aloo matar bit

44. Jackson film franchise, initially

45. “All ___ Is a Miracle” (Mike + The Mechanics song)

46. Mysterious monster, familiarly

47. Station add-on

49. Wall bracket

52. Coped (with)

54. Talk up

57. Sorry sort

59. “___ have overreacted”

62. Dispenser in the Vatican with Latin instructions on-screen

63. Friendly introduction?

LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS:

‘True Grid’ — a freeform themeless puzzle.

© 2023 Matt Jones

© 2022 Jonesin’