By Andrew Dundas • Contributing writer | This fall, Western Carolina University’s John W. Bardo Fine & Performing Arts Center celebrates 15 years of visual and performing arts programming for students and audiences in surrounding counties. The anniversary, however, comes in the midst of COVID-19-related closures and cancellations affecting events and spaces. 

The Coronavirus Pandemic has forced many nonprofit organizations to find new, innovative ways to meet their mission while not being able to hold traditional fundraising methods or connect directly with their clients.

As a professional multimedia artist and photographer living in Western North Carolina since 2002, Luba Petrova still remembers the first piece of art she ever created.

Huddled around a table at the White Moon Coffee Shop on Mill Street in downtown Sylva one recent rainy afternoon, Kendall Waldrop, Georganna Seamon and Don Panicko discuss the group’s latest endeavor — the Sylva Art + Design Committee.

• Colonial Theatre, Canton

828.235.2760 • www.cantonnc.com

• Franklin High School Fine Arts Center

828.524.2787

• Haywood Arts Regional Theatre, Waynesville

828.456.6322 • www.harttheater.org

Just as millennia of rain and wind and heat and cold have carved the physical shape of the mountains for which Appalachia is named, so have years of immigration and emigration and peace and war carved the human culture that covers them. Through the centuries, each of millions of lives — men and women, Cherokee and white, black and Hispanic — has added its own chapter to the story. 

Leaning back in his chair, in an office tucked in the depths of a large studio building, a slight grin rolls across the face of Steven Lloyd. 

“I would never have envisioned this,” Lloyd said in a humble tone. “I would have never thought 30 years ahead and have pictured this. But, everything has evolved.”

Folkmoot International Festival is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year by introducing some new events during the 10-day cultural exchange and revamping its much-loved traditions. 

• Bringing the world to Western NC
• Folkmoot guides play critical role
• Meet the groups of Folkmoot
• Sunday Soiree brings flavor to Folkmoot
• Schedule of events

Rolf Kaufman was there, at the beginning, 35 years ago. Now approaching 88, he’s spent nearly 40 percent of his life involved in the Folkmoot Festival.

A long-awaited mural is now complete in Sylva, marking the end of the Sylva Public Art Committee’s inaugural project.