“There,” he says from a nearby parking lot, pointing at the abandoned AC Delco building. Rhodes proceeds to detail an adaptive-use project that will turn the building into a stunning 300-seat theater for dance, music, and film productions. Construction is due to begin in 2008, and it will take about a year to complete.

“It costs a little more, but you preserve the heritage of the town,” explains Rhodes, president and CEO of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

“[Winston-Salem] is always working to fix itself. I like that about this town.” Rhodes talks about Winston-Salem like a proud parent, which may be because he and the city share quite a bit of history. This is the third time he’s lived here, and he says there’s a simple reason he came back.

“Of all the places we had lived, Winston-Salem is where we loved the most,” Rhodes says. He and his wife, Mattie, an accomplished flutist, made close friends during their earlier years here, and Rhodes also had remained on the board of the N.C. School of the Arts.

“It is a different community from when I was here the second time,” he says. “The changes are just so substantial for what I do.”

Beginnings
Rhodes, a Montana native, first moved to Winston-Salem in 1968, when he got a job as symphony manager. He joined the U.S. Army in 1969 and served in the Finance Corps in Indianapolis. He and Mattie moved back to Winston-Salem two years later so he could take a job as executive director of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County.

The American Council for the Arts, now called Americans for the Arts, was chartered in Winston-Salem in the mid-1960s, but then moved almost immediately to offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. In 1985, the Council asked Rhodes to move to the latter, and he felt compelled to leave Winston-Salem once more.

“I was dragged out of here,” says Rhodes, who at the time had three young sons - Milt, Ben, and Addrian - and firm roots in Winston-Salem.

As president and CEO of ACA, he was responsible for a 66-member national board. Over the course of his career, he helped raise more than $200 million for organizations such as the National Coalition of United Arts Fund, Outward Bound USA, and the Northern Westchester Hospital Center Foundation.

“Because of his national experience in other communities, Milton seems very comfortable including other people in the conversation, people that may be different than him,” says Michael Suggs, chair of the Goler Community Development project next to the Arts District. “He always wants to hear all the opinions.”

A New Way
In his third stint in Winston-Salem, Rhodes is working to promote Winston-Salem’s Black Theatre and the Piedmont Craftsmen and RiverRun International Film festivals. He’s also trying to connect other aspects of the art community to these events.

“That’s the challenge,” Rhodes says. “What can I do to make this place seem like it’s connected?”

He envisions 1,000 events a year and says the community is more than halfway there. This year, 640 events are already booked. There’s rock on Thursday nights, jazz on Friday and country music on Saturdays. The Stevens Center draws 104,000 people each year, and Sawtooth Center for Visual Art attracts 12,000. Other venues such as The Garage cater to niche audiences for music, film, poetry, and theater.

Rhodes says he and the Arts Council have been greatly helped by the determined leadership of Peggy Joines, Aurelia Gray Eller and Libby Booke.

“These three women put their heads down and make things happen despite the obstacles,” says Rhodes. “It’s what they’re made of.”

The admiration and respect goes both ways.

“He believes that building a great community starts with building partnerships in the community and breaking down barriers,” says Joines. “We went from funded members to funded partners. He is so inclusive.”

Living through art
When he’s not working to promote the arts, Rhodes spends as much time as he can enjoying it. He averages six to seven events a week, sometimes three a night.

“The strength of Winston-Salem is its breadth and depth and quality,” he says. “When you see the opera that’s going to be done tonight, it’s funny. It’s quality. It’s as fine as you would see anywhere.”

He sees Winston-Salem as a creativity hub for everyone, not just arts professionals. He says a good example is the Associated Artists project that placed 100 tennis rackets, painted by schoolchildren, businesspeople, and artists, throughout the community last month to celebrate the Davis Cup event.

“Everybody, even people who think they’re not artistically inclined, I think they are,” he says. “We need to feel intimacy in all our lives, and the arts give you that.”