News/Story Ideas
Cinematic Durham
Durham, NC is a great location for movie lovers. The location and setting of Bull Durham, the greatest sports movie of all time according to Sports Illustrated, Durham, NC has been a setting or stand-in for 20 major motion pictures. In 2009 filming for Main Street, staring Orlando Bloom, Andrew McCarthy, Colin Firth, Ellen Burstyn, and others, wrapped up after five weeks in the Bull City.
Movie lovers can visit the Historic Durham Athletic Park, where Bull Durham was filmed in 1987. The ballpark, ranked by ESPN as the #35 all time sports venue, is currently owned by Minor League Baseball and is used for a variety of purposes such as: hosting the Academy for Sports Turf Management and serving as the home field for the North Carolina Central University Eagles. The Durham Bulls now play a mile south of the old ballpark in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park which is part of the American Tobacco District in Durham.
For movie lovers interested in film festivals, Durham offers two nationally known festivals. The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival takes place in April and is the only international festival of its kind celebrating strictly the power and artistry of documentary cinema. The North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival runs in August and is the second largest gay and lesbian film festival in the Southeast, attracting thousands of visitors each year.
Dining in Durham
Durham's fine-dining fame goes back 25 years, when Ben and Karen Barker opened Magnolia Grill and built a national reputation for their creative use of regional and seasonal ingredients. Today, the Barkers' protégés can be found not only in New York and Napa but also keeping things hot in North Carolina. They and the Barkers form part of Durham's concentration of internationally trained and acclaimed chefs who work their skills on a rich selection of local ingredients.
Durham always has new culinary riches to discover, with more than 500 restaurants offering everything from good ol' North Carolina barbecue and other traditional favorites to inspired creations and international fare. A mobile food scene is fast emerging and two (soon to be three) breweries make Durham a destination on the brewpub map.
Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University
The eyes of the art world focused on Durham October 2, 2005, as the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University opened its doors, bringing Durham and the state of North Carolina to a new cultural plateau. World-renowned architect Rafael Viñoly designed the landmark 65,767-square-foot museum, consisting of five separate pavilions linked by a glass-roofed atrium.
The museum features galleries for Duke’s permanent collection of works from around the globe, representing Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, pre-Columbian, and Contemporary periods. Additionally, there are galleries for special exhibitions, sculpture gardens, a café, a gift shop, and classrooms.
The Nasher Museum joins an area of Duke’s campuses that already includes two must-see features. The Sarah P. Duke Gardens, with its 55 acres of landscaped and woodland gardens, is a short walk away, while the breathtaking architecture and colorful stained-glass windows of Duke University Chapel, one of the last great collegiate Gothic projects in the nation, is also nearby.
Historic Images of Downtown Durham Photography Exhibit
Works by local photographer Will Grossman. FREE admission.
