Press Releases

Raleigh, N.C. (August 31, 2020) — Randall Kenan, an inductee into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame and a 2005 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature, passed away August 28. He was 57.

Thursday, July 9, 2020 — NASCAR legend Kyle Petty, gospel singer Mary D. Williams, singer/songwriter Jonathan Byrd, and Ron Capps, the founder of the Veterans Writing Project, will join other musicians to support active-duty military, veterans, and families in a virtual concert, Music Unites Us.

Scheduled Tuesday, July 14 at 8 p.m., Music Unites Us is presented by the Dare Arts Council as part of the North Carolina Veterans Songwriting Workshop.

Join us for a series of free online workshops where you’ll find ideas and options for virtual opportunities for the music business. The three workshops will feature expert panelists including International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) award-winning artists who will share with participants what they’ve learned during the COVID-19 crisis. The workshops will be offered via Zoom and livestreamed on Facebook @blueridgemusictrails.

North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green will release her debut album, The River Speaks of Thirst, onSoul City Sounds today in honor of Juneteenth, a national celebration of Emancipation Day, and her birthdfay.

Washington, DC (June 16 2020) — The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has announced that more than $1.3 million will be distributed to 14 nonprofit organizations across the state to boost arts programming and arts research.

The North Carolina Arts Council will receive more than $1 million through the NEA’s state and regional partnership grant program. NEA funding announced today is separate from grants related to federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding.

Dr. Tamara Holmes Brothers has been named Deputy Director of the North Carolina Arts Council, effective May 11. Dr. Brothers comes to the Arts Council from Duke University, where she is Director of Development & Major Gifts at the Nasher Museum of Art.

In addition to her experience at one of the premier visual art museums in the state, Dr. Brothers worked as Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations where she led development efforts and played a central role in achieving the university’s capital campaign goals.

March 13, 2020

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

Raleigh, N.C. (March 2, 2020) — The North Carolina Arts Council and partners in Greenville and Rocky Mount will present free concerts that celebrate eastern North Carolina’s vibrant African American musical heritage this spring.

Raleigh, N.C. (Feb. 18, 2020) — Today marks the one-year anniversary of the official induction of Jaki Shelton Green as North Carolina’s first African American poet laureate.

The North Carolina Arts Council’s 2020-21 grant guidelines for organizations are now available at www.NCArts.org. The deadline for submitting applications is Monday, March 2 for projects that take place between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021.

The N.C. Arts Council’s grant programs are designed to sustain and advance the arts infrastructure that reaches into all 100 N.C. counties, to enhance the education of children and youth, and to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to a wide range of high-quality arts programs. 

The North Carolina Arts Council’s 2018–2019 Artist Fellowship exhibition will be presented at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem starting Thursday, Feb. 13 to Sunday, June 7, 2020.

The exhibition, NC Artists Fellowship: Escapes and Revelations, features the work of 21 contemporary artists who were the recipients of the 2018–2019 Artist Fellowship awards from the N.C. Arts Council including twelve visual artists, three craft artists, three film/video artists, and three choreographers.

Raleigh, N.C. (December 9, 2019) — A Davidson screenwriter is the recipient of an inaugural award given in memory of Elliott Bowles, an aspiring filmmaker, by his family to the North Carolina Arts Council.

Jonathan Strong, a screenwriter, and filmmaker received a $10,000 fellowship to pursue screenwriting through the generous donation of his mother Beverly Nipper Bowles and father, Roman Bowles, Sr.

Are you on the hunt for authentic locally made gifts this holiday season? Support artists in your own community by visiting open studio tours or your local arts council gallery to find distinctive gifts made right here in North Carolina!

Here’s a list of upcoming studio tours and a sampling of local arts councils that showcase and sell the work of talented artists across N.C.

Have an artful holiday season!

          Check out the expanded Wortham Center for the Performing Arts in Asheville, which opened  earlier this fall. After months of renovations, it has transformed the single-stage entity known as the Diana Wortham Theatre into a three-venue performing arts complex now known as the Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.

Other N.C. Exhibitions Feature Photography, Pottery

Raleigh, N.C. (Oct. 4, 2019) — The North Carolina Arts Council announced today that traditional artist pairs from Western North Carolina have received the inaugural N.C. Appalachian Folklife Apprenticeships.

Raleigh, N.C. (October 3, 2019) — The North Carolina Arts Council will accept applications for the 2020–21 Artist Fellowship awards for choreographers and visual, craft, and film/video artists through Friday, Nov. 1, 2019.

The Artist Fellowship program, now in its 40th year, supports creative development and the creation of new work for artists in North Carolina. The fellowship award is $10,000.

Nashville, Tenn. (Aug. 12, 2019)  -- This year, the Americana Music Association® has selected the state of North Carolina as the regional music focus for its 20th annual AMERICANAFEST®, Sept. 10-15 in Nashville, Tenn. In partnership with the initiative Come Hear NC and Visit North Carolina, the destination music festival and conference event previews this special programming today, which will feature multiple panels and two music showcases over three days.

FEATURING INTERVIEWS WITH QUESTLOVE, 9TH WONDER, PHONTE, BIG POOH & MANY MORE. DIRECTED BY HOLLAND RANDOLPH GALLAGHER

WATCH THE LISTENING VIA OKAYPLAYER

Watch Governor Cooper Talk About Why Public Funding of the Arts Matter on Tuesday, May 28.

Raleigh, N.C. (May 28, 2019) - Come Hear North Carolina and the Americana Music Association announced today that music showcases at the 20th annual AMERICANAFEST® will highlight North Carolina musicians. Multiple showcases are scheduled Sept. 10 to 15 in Nashville, allowing audiences to experience what North Carolina sounds like.

Raleigh, N.C. (May 20, 2019) — Meet the rising generation of North Carolina’s traditional artists in a collection of documentary portraits in the exhibition, New Faces of Tradition: Documenting North Carolina’s Young Artists, May 28 to June 30 at the Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University.

The exhibition is presented by the North Carolina Arts Council in collaboration with the Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University.

New York, NY (April 24, 2019)— The Academy of American Poets announced this morning that Jaki Shelton Green, the Poet Laureate of North Carolina has been named Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellows.

Green will receive a $75,000 award in recognition of her literary merit and to support civic programs. Green is one of thirteen state or local Poets Laureate nationwide to be honored. 

Stephen Hill, chair of the North Carolina Arts Council Board, received two awards in recent weeks including the first Esse Quam Videri Award from VISIT NC and the Designlife Award from NC State’s College of Design.

Raleigh, N.C. (March 25, 2019) — April is national poetry month and North Carolina’s Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green has free readings scheduled across the state as well as an appearance with U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith.

Additionally, Green will release a playlist to celebrate the written word on Come Hear NC in a nod to the statewide celebration of music during 2019.

Raleigh, N.C. — A series of professional development workshops are slated in March and April across the state as part of the North Carolina Arts Council’s commitment to support the professional development of the creative workforce.

The N.C. Arts Council, in partnership with the New-York based Creative Capital Foundation and local arts organizations, will present the following day-long workshops:

Dear colleagues:

For more than 30 years Nancy Trovillion has served as the Deputy Director of the North Carolina Arts Council, and it has been my privilege to work side by side with one of the most talented arts visionaries in the nation. Nancy is not only a co-worker but a mentor and a friend. For these reasons, it is with mixed emotions that I share the news that Nancy will retire at the end of August.

Raleigh, N.C. (Feb. 4, 2019) — North Carolina students from 38 high schools across the state will take the stage Saturday, Feb. 16 in Greensboro for the annual statewide Poetry Out Loud competition.

Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Poetry Foundation, and coordinated by the North Carolina Arts Council, the poetry recitation semifinals and finals will be held at Triad Stage in downtown Greensboro. This event is free and open to the public.

Raleigh, N.C. (February 1, 2019) – The Come Hear NC campaign salutes the many African American musicians from North Carolina that made groundbreaking contributions to America’s most important musical genres as we celebrate Black History Month.

Internationally renowned jazz pianists and composers Thelonious Monk and Billy Taylor were from Rocky Mount and Greenville, respectively. There’s also John Coltrane from Hamlet, Nina Simone from Tryon, and Max Roach from Newland.

Raleigh, N.C. (January 9, 2019) — The North Carolina Arts Council’s 2019 grant guidelines for organizations are now available at www.NCArts.org. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, March 1.

The N.C. Arts Council’s grant programs are designed to sustain and advance the arts infrastructure that reaches into all 100 N.C. counties, to enhance the education of children and youth, and to ensure that all North Carolinians have access to a wide range of high quality arts programs.

Raleigh, N.C. (Dec. 7, 2018) — The North Carolina Poet Laureate Ceremony for Jaki Shelton Green, scheduled for Monday, Dec. 10 in Raleigh, has been postponed due to the approaching winter storm.

The ceremony will be rescheduled is 2019.

http://www.ComeHearNC.comRaleigh, N.C. (November 1, 2018) — The Oxford American Magazine’s 20th annual Southern Music Issue celebrates the musical legacy of North Carolina and features an artistic portrait of North Carolina native Nina Simone, the High Priestess of Soul, on the cover.

The Cameron Art Museum in Wilmington, N.C. will host a free workshop for collecting institutions, collectors, and artists who were affected by Hurricane Florence on Tuesday, October 2, 2018, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The workshop will be led by members of the National Heritage Responders, trained volunteer conservators and collections care professionals who assess damage and initiative salvage of cultural collections after disasters.

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.