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Since 1989, the North Carolina Heritage Award has honored our state’s most eminent traditional artists and practitioners. Recipients of the Heritage Awards range from internationally acclaimed musicians to folks who quietly practice their art in family and community settings. Awardees receive a cash award and are honored in a ceremony that draws large and enthusiastic audiences. Several North Carolinians have gone on to receive the National Heritage Fellowship Awards presented by the National Endowment for the Arts.
In 2018, Jaki Shelton Green made history as North Carolina’s first African American poet laureate. The North Carolina poet laureate is an ambassador of the power of poetry and the written word to illuminate, educate, entertain, and transform the minds and hearts of people of all ages and from all walks of life.
AYANNA ALBERTSON-GAY | GOLDSBOROWriter, digital content creator, and spoken word poet
The House of God sits atop a hill on a residential road on the outskirts of Mt. Airy. Soft light filters in from the stained glass windows over the quiet church sanctuary. The Sacred Steel band the Allen Boys, a pair of brothers and two cousins, discuss their song order as they set up equipment in the middle of the room. For them, nothing could feel more natural. After all, under this same roof these young men learned their instruments, found faith, and developed their lifelong connection—all central forces in each of their lives.
Jeff Bell, our new executive director, is an accomplished found object sculptor who has exhibited his mixed-media installations statewide. His approach to art involves deconstructing everyday objects that invoke his own memories or popular culture.
To understand the evolving impact of Covid-19 on the state’s arts network, the North Carolina Arts Council sent a survey to all 2021-22 grantees. We asked many quantitative questions and were also interested in learning about the less measurable aspects of Covid-19’s effect on how organizations do their work. We received 200 survey responses, with many organizations indicating they had a unique story to share about unexpected opportunities or innovations that arose from the pandemic.
Raleigh native Charles R. “Chuck” Davis, who became one of the world’s foremost teachers and choreographers of African dance, passed away in 2017. A distinguished teacher, choreographer, and ambassador for dance, Davis is remembered across North Carolina and the country for his artistry, his contributions to American dance and his ability to use art to promote peace and healing.
Songs We Love is a weekly podcast series partnership between Come Hear NC and WUNC that explores North Carolina music one song at a time. On this episode from February, Yep Roc recording artist Tift Merritt talks with Eric Hodge about Townes Van Zandt's "Greensboro Woman."
Carolina Shaw | Photo by Kait Moreno.In the world of classical music, bricolage is the name of the game.
Sister Lena Mae Perry says music is like medicine. She would know. At 80-years-old, Sister Perry has helmed the Branchettes, a celebrated gospel group from Johnston County, North Carolina, for decades. To see her perform is to witness the healing powers of music, and, at risk of cliché, to be taken to church. Born in Johnston County in 1940, she grew up in a farming family that deeply valued education, faith, and music.