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To provide exceptional year-round musical education and performance opportunities to students from our community and beyond.
To promote and encourage musicians of all genres through performances, workshops, and master classes; and to expose students and audiences to a diverse world of musical expression.
To enhance the artistic imprint of the Yadkin Valley region, and to encourage arts tourism.
To inspire future generations of musicians and music enthusiasts to keep musical traditions alive and to explore new forms of self-expression through instrumentation, sound, and rhythm.
Located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the 34-square mile Big Elkin Creek watershed supplies the Town of Elkin, North Carolina and surrounding communities in Wilkes and Surry counties. While the Big Elkin Creek is not yet impaired, it fails to meet it's full potential as a safe recreation resource and essential cultural piece to the heritage of the Yakin Valley. Watershed Now exists to highlight the opportunities surrounding the Big Elkin Creek including ecotourism and environmental education. Moreover, Watershed Now intends to foster greater support for this resource through stewardship and advocacy.
Without a voice declaring action, the Big Elkin Creek watershed will be decimated by unchecked polluting practices. Among varieties of nonpoint-source pollutants, the issue stems predominantly from agricultural runoff, worsened by way of erosion due to development and flooding - two things that are common in our area. When these compromises don't affect us directly, they often wreak havoc on the ecosystem bearing consequences for invertebrates, fish and amphibians, which in turn affects plant communities and wildlife across the boards, soon making it's way back to humans. Not only will recreation and economic assets be depleted, so will our natural resource of clean water. We will not avoid the consequences.
Watershed Now aims to combat this degradation by urging state and local leaders to understand the plight of the natural communities that are the lifeline of our region. You can help Watershed Now by taking action with us. The ultimate goal of Watershed Now is to raise awareness and channel a growing passion for our all-encompassing natural resource.