African American Music Trails Touring Exhibit Coming to the Turnage Theatre in May | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Washington, N.C. May 4, 2017     Portraits from the African American Music Trails of North Carolina will be on display in the gallery of Arts of the Pamlico at the Historic Turnage Theatre in Downtown Washington from May 5, 2017 through May 31, 2017. A reception on May 4 at 5:30 PM in partnership with the Washington Waterfront Underground Railroad Museum will kick off the exhibit. The reception will include remarks by Darrell Stover of the NC Arts Council and music by blues and jazz singer Carolyn Myers of Greenville.

    Hosted by the Arts of the Pamlico, the exhibition highlights the influence of African American musicians on many genres of American music. Jazz musicians born in eastern North Carolina who went on to international fame include Thelonius Monk, who spent his early childhood in Rocky Mount, and Billy Taylor, whose family moved from Greenville to Washington, D.C., when he was five-years-old.

    The state-touring exhibit is part of the African American Music Trails of Eastern North Carolina, a project of the North Carolina Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources and the counties of Edgecombe, Greene, Jones, Lenoir, Nash, Pitt, Wayne and Wilson. There is also a guidebook and a website, www.AfricanAmericanMusicNC.com.

    "This free event is a rare and wonderful opportunity for our community and visitors to see seldom displayed images that connect places and people in order to commemorate the rich heritage of African American music in North Carolina and to inspire all of us to celebrate this musical history and traditions," said Debra Torrence, Executive Director.

• Contact: Debra Torrence
•     d.torrenceaop@gmail.com