Arts Council of Winston-Salem to join worldwide celebration of music Friday

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County — the first locally-established arts council in the country — turns 75 years old this year. A series of public events are planned to celebrate the anniversary. One of them is Make Music Day which takes place Friday in the Twin City.

Fête de la Musique began in France in 1982: a music festival open to all — amateur, professional and everywhere in between — with performances in plazas, porches, and city streets that were free and open to the public. Today Make Music Day is celebrated in more than 1,000 cities around the world, and the Arts Council is participating for the first time. Chief Marketing Officer Katie Hall says she’s excited to be part of a larger charge.

"Make Music Day just allows for anyone who loves music to be able to display and share that with the community," says Hall. "And so, this is something Arts Council has been committed to over the last several years of just creating more opportunities and spaces for individual artists to participate and share their craft with people in our community."

The council’s website, Make Music Winston-Salem allows performers and concert hosts to register, provides lineup information and more. This year’s artists include singer-songwriter Isabella Paris, and the indie rock band The Good Madness, among several others.