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GREENSBORO – The rich heritage of North Carolina's textile workers will take center stage at the Greensboro Historical Museum as part of week-long ArtBeat Greensboro festival.

The festival, which begins Friday, includes music, theater, films and art exhibits.

The Touring Theatre of North Carolina will perform a stage adaptation of “Piece Work,” a collection of poems by Lexington's Barbara Presnell.

"It's a combination of textile mill history and people, as well as how the mill affects the family, how it affects the small town," said Presnell.

The Touring Theatre’s founder and producing artist director is transforming Presnell's work for stage.

"I think that this piece transcends not only to people who are in textiles, but to people who worked in industry," said Brenda Schleunes.

“Piece Work" is a composite of people who worked at the now defunct Stedman mill in Asheboro.

A companion to “Piece Work,” the Mill Village Project is a mix of historic and contemporary photographs that focuses on five families who called Cone Mill Village in Greensboro home.

"I think by looking at family photographs, we're really exposed to alternative stories than some of the official ones. They really express the perspective of the people that lived there," photographer Lisa Scheer said. "In a sense, these images are really historical documents about a vanishing community.”

Presnell said as North Carolina's textile industry continues to wane, it is important to remember its history.

"To preserve that heritage of work in this region, in the south, and in this country," said Presnell. "It's something that's vanishing."

There are three performances of “Piece Work” at the museum this weekend: Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.

A film, The Oakdale Cotton Mill Story, will be shown at the Greensboro Central Library, Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Mill Village Project will be on display at the museum through May 31.