We are pleased to announce that RTS has three new members of our Board of Directors. Bill Bishop is a long time newspaper reporter and columnist and now the publisher of the Daily Yonder, a web site concentrating on chronicling rural issues. Hodding Carter III is University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Previously he served as CEO of the Knight Foundation as well as holding positions in the Carter administration. Karl Stauber is the President and CEO of the Danville Regional Foundation and a past head of the Northwest Area Foundation. You can read more about the Board in our about RTS section.

RTS staff were invited panelists at the recent Appalachian Regional Development Institute Leadership Summit in Boone, NC. Sarah Butzen offered the “North Carolina Perspective” on the creative economy, highlighting RTS recent work in the state and Chris Beacham chaired a panel on “Tapping Creative Assets: Emerging Sectors in Agriculture and the Arts. You can see Sarah’s PowerPoint here.

RTS just held a series of focus groups and meetings to find out more about the issues facing the creative community in the Piedmont Triad region. As part of our work for the Piedmont Triad Partnership, the meetings brought together artists, designers and economic and workforce development professionals from around the region to offer their perspective on the issues impacting the growth of the region’s creative economy.