The Shadow
ALLEGHANY HIGHLANDS, Va. (Alleghany Business Review) — The arts are growing empathy and building community in the Alleghany Highlands, according to Tammy Scruggs-Duncan, executive director of the Alleghany Highlands Arts Council.
“The arts are what grow empathy,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “And if we can get a little more empathy, maybe we can have a little less division.”
Scruggs-Duncan, a native of the area who returned after studying theater and working in New York, has led the organization for three decades. She said the decision to come home was driven by wanting her children to experience the same nurturing community she knew growing up.
“I worked in nonprofit, I worked in local government, and then the grand dame of the Arts Council, Sarah Lou Snyder, decided to retire,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “I was very pleased that they chose me to take that position, because my training, my interest, led me to do what I loved to do in the place that I loved, for people that I loved.”
The Arts Council traces its roots to 1953 as the Alleghany chapter of the Virginia Symphony Guild. The organization evolved through several iterations, including the Community Concert Series, before incorporating as the Alleghany Highlands Arts Council in the 1970s.
Recent performances include December’s presentation of Handel’s Messiah by the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra at Herman Hall, drawing community members who appreciated both the performance and the legacy of local music education.
The organization brings international talent to the region while prioritizing educational residencies. Past performers have included the Royal Shakespeare Company, Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats, Tibetan monks and the Bulgarian Children’s Choir.
“The artists that we bring here from all over the world don’t just come and stand on the stage and perform,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “They interact with the community. We try to do residency activities. We take them to the students in the schools.”
Those interactions have launched professional careers. Jonathan Elmore, who taught himself piano, caught the attention of the American Spiritual Ensemble during a school visit. The group funded his training, and he now sings at the Metropolitan Opera.
“We have kids that came through some acting programs that are working as professional actors,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “I’m kind of proud of that, that these kids have as much opportunity as anybody else and as much exposure.”
The pandemic strengthened collaboration among arts organizations in the region. The Chamber of Commerce now facilitates monthly networking meetings for arts groups including the Arts Council, the arts and crafts center, the Clifton Forge School of the Arts and the Masonic Theater.
“There is a growing energy, synergy in this community amongst the arts organizations,” Scruggs-Duncan said.
The Arts Council’s spring season demonstrates the organization’s diverse programming. Ball in the House, a hip-hop a cappella group, performs March 31. A John Denver tribute concert follows in April, and the Richmond Ballet closes the season in May.
The organization relies on volunteers and board members to maintain operations.
“This organization, the Arts Council, has always been run by a handful, just a handful of really dedicated people,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “My board works hard. My family, you know, I have to thank my kids.”
For newcomers considering the region, Scruggs-Duncan emphasized the community’s commitment to caring for one another.
“You don’t have to travel outside the area to get your arts,” she said. “This is a special place. There is a core of truly caring people here, and that is the essence of the word community.”
The director sees younger residents stepping into leadership roles and bringing fresh energy to the area.
“We are not old and stale,” Scruggs-Duncan said. “We have natural beauty everywhere. We have aesthetic beauty, but we have true community here, and that’s what I would invite people to come and wallow in.”
The Arts Council welcomes volunteers and encourages community members to participate in upcoming performances. More information is available through the organization.
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Transcript (auto transcribed by AI)
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 0:00
The arts are what grow empathy. And if we can get a little more empathy, maybe we can have little less division. If you get any product out of it, it is empathy and understanding the feeling behind a ballet piece or or a violin solo. You know.
Terri Miller 0:25
Hello. I’m Terry Miller, guest host of the value proposition today. In today’s conversation, we’re going to dive into the rich history of the arts in the Allegheny Highlands and the future, the promising future. And who better to have that conversation today with me than Tammy Scruggs Duncan, the executive director of the Allegheny Highlands Art Council. Welcome Tammy. Hi Terry.
Terri Miller 0:51
All right, so I consider this conversation a crossover. So for folks who’ve watched the value proposition in the past, I was a guest a couple weeks ago where we talked about the boomerang effect. So folks who grew up here
Terri Miller 1:08
had aspirations or college or whatever led you away. You’ve gained a ton of knowledge, and then you bring it all back here to the highlands. And in our informal conversation, it sounds like you are also a boomeranger. So give us a little bit of your history here in the highlands, and maybe a quick story on what led you back here. Well, I was born here. I enjoyed the best of what makes this area special.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 1:45
Frances Rupert got me at an early age for voice music lessons, many of us, she has a huge legacy. She created this family of talent that we have. I went off to college to study. I went off scot college to be music teacher, high school music teacher, that’s what I was going to do. And within two weeks, fell into the theater department. And, you know, was captured. I haven’t got my degree in theater. And then,
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 2:55
But I came, I would have stayed in New York had I not had such a special place to come home to? You know, if I if it hadn’t been so nurturing and such a village, I think because I wanted my children to have that, I didn’t have them at that time. But
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 3:16
I came back here. I worked in nonprofit, I worked in local government, and then the grand dame of the Arts Council, Sarah Lou Snyder, decided to retire. So I was very pleased that they chose me to take that position, because my training, my interest, led me to do what I loved to do in the place that I loved, for people that I loved, and that’s really a gift. When my children were younger, we spent a year in Roanoke, where my daughter went to the Achievement Center, and I could have stayed that Roanoke has a thriving arts community, and I developed colleagues over there, because at that point there were, it’s only the Arts Council and the arts and crafts center here, that was the that was the art scene. It has grown tremendously. But the kids wanted to come back, so we left Roanoke and came back here so that they could have that same advantage that I had. And I guess everything that I have gathered there has been very beneficial to what I continue to do here.
Terri Miller 4:33
I had a nice little stint with WDBJ seven as well.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 4:38
I don’t know if you knew that. Yeah, I was at 10 or CBS and I was NBC. Yeah, I got paid minimum wage.
Terri Miller 4:49
Well, I count that, as you know, part of my journey. And you know talent, you know that we’ve brought back here to the highlands so. But I, when I think about the. Arts. Often the through line is community. And it sounds like it’s that’s the same for you that well,
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 5:06
When I came back to the area in the 80s, it was my organization. Was called the Community concert series. It has had probably about three iterations. They began in 1953 as the Allegheny chapter, the Virginia Symphony guild. Then They broadened into the community concert series, and then I think it was in the 70s, maybe they incorporated and became the Allegheny Helen’s Arts Council.
Terri Miller 5:38
Okay, so the history is there that So speaking of the Allegheny Highlands Art Council, last time we saw each other was in the lobby of Herman Hall in December when the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra did Handel’s Messiah and we didn’t have a chance to talk, but I will tell you, as a local resident, it was a fantastic performance, and when they had the audience stand at the end, I had this sort of full circle moment. We both were in the madrigals at Covington High School. I’m assuming, did you do madrigals? Oh, I did not know that. I assumed you were in the madrigals. But being in madrigals under our director, Alan Tucker, he very much made sure we knew
Terri Miller 6:36
about the classics.
Terri Miller 6:38
Francis Rupert’s legacy, absolutely and so when they had the crowd stand at the end of the Messiah or the Hallelujah chorus, I felt so much gratitude for having grown up here with teachers and musicians who were so passionate about that. And it just felt like, oh my gosh, I am in the same auditorium where I had these experiences growing up, and here my children and my family are with me. And so just as a resident, I want to say thank you for you know That to me is the community and the value of bringing the arts to the area. So I’ll pause and let you kind of
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 7:20
react to that. Yeah, no, it’s it’s not easy. You just have to perseverance. I think has been the through line of what I’ve done in the last 30 years, because there have been some ups and downs, but it does change people’s lives, or they do have that moment, and that’s what I would call a legacy moment. There you stood. And if, if, if, rising to your feet for the Hallelujah Chorus doesn’t stir something in you. You know, I haven’t done my job, but we do, like the young people’s theater series came into play in 1978 you I had just left school, if you want to do the math on how old I am, so I didn’t have that benefit. But we, the artists that we bring here from all over the world, don’t just come and stand on the stage and perform. They interact with the community. We try to do residency activities. We take them to the students in the schools. Not long after I came to the job, we brought the Royal Shakespeare Company of London to the high schools with Macbeth. We’ve had like Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, who really like coochies, I will tell you, the Bulgarian children’s choir went out to the humpback bridge because they wanted a photo of themselves in front of our landmark Chinese golden acrobats had more. Came frequently. We brought the Tibetan monks with the mystical arts of Tibet and those, those monks, even though they, only two of them, could even speak English, communicated my stage crew, ended up shooting basketball with them after the performance in the in the gymnasium, and for me, that moment of seeing these local kids shooting basketball with these Tibetan monks was an opportunity that you don’t really get. And we’ve had kids that have come up, you know, and we’ve we’ve helped them. I’ve got kids who were interested in technical theater. They were on my stage crew. They’re now working professionally. I have one young man who the American spiritual ensemble was here, and they were in the band room there at the high school, and one of the kids said, You ought to hear this guy play. And so he sat down and he paid, played the Maple Leaf Rag. He taught himself how to play the piano, and they were so interested in him, they said, We want to pay for training for you. I mean, it’s Jonathan Elmore. He’s now singing at the Met. So we have kids that you know that came through some acting programs that are working as professional actors. So I’m kind of proud of that, that that these kids, they have as much opportunity as as anybody else and as much exposure. Well, not maybe as much exposure, but they have exposure. What we do when we choose our performers and now our programming is we try to bring a lot of different genres, because not everybody likes the same thing. Not everybody’s a fan of chamber music, not everybody’s a fan of bluegrass. But if we’re bringing bluegrass, we brought Ralph Stanley here, Charlie Daniels, you know, he was on the on Casey field. Ben Vereen was on the stage at Kirkman Hall, which was like one of my I guess that would be on one of the high points in my career, because I’m a big fan of Broadway, and he’s big Broadway guy, Ed Asner has been here to play Franklin Roosevelt for for the community and for the students. We are not devoid so a lot of people think, if you’re in a rural area like this, that it may be devoid of arts and culture the community. I have colleagues now because our arts hub has grown like I said it was first. It was the Arts Council and the arts and crafts center, and now we have the School of the Arts. We have the Masonic theater. We have lots of arts agencies that have started to evolve. So especially during the pandemic, we all it that brought us all together in a way that makes us, you know, we have, we have an Arts
Terri Miller 12:16
team here. Yeah. And as you know, as a parent, my my children did Cora dance Allegheny last year, and you’re talking about those collaborations, and I remember, you’ll have to help me. Was it the shadow the shadow dance performance? Oh, they catapult, right. So they invited the dancers from Cora dance to come and learn how catapult, how catapult does its thing with the shadows. And, you know, this is now a turtle, and, yeah, and it was so funny because the kids came home and they’re like, Mom, turn the lights out, and there’s a flashlight, and they’re making puppies. And, you know, all these things, but you know all of this, I think in my research for the conversation today, I sort of listened to an interview that you and David Wiley had before, oh, the Messiah, and he mentioned the ability of music to transform and uplift humanity. And I mean, that’s, that’s, that’s so much of what you’re talking about is just, you know, playing basketball with musicians. It’s my kids going to a performance and then going home and using their, you know, it’s, it’s bringing that human, human piece into community. And I love that you mentioned, you know, all of the the key players here in the
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 13:38
area, Cora out, because they’re a big, big part. Yeah, yeah,
Terri Miller 13:43
I love it. I get so, so excited about this, but I want to switch really quick. You sort of alluded to some of the challenges that exist in bringing the arts to the area. So can you give me a little bit of just a little peek into what some of those challenges might be. And, you know, maybe how we as a community can sort of help with that.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 14:08
They don’t just come here. I have people that come to me and say, How in the world did you get this artist to come to our area? Well, we pay them. That’s their livelihood, you know. And to pay an artist $30,000 to do a performance. Here may seem like an exorbitant amount to people who don’t do it for a living, but in the 90s, we were very fortunate to have the Allegheny foundation become a source. We get money from the Virginia Commission for the arts and in the NEA, most of all our donors, we have people who who want to see, or even if they can’t come to see what we do. They so. Support us with donations, and then the people who do come are supporting us by purchasing a ticket. And so I think if I had to, if I had an ask, I would ask people to come out. You know, we after the pandemic, all arts agencies suffered. Even the Roanoke Symphony themselves, the crowds have been down. People want to stay home and watch these performances on YouTube. You can see the Bolshoi Ballet on YouTube, which is not a bad thing, but it is not the same thing as being in the room. There’s some kind of chemistry that happens between the audience and the performers, and you can’t feel that on your phone absolutely so live performance is at risk. You know, the NEA is under fire right now. It is hard when there are so many survival needs in in in not just the community, but the nation, to say, you know, are we going to take are we going to are we going to feed children, or are we going to promote the arts? The arts are feeding the children in a different way. If we didn’t have the the hope or the inspiration that springs from from the arts, I don’t know, I don’t know how we would now, some people get it, like sports or different places, but for me and for you and many of us, we can find the hope and inspiration there.
Terri Miller 16:51
Yeah, yeah, I think about, you know, what you talked about with, you know, choosing where we can manage to spend our money? Is it food? Is it the arts? Are there opportunities that maybe cost a little less or well, are free? So I my brain went to the call, was it the Collins, the open? Yeah.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 17:20
We do. Yeah. We feel like that’s part of our mission, and we don’t turn anybody away that can’t afford to see a show. We have ways. We have people who will support that, and that’s why the donors are so important, and the Allegheny Foundation has helped us so much keep the cost of our product down. If you were to see that same Handel’s Messiah performance in Roanoke, you would pay twice as much to see that. So they help supplement that that not just supporting getting the artist here, but making it affordable for the community. I love that.
Terri Miller 17:59
I absolutely love that. So we’re sort of, I think, moving a little bit into local buy in and youth and people of all ages love the arts. And you sort of gave me the in here when you talked about how the arts do feed the children. I want to talk a little bit about the kids, because sometimes, you know, maybe I can’t wrap my head around taking a dance class this semester, but I can put my kids in it for a dance. Or, you know, Missoula in the summer,
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 18:41
we’ve had your kids in Missoula twice. You plan
Terri Miller 18:43
our summers around it, they will not miss it. We have parents
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 18:47
who did Missoula children’s theater as children. The thing I like best about that program is how it you know, here you can separate into sports teams or school zones and Missoula children’s theater really brought people together under one common goal, and then sort of bound them, as you know, the theater kids or whatever, and and there, there are people, young people, who have come to us that aren’t the theater kid, but their parent wants to find a way to reach in there. And, you know, have to be tremendously talented to be part of the ensemble with, with, with theater, it sort of becomes a family, a nucleus in itself, and it’ll suck in.
Terri Miller 19:34
It does, it does. It does. And now, you know, my kids are, you know, in the Allegheny mountain strings project and showing great things with violin. Yeah, and so they’re one’s playing the violin, one’s playing the viola. And I saw an article recently that they’ve gotten into Callahan as a pilot to bring it into the schools, which makes it even more accessible, right? So we don’t have to find time after school. It fits within the school day. So I just want to make sure that we highlight to parents, those of us who are strapped and running and working and, you know, trying to figure it out that these are and Missoula is free. The Allegheny mountain strings project does not cost. A ton Cora dance Allegheny what you can is pay what you can. So I, yeah, I just wanted to sort of dive into that for a second,
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 20:23
even if, even if you don’t understand the esthetic of giving the arts to your child, which is, it’s an ingredient that is essential. But even if you don’t, if you’re looking at very practically, music teaches math, you know, quarter notes, eighth notes, whole notes, there’s division and multiplication. They have shown. You know about you’ve heard of the Mozart effect, how it triggers the synapses in your brain. I will tell you that I did you know. Or if there were breakfast times on days of SOL testing, where my kids had to listen to Mozart before they went to school because I thought that would help them there. There are reams of studies that show that the arts assist an individual in their development across the board.
Terri Miller 21:13
Yes, absolutely, absolutely. And I’ll just wrap on this with you know, we took the kids to see Shrek, the musical at the high school last year. Did you see it? Talk about an abundance of talent. Oh, my gosh, that was okay. We’ve always loved Shrek in my house. But man, did it bring it to life and just sort of ignite something
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 21:39
like and could you feel the energy? Oh, we felt it.
Terri Miller 21:42
That’s why you have to be so incredibly talented so well.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 21:46
And they have inspiration. Yes, our arts Legacy Award Program recognized a man’s spells this year, yes, but it has gone back to, you know, over the last, I don’t know, 20 years, I guess we’ve been doing it. One of the first recipients was Frances Rupert. She inspired. There are probably a dozen choir directors or choir members, people that she instilled the love of music in them. So legacy is is important, and then the community does. They’ve been very kind to us. We have a corporate co sponsor program, and businesses see the value of supporting what we do and just like local, give local Allegheny, I hope you do a little segment with them, because they have been able to bring out the best in this community, people opening their purses to all the causes here and that’s coming up in May. They’ve been very the community’s been very kind to us that way, and in fact that you wanted to do this interview. I appreciate that.
Terri Miller 23:06
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. How can we talk about the amazing things about the highlands and not talk about the arts well?
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 23:15
But I’m not. I might be the person you think of, but there are so many people behind me. Absolutely, this organization, the Arts Council, has always been run by a handful, just a handful of really dedicated people, and my board works hard. My family, you know, I have to thank my kids back when they were young, and my husband, he may be handing you a program when you come to the next event. So I don’t do this by myself, and then I have people who who reinforce what I do by saying it meant something to me. It helped me. That keeps me going.
Terri Miller 23:55
Love it. Love it. So let’s talk about the future, okay, of the arts in the islands. Crystal Ball. Where are we going? What do you see as the future in the arts? What would you like to see?
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 24:12
There is a growing energy synergy in this community amongst the arts organizations. We meet once a month. The Chambers of Commerce has facilitated a group, and it’s a network. And sometimes we don’t have anything to mean about but we just get together and kind of talk about our challenges, our successes. I see us growing as an arts community, the Arts Council itself, okay, let me just do a little commercial, because I think the next, the rest of our season, the second half is is in the spring, and it shows the variety in March, March, the 30. First, I think we have ball in the house, which is a very hip a cappella group. They’re going to be in the schools. Then we have a tribute to John Denver in April, which is maybe a different demographic. It may be as boomers. And I don’t know anybody that doesn’t love John Denver’s music, but this guy is very good. And then we close the season with something more classical. The Richmond ballet will be here in May. So we like to give a little taste of everything. We have a volunteer Guild, and are always looking for people that are interested in volunteering with us. So I love to hear from people that were interested to know more about that.
Terri Miller 25:46
Yeah, yeah. And when we talk about the future, we can’t ask, and you have your crystal ball, if you could bring any performer, any performing arts group, any talent to the highlands and say, you know, I can X that off my I did it. I have arrived. I know you mentioned Ben green,
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 26:11
getting Harry Connick Jr just sing at the Masonic or something.
Terri Miller 26:16
I already have my ticket.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 26:19
Turn that question on you, because I really am more interested in what what people want to see. We We do surveys, and we try to get input from the community on what they would like to have. So I’m going to ask you if I could bring anything that you wanted to see, or you wanted your kids to see, besides maybe Mitch Rachel, I don’t think we’re coming to be able to get this right? Yeah, she’s not coming. But who would you like for us?
Terri Miller 26:45
Oh, gosh, so, oh, well, I am a violin Viola mom now, and I’ll say La, maybe I say last year, but it probably was two years ago. I took the girls to see black violin. Have you heard of them? Yeah, so I took them to see black violin in Charlottesville, and it was amazing talk about community, because then they brought in a bunch of kids from the middle schools, and, you know, they got to do a workshop with them, and then they actually performed one of the closing numbers with the guys that are in black violin. But now that the girls are playing, I would love to bring them here, even just watching the symphony, they were like, Oh my gosh, this is so cool to sit that close and watch. You know, folks actually doing what they do every week. But black violin does it on a totally different level, and they merge hip hop and the classics and spoken word. And, you know, I just, I think that’s such a cool way that they do it, and the fact that kids here would get to
Terri Miller 27:57
engage. So there’s my little
Terri Miller 28:01
suggestion in the box black violin. I think that would be so cool in so many aspects for our area.
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 28:07
Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah, yeah.
Terri Miller 28:10
Okay, so we’ve talked about your high notes. Is there anything else that, if we were wanting folks who were thinking about coming to the highlands, about moving here? What message would you would you give them about the Allegheny Highlands? You don’t have to
Tammy Scruggs-Duncan 28:26
travel outside the area to get your arts for one thing. But this is a this is a special place, and I know I’m on the older end of the spectrum. I know that social media probably doesn’t put our best face forward, but there is a core of truly caring people here, and that is the essence of the word community and and so we have a new era of young, vibrant people like yourself. I’m very pleased with what’s happening at the chamber. I see these, these children, well, I knew them as children like yourself. And they’re they’re capable adults that are stepping into leadership here, and I’m really excited about that. I mean, we are not old and stale. We have natural beauty everywhere. We have esthetic beauty, but we have true community here, and that’s what I would invite people to come and wallow in.
Terri Miller 29:39
Yeah. Yeah. So it’s arts that build connection, that enhance our quality of life, that really, really give us all a sense of belonging. Thank you. Thank you for being here with us today.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
