West Virginia native singer-songwriter Bill Withers died Monday, March 30, in Los Angeles from complications related to heart disease. 

Known for such songs as “Lean on Me,” “Just the Two of Us,” and “Lovely Day,” Withers was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia on July 4, 1938, and spent much of his young life in Beckley. Withers received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia University in 2017.

With facilities closed and performances halted, the arts community at West Virginia University has turned its attention to helping supply WVU Medicine with the products it needs while fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Working with specifications from WVU Medicine, the costume shop in WVU’s School of Theatre & Dance has started production on N95 masks. Five volunteers from the school are spread out and working in the Falbo Theatre at WVU’s Loulie, Valerie and William Canady Creative Arts Center.

When students return to campus, the beloved home of the West Virginia University College of Creative Arts will have a new name in honor of a leadership gift from the Valerie Canady Charitable Foundation. Beginning today, the former Creative Arts Center on WVU’s Evansdale campus will be known as the Loulie, Valerie and William Canady Creative Arts Center.

The newly established Canady Fund for Excellence and Innovation in the Arts will provide for arts programming, educational enrichment opportunities, building improvements and discretionary support to benefit students, faculty and staff within the College of Creative Arts.

Three students from West Virginia University in February participated in The Mid Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra.

MACJO is the premier performing and networking honor group for select collegiate jazz musicians in the Mid-Atlantic region. MACJO was founded in 2009 as an initiative of the Cumberland Jazz Society.

The Canady Chamber Series was established by the Valerie Canady Charitable Foundation in 2018 in order to bring in professional chamber musicians to perform and teach for WVU students and the Morgantown community.

“The Canady family has long supported artistic presentations of the highest quality to benefit the CCA and broader Morgantown Community,” said Dean Keith Jackson. “As with previous initiatives, the importance of guaranteeing significant interactions between artists and CCA students is what makes the Canady Chamber Series unique as it includes tremendous performances and the opportunity for our students to work with full-time performers that are outside of their normal sphere of influence.”