Dione Goyette taught the Guys Night Out painting class Sunday at Sanctuary of Davidson. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

Guys, beer, and … a painting class? That was the special Sunday night at Sanctuary of Davidsonon Main Street, which hosted the first of a planned series of Guys’ Night Out events built around a painting class.

Eight adventuresome Davidson guys showed up to get in touch with their inner artists, or maybe the lure was the chance to hoist a few microbrews. Sanctuary owner Kristen Feighery modeled the event after the “Girls’ Night Out” art classes she has been hosting for the past couple of years. Read the full story

The Arts & Science Council of Charlotte is now accepting applications for 2012 Cultural Project Grants, which help nonprofit organizations offer cultural programming in neighborhoods and towns across Mecklenburg County. Read the full story

Brad Thomas, Davidson College’s art gallery director since 1999, has found a new perch: As curator of contemporary art at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Mint officials announced Thursday that he will start the new job Monday, Jan 23, at the museum in downtown Charlotte. On Wednesday night, Mr. Thomas as the college’s Van Every/Smith Galleries, saying farewells and accepting pats on the back from friends during an opening for the exhibit “Davidson Collects,” a show of recent acquisitions that shows the stamp he has put on Davidson’s permanent collection. See a story and photos in our latest Art News column, in THE GUIDE»

Can damage actually increase the value of a piece of art? A Davidson College philosophy professor thinks so, and he’ll test the theory in a benefit auction this Friday, Dec. 9., at Summit Coffee in Davidson. Read about Davidson Professor Paul Studtmann’s theory and project in The GUIDE»

Natasha Rivera is president of Davidson College's Freeword slam poetry club. (Davidson College photo)

Davidson College News Office
Davidson College’s slam-poetry team, FreeWord, invites the public to the first -ever Carolina Collegiate Slam on Saturday, Nov. 5.

The event titled “This Slam Will Not Be Televised,” will bring together eight teams of poet-performers from seven Carolina institutions to competitively recite their original work, and will begin at 8 p.m. in the Duke Family Performance Hall.

Tickets are free for all college and high school students, and $3 for non-students. Tickets can be ordered by calling 704-894-2135 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, or online at www.davidson.edu/tickets. Read the full story

Opera singers performed outside Chambers Hall at Davidson College Thursday in a "Random Act of Culture" (Katie Lovett/DavidsonNews.net)

By KATIE LOVETT
DavidsonNews.net

People at the Davidson College student got a surprise Thursday afternoon when area opera singers showed up on campus and sang spontaneously in what organizers billed as a “Random Act of Culture.” Sponsored by the Arts and Science Council with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Random Acts of Culture series brings music from the performance hall to grocery stores, community centers, farmers markets and other non-traditional venues around the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area. Read the full story

Electric violinist Mark Wood played with Bailey Middle School students Rachel Laminack (left) and Kelsey Tyo Tuesday night. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

String music on a high school stage rarely sounds like what concert-goers heard at W.A. Hough High School Tuesday night. Award-winning electric violinist Mark Wood led a student orchestra in string versions of songs ranging from “We Will Rock You” by Queen to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” to “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. Read the full story

Lisa Simeone

Updated 3:30 p.m.
Controversy has erupted this week over a public radio music announcer’s involvement with protests in Washington, and there’s a Davidson angle. Lisa Simeone is the free-lance host of NPR’s “World of Opera,” which is produced at Davidson-based classical music station WDAV-FM. She still has that job, though she was fired from another contract gig at Washington’s WAMU-FM. Read the full story