Stories and photos needed for history of UNCSA book
If you have had an experience at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts that affected or changed your life, or the life of someone you know, Dale Pollock wants to hear from you. Especially if you have photos of the experience.
Pollock, who wrote the best-selling biography of “Star Wars” creator George Lucas, “Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas,” has been tapped by Chancellor Lindsay Bierman to write about the School of the Arts from its conception in the early 1960s to 2021, when they expect the book will be published by UNC Press.
The renowned Clarion Wind Quintet was ensemble-in-residence in the early days of the School of Music. Photo from 1976 includes faculty members, from left, Philip Dunigan, Vance Reger, Robert Listokin, Fredrick Bergstone and Mark Popkin. John Ellis later replaced Reger.
“Three decades have passed since the publication of Leslie Banner’s epic history of the school, ‘A Passionate Preference,’” Chancellor Bierman said. “Now, as we look ahead to the next 50 years, we must continue to document, reexamine, and celebrate our storied history.”
Bierman and Pollock have agreed that Pollock is going to tell the history of the school – but not in the tradition of long-form journalism.
Pollock said the history will take the form of a coffee table book “that will be dominated by images of students, student productions, faculty – the life of the school.”
But first Pollock is reaching out: to all current and former faculty and staff, all alumni, and community members.
High school students pose with an earlier generation of the Pickle, circa 2004.
Because the local community was so integral to the location of the School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, and has continued to be so supportive of the school and its students, Pollock hopes residents and former residents will “come forward with photos, memories and anecdotes about performances or teaching – things that typified their experiences at the School of the Arts and the events that were transformational, life-changing.
“You don’t leave here the same as you came,” he said, adding: “The more voices I have in this book, the more interesting it will be.”
Friends with stories to tell and images to share can email Pollock.
About Dale Pollock
Dale Pollock joined the UNCSA School of Filmmaking faculty in 2006 after serving as Dean for seven years. He teaches Cinema Studies on the undergraduate level, as well as the graduate level in the Creative Producing, Screenwriting, and Film Music Composition M.F.A. programs. He is the inaugural recipient of an endowed professorship established in his name in the School of Filmmaking. He also holds the title of Distinguished Scholar. He was a 2016 recipient of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence.
Pollock started his career writing for Daily Variety and became the head film critic for the paper until he was hired by the Los Angeles Times as its chief entertainment correspondent. While at the Times, he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in the early 1980s and wrote the Lucas biography in 1984. In 1985, Pollock joined David Geffen’s company as a development executive. He joined A&M films a year later as vice president in charge of production, and was named president in 1990. He led the company to financial and critical success, producing such films as “The Beast,” “A Midnight Clear,” “Blaze,” and “Mrs. Winterbourne.”
Pollock ran his own film company, Peak Productions, for 10 years, for which he produced the box office hit “Set It Off,” among others. He became Dean of the School of Filmmaking at UNCSA in 1999. During his tenure as Dean at the School of Filmmaking, he launched the CinEthics Conference in 2000 and in 2003 brought the RiverRun International Film Festival to Winston-Salem.
April 19, 2018