One of the Triad's leading arts advocacy organizations has a new leader.
Laura Way comes to ArtsGreensboro following her tenure as executive director of the GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art.
WFDD's Neal Charnoff sat down with Laura Way to talk about her role and the future of the organization.
Interview Highlights
On the mission of ArtsGreensboro:
I see the mission of the organization as really twofold. One is to really put a spotlight on the arts of Greensboro [and] to celebrate the arts organizations, whether they're large like Triad Stage or Greensboro Symphony or GreenHill, to small emerging organizations like Royal Expression, which is a ballet company, and individual artists….and then we raise needed dollars to help support artists and arts organizations.
On goals for the arts in Greensboro:
We need to work in tandem with the City of Greensboro to make sure that arts are inclusive, accessible, diverse, and that we have an income stream that helps support arts at every level, from public/private partnerships, to new innovative, dynamic ideas that someone is just now beginning to think about.
On the challenges facing ArtsGreensboro:
I think the biggest challenge is the challenge every arts council faces, and every community faces. Resources are scarce. And we need to make the case why it's important to support the arts….the arts are so important to making us human, to making us empathetic, to thinking outside the box, to problem solving. And we need to make the case that having art in our lives make our lives better. And that's what I intend to do, show how art is good for you as an individual and good for you as a city…we need to celebrate what can make our city the most vibrant city it can be.