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TRYON–PBS NC was at the Tryon Arts and Crafts School Saturday shooting a segment for its magazine show, “North Carolina Weekend.” 

Producer/Writer Clay Johnson and videographer Erik Olsen, both Polk County residents, filmed several activities at TACS including a bead shop taught by Deb Rich.

“I think it’s great to have more attention focused on the school because we’re not very far out of the way,” says Rich. “We’re convenient to Hendersonville, Asheville, even Greenville.”

Johnson and Olsen also interviewed one of Rich’s students and TACS executive director Will Barclift for the segment. 

“The coverage of Tryon Arts and Crafts School by PBS for us is huge,” says Barclift. “Our desire is to broadcast out into our region and even nationally that we exist and that we’re doing great work. PBS provides us that platform to get the word out.”

TACS began in the 1950s as a group of local artists who joined together to create a place to sell their works and teach others their skills. It became a nonprofit organization in 1960 and in 2006 purchased and moved into the old Tryon Middle School next to Harmon Field. TACS offers a wide variety of classes and workshops in more than half a dozen mediums for youth and adults year-round on weekdays and weekends and has an exhibition gallery and retail shop. 

“North Carolina Weekend” is a weekly magazine show that premiers Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on PBS NC and repeats Friday at 5 p.m., Saturday at 10 a.m. and the following Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. The show is also available for on-demand streaming on the North Carolina Weekend website, YouTube channel and Facebook page. The show featuring the TACS segment is scheduled to premiere on May 18.