Press Releases

Raleigh, N.C. (September 18, 2018) — Twenty artists living and working in North Carolina are recipients of the 2018-2019 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Awards and two additional artists were awarded the Mary B. Regan Community Artist Residency.

Artist Fellowships were awarded in the categories of choreography (3 awards), craft (3 awards), film and video (3 awards), and visual arts (11 awards) to some of the best artists working in these art disciplines in our state today.

Raleigh, N.C. (Sept. 6, 2018) — Grants totaling more than $7.2 million have been awarded to nonprofit arts and cultural organizations to support arts programs in all 100 counties, the North Carolina Arts Council announced today. 

During 2018–19 an additional $300,000 from the N.C. Legislature will support the Grassroots Arts Program, a nationally-recognized program that provides per capita funding for the arts in every county.  

Raleigh, N.C. (August 13, 2018) — Jaki Shelton Green will be installed as North Carolina’s ninth Poet Laureate on Wed., Sept. 19 in a ceremony at the State Capitol.

The ceremony starts at 4:15 p.m. in the old House Chamber at the State Capitol, located at One East Edenton St. in downtown Raleigh. This is a free event, but reservations are needed to attend.

Governor Roy Cooper announced Green’s appointment last month. She will succeed Shelby Stephenson, who was named poet laureate in early 2015.

Governor Roy Cooper today announced that poet, teacher, and community arts advocate Jaki Shelton Green will serve as North Carolina’s ninth poet laureate.

“Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state’s diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature,” Governor Cooper said. “Jaki’s appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina’s rich literary history."

Raleigh, N.C. (May 8, 2018) —  Six-time Tony Award-winning costume designer William Ivey Long says all roads lead to North Carolina. That will be the case on Wednesday, May 16 when Long visits Raleigh for a talk about his career and a preview of four costumes inspired by French paintings for a one-night-only event.

Presented by the North Carolina Arts Council and Museum of History, the evening kicks off at 7 p.m. with a talk with Long, who grew up in Seaboard, N.C., and Bobbi Owen, author of the recently published book, “The Designs of William Ivey Long.”

Raleigh, N.C. (April 23, 2018) — The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources will sponsor performances by N. C. musicians at MerleFest on April 27 to April 29, including four-time Grammy winner David Holt and Grammy nominee Josh Goforth.

Tony Williamson, renowned mandolin player from Chatham County, will perform on Saturday. He is a recipient of a 2018 N.C. Heritage Award, and was only 15 when he won the first-place “world champion” title for mandolin at the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention.

Raleigh, N.C. (February 19, 2018) —The North Carolina Arts Council, the Jacksonville/Onslow County Arts Council, Coastal Carolina Community College, and Camp Lejeune will host an arts and military conference on March 9 and 10 in Jacksonville as part of Creative Forces: NEA Military Healing Arts Network.

Raleigh, N.C. (February 18) — North Carolina high school students from 26 districts across the state will take the stage on Saturday, March 3, in Greensboro, to compete in the annual statewide Poetry Out Loud competition

More than 75 schools participated in Poetry Out Loud with classroom lessons, classroom competitions, and district competitions beginning early last fall. Students from these schools vied to make it to the state semi-finals and finals. The state winner will advance to the national Poetry Out Loud finals in Washington, D.C. on April 23.

Raleigh, N.C. (Jan. 23, 2018) — Artists in North Carolina have until Thursday, March 15 to apply for the Mary B. Regan Community Artist Residency, a $12,500 grant designed to support innovative art projects that impact communities.

The funds will support the selected artist’s planning and implementation costs related to the proposed project. 

The grant honors Mary Regan’s four decades of leadership as executive director at the N.C. Arts Council and her long-held beliefs in the importance of artists and the transformative potential of creativity to community life.

Raleigh, N.C. (December 18, 2017) — The North Carolina Arts Council has awarded $75,000 in grants to support four arts programs that will serve military personnel, veterans and their families in the state.

“We are grateful that the North Carolina General Assembly funded this new program to support the men and women who make sacrifices every day while serving in the military," said Wayne Martin, Executive Director of the North Carolina Arts Council. “This reoccurring appropriation allows us to provide specific arts outreach to our military and veterans communities.” 

Celebrate authentic North Carolina for the holidays by supporting your local arts council where galleries showcase distinctive gifts of glass, clay, fiber, leather, metal, paper, wood and more! Local arts councils play an important role in communities, sponsoring and supporting arts programming and local arts.

Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park Features 30 Whimsical & Massive Works in downtown Wilson

Raleigh, N.C. (October 17, 2017) — A new destination park in historic downtown Wilson filled with kinetic, colorful whirligigs created by North Carolina’s own world-renowned folk artist Vollis Simpson will be officially dedicated and opened on Thursday, Nov. 2.

The two-acre park, located at 301 Goldsboro Street South, is an arts-driven economic development project that has already spurred $25 million in private investment in Wilson's historic downtown.

The North Carolina Arts Council will kick-off a fall season of 50th anniversary arts events on Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30 when it sponsors a stage at the Wide Open Bluegrass StreetFest, featuring musicians that showcase Blue Ridge Mountains traditional music.

The N.C. Arts Council will present the Davie Street Stage in downtown Raleigh, one of seven music stages for the two-day free musical festival, to focus on musicians and groups that exemplify why North Carolina plays such a large role in shaping the bluegrass sound and the story of traditional music in America.

The North Carolina Folklife Area at the National Folk Festival in September will celebrate North Carolina traditions that are flourishing in the hands of millennial artists, officials announced today.

“North Carolina has always recognized and celebrated its cultural heritage and our traditional artists,” Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Susi H. Hamilton said. “Generation Now! is a wonderful opportunity for visitors and residents to experience our state’s rich traditions as interpreted by talented young artists.”

Raleigh native Charles R. “Chuck” Davis, who became one of the world’s foremost teachers and choreographers of African dance, is being remembered across North Carolina and the country today for his artistry, his contributions to American dance and his ability to use art to promote peace and healing.

Raleigh, N.C., March 1, 2017 — Nominations are open for the North Carolina Heritage Award, the state’s highest honor for traditional artists, until Monday, May 1.

Craft, music and storytelling artists, who help preserve North Carolina’s unique folkways through the traditional arts of their communities, may be nominated for the award.

The 2017 grant application season has launched and guidelines and applications for the North Carolina Arts Council’s seven grant programs for organizations are now available.  

The deadline for receiving 2017-18 grant applications is Wednesday, March 1 and applications must be completed electronically through the North Carolina Arts Council’s online portal. 

Grants from the North Carolina Arts Council are one of the ways the state’s extensive infrastructure of arts organizations is sustained and advanced.

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today that 16 nonprofit organizations and one artist in North Carolina will receive $452,500 for fiscal year 2017.

In total, the NEA plans to award $30 million to nonprofit organizations and individuals across the country to promote opportunities for people in communities across America to experience the arts and exercise their creativity. 

A three-month ceramics exhibit at the Western Carolina University Fine Art Museum, Contemporary Clay, a Survey of Contemporary American Ceramics, that features the work of 25 artists runs through Friday, Dec. 16.

Raleigh, N.C. (October 11, 2016) — Jackson Martin, Jason Adams, Jaydan Moore, and Andrew Hayes, all of the Asheville area, have a received a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Award in the category of visual art or craft.

The four artists are among 17 from across the state to receive the 2016–2017 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award. Artists receive a fellowship to support creative development and the creation of new work. Recipients were selected by panels comprised of artists and arts professionals with expertise in each discipline.

Raleigh, N.C. (October 12, 2016) — Sheryl Oring, Helen Simoneau, and Robin Gee, artists working and living in the Triad area, have received a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Award in the category of visual art or choreography.

The three artists are among 17 from across the state to receive the 2016 – 2017 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award. Artists receive a fellowship to support creative development and the creation of new work. Recipients were selected by panels comprised of artists and arts professionals with expertise in each discipline.

Raleigh, N.C. (October 12, 2016) — Harriet Hoover, Katina Parker, Jina Valentine and Lien Truong, all of the Triangle area, have a received a North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award in the category of visual art or film.

The artists are among 17 from across the state to receive the 2016 – 2017 North Carolina Arts Council Artist Fellowship Award. Artists receive a fellowship to support creative development and the creation of new work. Recipients were selected by panels comprised of artists and arts professionals with expertise in each discipline.

Durham artist Stacey Kirby won the Eighth Annual ArtPrize Award for the performance installation The Bureau of Personal Belonging. A N.C. Arts Council Fellowship recipient she is pictured here with Harriet Hoover (right), Heather Gordon (left) and Warren Hicks (back), who have also received a Fellowship award. Photo by Alex Maness of Durham.

Raleigh, N.C. (September 6, 2016) — One State: Many Worlds, presented by the North Carolina Arts Council this weekend at the National Folk Festival, will feature two days of music, dance, food and craft from the state’s diverse immigrant communities.

Artists from around the world, who now make their home in the Tar Heel State, will share artwork and crafts as well as musical and culinary traditions from their homelands from noon to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11 in downtown Greensboro.

Raleigh, N.C. -- The new budget signed by Governor Pat McCrory will allow the North Carolina Arts Council to support an extensive arts infrastructure across North Carolina, including arts programs in all 100 counties funded through the Grassroots Arts Program, with more than $7.1 million in grants.

Raleigh, N.C. (January 12, 2016) — The North Carolina Arts Council announced today that it will participate in a national research study, Arts & Economic Prosperity 5, to measure the economic impact of nonprofit arts organizations and their audiences. The study is being conducted by Americans for the Arts, the leading nonprofit arts organization for advancing the arts in the United States.