By Erin C. Perkins
The Mount Airy News
eperkins@mtairynews.com

It's one thing to know the importance of Surry county to old time mountain music. It's another to see it.

The Surry Arts Council received a $7,500 grant through the Grassroots Arts Program from the North Carolina Arts Council Tuesday to help fund filming on the importance and significance of Surry County and Mount Airy to old time music.

"Surry County is important to the traditional music world and the video would be used as an educational tool for schools, newcomers to the area and visitors," said Tanya Jones, the executive director of the SAC, who also wrote the grant proposal.

Jones said the SAC would partner with UNC-TV television program, Folkways, which would film and produce the video as an episode of the series. The series, which is hosted by Grammy Award-winning musician David Holt, explores the state's history from folk art and folk music to simple pioneer living.

Jones added the funds in the grant will be used to cover artist fees, travel expenses for the film crew and fees for the project coordinator, who will be Margaret Griffin, who handles the marketing and publicity at the SAC and Foothills Arts Council. Griffin, who has a degree in communications and media production from Guilford College, was the associate producer for the Rob Connolly film "Our Neck of the Woods," which filmed in Mount Airy earlier this year.

While the film project is estimated to cost $15,000, Jones said she is excited about the project and will continue to seek matching funds for the grant through the Surry County government and other tourism and heritage organizations.

"The people who are grounded in traditional music understand the importance, but this is an opportunity to define the county's role in the traditional music world."

In a letter of support for the project, Jim Bramlett, the producer and director of Folkways, said he thought the topic was a worthy film project.

""It is a great fit for UNC-TV's long-running and popular Folkways TV series and we look forward to beginning work when the grant funding is in place," he wrote.

David Holt, who is set to write and host for the filming, wrote in support of the project stating that it would help viewers get a sense of the local artists who have had a strong influence on several generations of old time musicians.

"Rarely has such a small community had such an effect on an entire genre of music," he wrote. "This program will explore why Mount Airy has become the center of the old time music universe."

The NC Arts Council, which celebrates more than 2,500 art organizations statewide, awarded the SAC two additional grants including $8,000 for Traditional Arts Programs, which will be used for the free year-round weekly lessons in fiddle and guitar and an eight-week school program for fiddle and guitar instruction. The art council also received a $27,656 grant to be used for various art programs, administrative support and subgrants for other art organization in Surry County.

The state art council awarded a total of $85,372 to Stokes, Surry and Yadkin counties.