Laurinburg's own Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast will be the subject of a feature to be broadcast by UNC-TV later this month, according to Center officials. The scheduled air date for the PBS program "North Carolina Weekend" will be Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. with a repeat airing on Jan. 1.

Jan Schmidt is the executive director of the Storytelling Arts Center in Laurinburg.

"We are really excited because UNC-TV is producing a special North Carolina Weekend for New Years' program and two of our annual events, the Storytelling Festival and the Bold Faced Liars' Showdown, will be featured," Schmidt said. "It is really an honor to have been chosen for this special presentation, and should be great promotion both for Laurinburg and for our upcoming festivals."

North Carolina Weekend is a half-hour broadcast that promotes upcoming events throughout the state.

Program Producer/Director David Hardy said that the program is a followup to UNC-TV's coverage of last spring's third annual Storytelling Festival of Carolina, held each year at the historic John Blue House in Laurinburg.

"We aired a segment on the Storytelling Festival last April, and after that I continued a dialogue with Jan Schmidt," Hardy said. "She made a good case for another program to be aired as a way of making people aware of the festivals the Storytelling Arts Center produces."

The storytelling festival segment will be part of an episode that features the city of New Bern's 300th anniversary and the 75th anniversary of the Blue RIdge Parkway.

The Storytelling Arts Center of the Southeast is located at 131 S. Main Street in Laurinburg.

Visit www.storyartscenter.org for more information.