Johnston County Arts Council releases celebration book

Submitted by JOHNSTON COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL

To celebrate 50 years of the local visual, performing and literary arts, the Johnston County Arts Council has released a premium-color coffee table book, “Johnston County Creates: 50 Years of Creativity.”

The hard-bound, 300-page book features 13 local arts and community organizations, spotlights 68 individual artists and includes a directory of creative resources. Each applied for inclusion in the book or was nominated after a media campaign in Fall 2022.

More than 80 applications were received. The arts are represented in the fields of culinary, dance, entertainment, fashion, film, music, painting, photography, theater, writing and more. The cover, “Rainbow Wayne,” is a mixedmedia piece by Smithfield painter, potter and writer Angie McClure.

In the book’s foreword, Johnston County Visitors Bureau President and CEO Donna Bailey-Taylor wrote, “The book is a testament to the amazing work and creativity of the artists in Johnston County and a reminder of how important their contributions are. ‘Johnston County Creates’ is an attractive, engaging, comprehensive and delightful book.”

The idea for the book was initiated by Arts Council Second Vice-President Evelyn Wool, who began planning the book in summer 2022. Wool is a farmer in Pine Level and is also an author, illustrator and self-publisher.

Wool led a committee that included Arts Council Executive Director Darlene Williford, President Judy Siler Boyette, Secretary Hope Toler-Dougherty and board members Joyce Kilpatrick-Jordan and Michelle FieldsLaughinghouse. Triangle East writers Rose Cushing and Cindy Brookshire volunteered writing and book marketing skills and professional photographer Yana Slutskua and writers Leslie Waugh and Nancy Pitkin also contributed.

“As one can see in the book, the future of the arts in Johnston County looks bright,” said K. Todd Johnson, executive director of the Johnston County Heritage Center.

Johnston noted the importance of the arts to the county in his foreword to the book. “We have come from a largely rural population of 65,000 in the early 1970s to an estimated 230,000 today. While great strides have been made in providing platforms and venues for artistic expression, there needs to be more investment in spaces where our growing populace can experience the arts in meaningful ways. We are building on a marvelous foundation,” he wrote.

“Johnston County Creates: 50 years of Creativity” is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Johnston County Arts Council has already been notified that the book is one of 14 nominees for the 2023 Ragan Old North State Award for Non-Fiction.

The book is being sold locally as a fundraiser. Proceeds from book sales will replenish funds for the Johnston County Arts Council’s Grassroots Grants, Artists in the Schools, regional artist grant programs, student art exhibits and scholarships that were lost when the council’s popular Art and Food Festival Gala was canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The book is available at the Johnston County Museum, 329 E. Market St, Smithfield, Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. A Johnston County Arts Council Book Celebration Event is planned for Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 5-7:30 p.m. at the Selma Civic Center, 300 N. Webb St. in Selma.

This celebration, sponsored by Activate Selma, will gather as many local arts and community organizations as possible and will be open to the public.

Book sales are also planned Sunday, Sept. 24 at the Neuse Little Theatre matinee performance of “Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka” at 3 p.m. at The Hut, 104 S. Front St., Smithfield; Saturday, Nov. 25 at “Cocoa with the Clauses” from 2-4 p.m. at the Smithfield Recreation and Aquatics Center, 600 M. Durwood Stephenson Parkway, Smithfield and Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 at the Johnston County Arts Council’s “50-50-50” event from 6-8 p.m. at the Smithfield Recreation and Aquatics Center.

The book is also available online at www. amazon.com/Johnston-County-Creates-YearsCreativity/dp/B0C91DKGG6N.

For more information, contact Williford at info@jcartscouncil.org or 919-738-9622.