Arts and entertainment briefs

W. G. (Bill) Hefner VA Medical Center will host the local Creative Arts Festival for veterans to qualify for competition at the regional level for the National Festival.

The Creative Arts Festival at Salisbury is sponsored by the VA Medical Center and the American Legion Auxiliary Department of North Carolina.

The festival provides veterans the opportunity to receive recognition for their creative accomplishments. The competition is an annual event that provides veterans receiving treatment as an inpatient and/or outpatient at VA facilities the opportunity to participate in creative self-expression in art, creative writing, dance, drama and music as part of their therapy, and to gain recognition for their artistic accomplishments.

Categories are as follows: art division, creative writing, dance division, drama division and music division. All divisions will be judged for a first, second, and third place winner.

First place winning pieces will advance to the regional level where they will compete with entries submitted by veterans from other VA facilities around the country for advancement to the National Finals.

Deadline for all categories is 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 17. Applications for the competition are available through the recreational therapy office located in Building #6. No entries will be accepted on the day of competition.

The competition, which is open to the public, will be held in the social room of building #6 starting at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25.

Three veterans representing the local VA won national recognition in the 2011 National Veterans Creative Arts Festival competition: Hugh Deadwyler took second place nationally for his humorous essay, “My Father’s Folly;”

Ronald Conroy secured two second-place national titles for his freestyle dance performance, “Dancing Machine” and inspirational essay, “Building Four Ward Four 87 Paces;”

Paul Hill, Jr. also won two second-place national titles for his guitar playing of the patriotic solo, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and religious solo, “He Leadeth Me."

The Creative Arts Festival at Salisbury is sponsored by recreational therapy, voluntary services and the American Legion Auxiliary Department of North Carolina.

Veterans are encouraged to apply, as efforts are underway to increase participation in this year’s competition and represent the talented veterans in the Salisbury area.

For more information contact, DeMarcus Steele at 704-638-9000, ext. 3041; Terri Gilbeau, ext. 3575; Jennifer Everett, ext. 3065; Aleashia H. Brandon, ext. 3460; or Martha Corriher at 704-798-3625.

Visit www.salisbury.va.gov and www.facebook.com/ VASalisbury

Doares gallery talk

Exhibiting artist Robert Doares’ (posthumously) series “Immanuel, God with Us: The Life of Christ in Art” will be highlighted in a special gallery talk at Waterworks by the Rev. Dale Steele of LightShine Ministries.

LightShine Ministries arranged to bring this special 54-piece series to North Carolina from Illinois to share Robert’s story. The gallery talk are on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 11 a.m. and Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 1:30 p.m.

RSVP to Waterworks at 704-636-1882 if you plan to attend. This event is free and open to the public. The exhibition is on view through Feb. 1 at 123 E. Liberty St.

Civil War author

Noted historian David Goldfield writes: “The Civil War killed 620,000 Americans, traumatized survivors, and devastated a vast swath of the country. The war was America’s greatest political failure. It was a tragic example of what happens when religious and ideological extremism captures the political process. Could the war have been averted? Could the grand results of that war — the liberation of four million slaves and the salvation of the Union — have been accomplished peacefully?”

Goldfield will present his answers to those questions and more at the next Catawba College Community Forum on Tuesday evening, Jan. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in Tom Smith Auditorium of Ralph W. Ketner Hall on the campus of Catawba College. Admission is free.

Goldfield is Robert Lee Bailey Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the author of 16 books on Southern and American history (“They’re different,” he says).

Chinese New Year

CONCORD — The Cabarrus Chinese American Association (CCAA), which was founded by scientists at the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC) in Kannapolis, will host their first Chinese New Year festival on Saturday, Jan. 14 from 1-6 p.m. at Cox Mill High School, 1355 Cox Mill Road in Concord.

The CCAA New Year Festival features the RTP Chinese Singers Club, Ruby Slippers Chinese Dance Club, the NC-RTP Chinese Music Instrument Ensemble, performers from Chinese Phoenix Arts and the Pacific Arts Troupe. Cox Mill High School students will add American-style singing. The event will include traditional decorations and games for children.

The event is open to the public. Tickets when ordered online at www.cabarruschinese.org are $8 for adults and $5 for children six to 12. Kids under six are free. At the door, tickets are $10 for adults. Proceeds benefit the CCAA’s Chinese Language and Art School.

‘The Grapes of Wrath’

CONCORD — Old Courthouse Theatre presents a powerful and affecting stage version of one of the masterpieces of American literature by John Steinbeck. Holding to the simplicity and directness of the original novel, the play uses the sparest of technical means to convey its timeless message of the persistence and strength of the human spirit.

There is no admission charge for the reading, which is at 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 15 at the OCT Main Theatre, 49 Spring Street NW. Visit www.oldcourthousetheatre.org or call 704-788-2405 for more information.

Piedmont Prime Time Community Band

KANNAPOLIS — The Piedmont Prime Time Community Band is accepting new members through February for the spring season which begins on Jan. 12. Rehearsals are held on Thursday evenings from 7-8:45 p.m. in the family life center of Blackwelder Park Baptist Church, 2299 N. Main St.

Musicians who play the following instruments are invited to join: flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, baritone horn, tuba and percussion. Other requirements are the ability to read music and attend rehearsals. To join the band or ford more information, call band director Jon Hutchinson at 704-425-3508.

S. Piedmont Singers

KANNAPOLIS — Southern Piedmont Singers rehearsals resume at 2 p.m. on Jan. 15 at Kimball Memorial Lutheran Church, 101 Vance St., for the May concert which will feature choral standards, new choral works, and the summer concert of Broadway and jazz favorites. New members will also be accepted Jan. 22 and 29; simply show up at rehearsal.

SPS is a diverse choir open to all adults and youth ages 13 and up without audition. For more information, contact Damien Evans at 704-224-7148, southernpiedmontsingers@gmail.com or www.facebook.com/spsingers

See Met auditions

CHARLOTTE — The public is invited to attend the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions on Saturday, Jan. 14, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

Twenty-seven aspiring opera singers between the ages of 20 and 30 will compete for the privilege of advancing to the Southeast Regional auditions in Atlanta in February.

There is no admission fee but a nominal donation of $3 is suggested. For more information, email lesliepaliy@windstream.net

‘The Color Purple’

CHARLOTTE — The soul-stirring musical based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker comes to Ovens Auditorium on Friday, Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 21 at 2 p.m. The play contains mature subject matter.

Presented by Blumenthal Performing Arts, prices begin at $34.50. Ovens Auditorium is located at 2700 East Independence Blvd.

Call 800-745-3000, visit Ticketmaster.com or ovensauditorium.com