News & Events

“Come Together and Create” – Martin Luther King Jr. Week Brings Campus and Community Together for Celebration of the Arts

January 10, 2012

UNC Asheville will host “Come Together and Create,” a two-day showcase and celebration of local performing artists, Friday and Saturday, Jan. 20 and 21. These performances, part of the university’s Martin Luther King Jr. Week, will take place in the Carol Belk Theatre on the campus.

The performances will include spoken word and poetry, African dance and percussion, hip hop dance, theater, and traditional and contemporary gospel singing. In addition to providing an exciting two nights of entertainment, the event aims to strengthen campus connections with the broader Asheville community and also provide a platform for further civic engagement through the East Riverway Sustainable Communities Initiative.

On Friday, Jan. 20, performances will begin at 6:30 p.m., featuring UNC Asheville’s Percussion Ensemble, La’Ney West African Dance Ensemble, DeWayne Barton aka BLove, Jonathan Santos, and Greg Lynch aka Alpha Lee. At 8 p.m., the Urban Arts Institute will present an original play, “I Hope You Dance.” These performances are free and open to the public.

Saturday, Jan. 21 will bring “Asheville’s Sunday Best,” the second round of a gospel singing competition. The performances, which begin at 6:30 p.m., will benefit A Bridge to Independence, Inc., a non-profit dedicating to helping homeless youth. Tickets are $6 in advance, available at Venus Beauty Salon, 891D Patton Avenue in West Asheville, and $8 at the door.

Sponsors of “Come Together and Create” include a number of UNC Asheville offices and academic programs, including Arts and Ideas, Africana Studies, Drama, and the Key Center for Community Citizenship and Service Learning.

For more information, visit UNC Asheville’s Martin Luther King Week page or contact Lise Kloeppel, UNC Asheville assistant professor of Drama, at 828/251-6940 or lkloeppel@unca.edu.