(Winston-Salem) WINSTON-SALEM – For the second year in a row, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has won a “Downtown Excellence Award” from the Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership (DWSP).

The Winston-Salem Light Project, inspired and produced by Norman Coates, director of the lighting program in UNCSA’s School of Design and Production, was one of five award recipients. Mayor Allen Joines presented the awards at the annual meeting of the DWSP recently in the Grand Pavilion Ballroom of the Embassy Suites.

In its fifth year, the lighting project is a multimedia presentation designed by UNCSA students to show the importance of light as an artistic medium in urban settings. More than 15,000 people viewed the interactive installation at Winston Square Park in November 2012.

Last year, UNCSA received two awards, for its annual production of The Nutcracker and for its downtown performing arts center, the Stevens Center.

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.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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