Topics Related to Arts for All

This past spring and early summer, the North Carolina Arts Council partnered with Triangle ArtWorks to present a new professional development program, ArtsCore. Over the past five years, senior leadership in arts organizations has turned over because of retirements and the pressures of COVID. Consequently, younger and new leaders are stepping into these roles and seeking guidance, mentorship, and an understanding of the state's arts landscape.

Header image: Secretary Pamela Cashwell (L) with Al Strong (R), a Grammy-nominated trumpet player, composer, recording artist, and educator. Secretary Cashwell wears a t-shirt from Come Hear NC, a Department of Natural and Cultural Resources initiative celebrating music in North Carolina. Photo by Holly Nelson

At the upcoming LEAD Conference (Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disabilities), two Arts Council staff members—Jamie Katz Court, the music and dance director and accessibility coordinator, and Erin Rembert, the military and veterans arts coordinator—will present Considerations for Military, Veterans, and Acquired Disabilities.

Header image: Judson Guérard (L) and Sally Morgan Guérard (R). Photo courtesy of the artist

In 1995, the Kenan Institute for the Arts, in Winston-Salem, launched a program to integrate the arts in every aspect of instruction in 25 urban, suburban, and rural pre-kindergarten through twelfth-grade schools. Immediately, the results were profoundly positive. Over the following three decades, A+ Schools of North Carolina has revolutionized education through the arts, helping educators create dynamic, engaging learning environments.  

For the third year, the N.C. Arts Council is inviting arts administrators to apply for our LEAD Scholarship Grant (due May 1, 2024). The grant provides professional development to those working in the field of accessibility in the arts.

In the summer of 2023, the North Carolina Arts Council awarded grants to ten arts organizations to attend the annual Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disabilities (LEAD) Conference and to be part of an arts accessibility learning community that would meet regularly to discuss accessibility in the arts. 

The North Carolina Arts Council recognizes and honors the work of African American artists and arts organizations that shape our state’s culture. With Black History Month and the 2023–2024 grant application season coinciding, we celebrate some of the Black-led organizations that have received a grant from us recently. If you have a story you’d like us to share, please reach out to us.

Hayti Heritage Center/St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation (SJHF)

This fiscal year, the North Carolina Arts Council offered LEAD Scholarship grants to provide professional development for arts administrators who are new to the field of arts accessibility and who are proactively developing inclusive arts programs and experiences for artists and audiences with disabilities in their communities.

The funding covered the following:

Greetings to the North Carolina arts community.

Since my appointment as the Arts Council’s deputy director, I have been charged with designing, developing, and implementing agency programs; recommending policies that realize the agency's mission of "arts for all people"; and working with our staff and board to create and implement strategic plans.