After a national search, Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County found its next leader. Samantha Howard started her role as the new president and CEO in September. City Editor Kellina sat down with the Winston-Salem native to learn more about her vision for the major organization driving the City of Arts and Innovation.
What attracted you to this role?
I am a passionate person about nonprofits and advocating for those who may not have a strong voice. I actually started my advocacy career here in Winston-Salem at the Legal Aid of North Carolina Winston-Salem office, where I was advocating for the income-eligible population in civil cases. I was instrumental in helping hire in private law firms, taking pro bono cases for citizens, and meet their pro bono quota while having a greater impact in Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. And I loved that.
What new initiatives do you have in the pipeline?
I’m making sure that this platform is solid to continue the outstanding services that are already being provided here in the Winston-Salem community and Forsyth County community. I’m seeking to create a new division that we are providing some sort of entertainment or opportunity in the way of the arts.
And so when we do bring something, which I hope is in the next year, the origin of it will be from within house, and helping one of my staffers bring together a concept or an idea they can see in the community and I think that’s going to be wonderful.
How do you plan on balancing working together in-house but also bringing talents from the outside?
So again, you know, it’s all about the partnerships. Everybody can’t do it all and that’s one of the things I consider as a catalyst. What is it that we don’t do that we can now bring to the city? And there is a whole host of things that we can do, new productions in the way of... again, the city is filled with artists.
I would love to see more youthful artists, becoming artists, being celebrated. [...] You don’t ever know where your next A-list entertainment is gonna come from. I think it is incumbent upon us to nurture that and encourage that.
How did you know it was time for you to come back to Winston-Salem?
That was both on a personal and professional level, you know my husband and I both have mothers who needed us to come home and do certain things. And then, as they get older we really wanted to make sure that we were enjoying their quality of life and our quality of life together so we looked at each other and said ‘you know what? I’m ready to go home.’
He had accomplished major things in his location and had gained a knowledge base that he felt like would be beneficial in this area. As did I. I gained a huge amount of success in growing the nonprofit where I was from a $2.5 million operation to a $7 million operation, and the growing pains of that. He landed in Durham, North Carolina, with Kids Notes, which is an orchestral program that teaches children music from the orchestra. I landed [at] Arts Council [of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County] here in Winston-Salem, and it’s just been beautiful since day one.
What are three words you would use to describe Winston-Salem?
Winston-Salem is free, small, and large, if you will. You have this city that has this big city feel, which gives the largeness, but it’s not overpowering like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York. Those cities, you’re submerged in. Winston-Salem, you have access to a beautiful downtown with plenty of opportunities and restaurants and things like that.
But then, 10 minutes away, you can be near a green pasture outside of the city, and free to be who you are. You can be from small-town North Carolina, rural area and come and fit in in Winston-Salem.
Where do you see the future of art in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County?
Interactive art is huge, where it actually causes you to become a part of that art experience. I think that we need to celebrate that interaction and start displaying art the way the youth sees it for the future. The immersive experiences or augmented reality — those moments are powerful. I would love for the Arts Council to go down that avenue of displaying and exhibiting in the future.
The art gallery may not look like it is today, it may not be anything hanging on a wall, but when you go in — you know, it could be sit down in these chairs and then the show begins and you’re just totally submerged in a painting or an experience that would transform you as a person. So it almost kind of makes you the canvas. You walk away, you’re different than what you were when you came in there as a result of that experience. And I see us really doing something like that.
How do you plan on making that happen? Are you going to partner with schools, or have entry submissions for youth to submit their work?
We have tons of opportunities. We do provide funding for individual artists, but yes, to answer your question, partnerships are gonna be key. The education system, the [UNC] School of the Arts, Winston-Salem State, Wake Forest universities — all of these locations have these rising geniuses as I would like to refer them. And they just need the platform — which could be the Arts Council — to come in and demonstrate.
It’s important for people to know we want to continue with arts as an education. I have seen art transform people or teach people about something that they may not know about and feel uncomfortable inquiring about, whether it’s culture, whether it’s race, whether it’s experiences in life. The art opens a dialogue. It eliminates having to manage somebody’s discomfort of asking, because if you put it out there as an artist, then you’re asking people to experience it.
