Contestants set for "Sing and Play '23" student music competition on Feb. 23

SILER CITY, N.C. — Showcase contestants have been selected for “Sing and Play ’23,” the fifth-annual music competition hitting the stage later this month at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City.

The showcase concert on February 23 at 6:30 p.m. highlights talented student musicians throughout the area and raises money for JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, a nonprofit organization created to provide what student artists need to excel.

General admission is $5 per person and includes one vote in each age-based competition.

Judges Jennifer Benitez, Greg Burriss and Matt Fry selected 15 musical acts during open auditions to perform in separate elementary, middle and high school competitions. Winners will be selected by audience vote and each receives a $50 cash prize.

Elementary contestants are Joy Forester of Chatham Grove Elementary, Evelyn Miranda of Virginia Cross Elementary, Emma Ortiz of Pittsboro Elementary and Zoey Ortiz of Pittsboro Elementary.

Middle school contestants are Ares Adams of Chatham Middle, London Crowling of Margaret B. Pollard Middle, William Forester of Margaret B. Pollard Middle, Sarah Hill of George Moses Horton Middle, Hailey King of George Moses Horton Middle and Eleanor Reece of Silk Hope School.

The competition will conclude with five high school performances. Ari Ibarra, Natalie Morales Zagada, Clara Rojas, Elisa Vasquez Perez and Traycee Wall all represent Jordan-Matthews.

This year’s showcase will feature a guest performance by Buck and Maggie Thornton, also of Jordan-Matthews High School, who won last year's high school competition. 

“We’re looking forward to another great show featuring students from all over Chatham County,” said JMArts President Rose Pate, who noted that performers from outside Chatham also were eligible. “It’s great to provide a chance for students to perform on the ‘big stage’ and the showcase celebrates them as they grow musically from first through twelfth grade.”

All money raised by the competition will be used by JMArts for educational projects, including its New York Arts Adventure. That annual trip scheduled over spring break gives upperclass musicians, actors and visual artists an opportunity to explore one of the world’s great cities, experience the very best in the arts and gain new perspectives that will influence their lives and work.

More information about “Sing and Play” performers will be published on JMArts social media. Details about JMArts and other events scheduled for this season are online at jmarts.org.

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Buck and Maggie Thornton of Jordan-Matthews High School won the high school competition at last year’s event and will return to perform as guest artists at Sing and Play ’23 on February 23 at Jordan-Matthews High School. The annual competition was created as a performance opportunity for student musicians and a fundraiser for JMArts. (Photo by Chip Pate)

JMArts receives Chatham Arts Council grant to develop the foundation for future success

SILER CITY, N.C. — Not long ago, after celebrating a successful first decade serving Jordan-Matthews High School artists and the broader community, JMArts was poised to launch a campaign to recruit new volunteers that could sustain the high school arts foundation for years to come.

The future seemed bright at that moment, the beginning of the 2020 spring semester, and then everything stopped.

The COVID-19 pandemic killed that project and made life even more difficult for nonprofits worldwide. Volunteers disappeared. Many contributors did, too. Audiences evaporated; even after live performances returned with stringent safety guidelines, many people were worried about their health and no longer in the habit of attending in-person events.

All of a sudden, JMArts was scrambling to provide creative opportunities for student artists to develop their talents and keep moving forward. The future that once seemed so bright was in real jeopardy.

JMArts has just received some much-needed help in the form of a Chatham Arts Council Capacity Building Subgrant, a $5,000 award to help the nonprofit foundation strengthen itself for a sustained, promising future. The official purpose of the grant: to “review, revise and add to the structural framework of JMArts — including by-laws, board makeup, volunteer recruitment and strategic plan.”

“The bottom line is that we now have some money that will help us find and welcome the volunteers we hoped to draw into the foundation just before the pandemic hit,” said JMArts President Rose Pate. “It also will allow us to seek long-term funding and develop new tools that should strengthen JMArts for many years to come. I’m excited to have the chance to work on behind-the-scenes projects that will make JMArts function better in the long term, especially our outreach to parents and other volunteers.”

Chatham Arts Council and JMArts have worked together over many years to provide opportunity for students.

Last winter, JMArts produced a Latin jazz clinic for high school and some middle school musicians. Gregg Gelb and La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet taught Latin jazz technique and performed a demonstration before returning later for a free public performance. And the spring before, in one of the first in-person workshops after pandemic lockdowns, JMArts produced an after-school theater dance workshop open to all students and led by Temple Theatre Producing Artistic Director Peggy Taphorn, a Broadway actor and choreographer.

And later this spring, Jordan-Matthews visual artists and students studying occupational and basic life skills will participate in “Gourd-geous Art Day: Art Meets Nature,” a day-long workshop where artists Martha Danek and Cara Bevan will show students how to incorporate natural materials into works of art.

All three events were offered with Chatham Arts Council through Grassroots Arts Grants supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“The Grassroots Grants offered by the Chatham Arts Council have been key in helping bring arts opportunities and expertise to students at Jordan-Matthews,” said Pate. “We’re excited to continue our relationship with this vital community organization as we learn how better to serve students and families in Siler City.”

More information about JMArts, including a schedule of all upcoming arts events and information on membership, is available online at JMArts.org.

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Percussionists Beverly Botsford, left, and Ramon Ortiz of La Fiesta Latin Jazz Sextet taught student drummers Latin jazz technique during last year’s workshop offered in partnership with Chatham Arts Council. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Peggy Taphorn, a Broadway performer and producing artistic director for Temple Theatre in Sanford, leads an after-school theater dance workshop for Jordan-Matthews High School students. This workshop offered in partnership with Chatham Arts Council was one of the first in-person events in 2021 after pandemic lockdowns. (Photo by Chip Pate)

The $5,000 capacity-building grant to help JMArts develop and strengthen the foundation for future success was awarded by Chatham Arts Council.

Fifth-annual Sing and Play student music competition set for February

SILER CITY, N.C. — Sing and Play ’23, the fifth-annual music competition for students from elementary through high school, returns next month with auditions and its popular showcase concert at Jordan-Matthews High School in Siler City.

Instrumental and vocal acts will compete for a $50 prize awarded for the best performance in each of three age categories — elementary, middle school and high school. Acts may be individuals or ensembles up to four people, with all performers being full-time students in a North Carolina public, private or home school.

Auditions will be held by appointment in the Jordan-Matthews Auditorium on Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 3:45 to 5:45 p.m., when a panel of judges will select four to six acts in each age category to perform in the showcase competition. Auditions are held with an educational focus, providing an opportunity for young, aspiring performers to experience the audition process in a supportive environment. Individuals and ensembles planning to audition must register online by 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

The Sing and Play Showcase competition concert will be Thursday, Feb. 23, at 6:30 p.m. Immediately following all performances, winners in each age category will be selected by audience vote. General admission is $5 per person and includes one vote in each category.

Last year’s winners were Jojo Chen of Woods Charter School in the elementary division, Zachary Klingel of Margaret B. Pollard in the middle school division and the duet of Buck and Maggie Thornton of Jordan-Matthews in the high school division. Sing and Play ’22 was hosted by JM actor-musicians Wilson Ramos Meza and Litzy Garcia.

An overview of the competition — including rules and a link to the registration form — is available online at jmarts.org/s/JMASingAndPlayRules2023.pdf.

Sing and Play is a fundraiser for JMArts, the Jordan-Matthews Arts Foundation, a nonprofit created to provide what student artists need to excel.

Money raised by the competition will be used by JMArts for educational projects, including its annual New York Arts Adventure. Scheduled over spring break, the educational trip to New York City gives a group of upperclass musicians, actors and visual artists an opportunity to explore one of the world’s great cities, experience the very best in their arts and gain new perspectives and experiences that will influence their lives and work. Several world-class actors, musicians and critics meet with JM artists during the five-day adventure.  

More information about JMArts and other events scheduled for this season is available at jmarts.org.

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Winners of “Sing and Play ’22” with the show’s co-hosts were, from left, co-host Wilson Ramos Meza, Jojo Chen of Woods Charter School, Zachary Klingel of Margaret B. Pollard Middle School, Buck and Maggie Thornton of Jordan-Matthews High School and co-host Litzy Garcia. (Photo by Chip Pate)

Buck and Maggie Thornton of Jordan-Matthews took the prize in the high school competition at “Sing and Play ’22” for their vocal duet with guitar of “April Come She Will.” (Photo by Chip Pate)

Zachary Klingel of Margaret B. Pollard topped an exceptionally strong middle school competition at “Sing and Play ’22” with his vocal and guitar performance of “Old Church Choir.” (Photo by Chip Pate)

Audience members at “Sing and Play ’22” voted Jojo Chen of Woods Charter School as best performance in the elementary division for her vocal rendition of “Lost Boy.” (Photo by Chip Pate)