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$4.5M awarded to Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County

Courtesy Arts Council of Winston Salem & Forsyth County

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County is set to receive $4.5 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners earmarked the money for the Arts Council, which in turn will now focus on the best way to apply the funding.

Arts Council President and CEO Chase Law says the arts community suffered severe setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Law says the revenue losses were significant, amounting to up to $25 million. She adds the federal dollars will be a much-needed boost for local artists and arts organizations.

"It's just going to be a real game-changer, for not just the Arts Council and the arts and cultural sector but really across the community, across Forsyth County," says Law. 

Law emphasized that money from the American Rescue Plan Act will not be used to fund the Arts Council itself, but will be applied to community-based arts programming, development, and technical assistance.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story misidentified Chase Law with the pronoun he, rather than she. 

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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