WINSTON-SALEM – The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has won two of seven “Downtown Excellence Awards” from the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership (DWSP).

The two awards were for the UNCSA production of The Nutcracker and for UNCSA’s downtown performing arts center, the Stevens Center.

The awards were announced this morning at the DWSP Annual Meeting at the Grand Pavilion Ballroom of the Embassy Suites, and presented by Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines and DWSP President Jason Thiel.

UNCSA Chancellor John Mauceri accepted the award on behalf of the Stevens Center, and Executive Producer Katharine Laidlaw accepted on behalf of The Nutcracker.

The Downtown Excellence Awards are presented annually to organizations, people and businesses that have had a dramatic impact on the life of downtown Winston-Salem.

The University of North Carolina School of the Arts is the first state-supported, residential school of its kind in the nation. Established as the North Carolina School of the Arts by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, UNCSA opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. More than 1,100 students from high school through graduate school train for careers in the arts in five professional schools: Dance, Design and Production (including a Visual Arts Program), Drama, Filmmaking, and Music. UNCSA is the state’s only public arts conservatory, dedicated entirely to the professional training of talented students in the performing, visual and moving image arts. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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