New Arts Council head is ready to roll up her sleeves in Winston-Salem

The Arts Council of Winston-Salem & Forsyth County has new leadership. Mount Airy native and Winston-Salem State University alumna Samantha Howard returns to the Triad to take the reins as President and CEO. It’s a big job. She’ll steward millions of dollars in arts grants and subsidies. And she’ll also oversee the Milton Rhodes Center for the Arts which last year held nearly 700 events for more than 60,000 ticketed customers.

Growing up, Samantha Howard’s household was infused with art and music. Her father was a painter who majored in fine arts at Winston-Salem State University, and his sister sang with jazz great Ramsey Lewis. In terms of Howard’s new administrative role, she says she enjoys dealing with people, and her strengths lie in nonprofit work. Over the past decade, Howard led the Bayonne Economic Opportunity Foundation, a community action program providing resources for low-income residents of Bayonne, New Jersey.

Howard recently spoke with WFDD’s David Ford about her life, guiding philosophies, and her vision for this new role.

Interview Highlights 

On her managerial style:

"I start with an open-door policy. You know, I like having access. I like for people to have access to me. A healthy work environment. I like for my staff to be happy and own the fact that they are providing a wonderful service, and appreciate that. But then also to listen, you know, it's not about what I come to say. It's about what the community is saying that they want to see and how they would like to see it. So I'm huge on collecting data and information and having conversations and just listening."

On why Arts Council support is important:

"You give to a platform that allows everyone to have a voice, and if you choose to just give to what you're particularly interested in, then you're silencing the voices of someone else. So it's necessary to give to the umbrella organization so that funding can be delved out, and all cultures can express themselves, all types of arts can express and share in that funding."

On her roots:

"Winston-Salem is home for me, and I come home, and every time I would visit, there was this wow moment on the growth and the change and the new identity of the city that you see evolving. You know, I don't want to compare it to any other city, because it is absolutely Winston-Salem that has its own identity and that is beautiful and progressive and I look forward to coming and contributing to that, and getting back into the community that I grew up in."

Howard begins her new job this week.