It’s time for us to refresh our strategic plan, and we are looking three years ahead. To help guide the creation of a long-range vision for the arts in North Carolina, we seek input from citizens, artists, arts managers, and key stakeholders across the state. The Arts Council invites you to provide input on its strategic plan by completing our Strategic Planning survey. 

Spark the arts in North Carolina and celebrate Arts & Humanities Month with Sparktober. Explore our list of can’t-miss events happening this month here. Presenters, destination marketing organizations, and arts centers across the state can connect to Sparktober and future promotions by using this toolkit to promote arts events taking place in their communities in the coming months. 

A+ Schools recently welcomed their newest cohort of Apprentice Fellows. Following a revised recruitment process, which focused on identifying and inviting a more diverse group of applicants, the program welcomed its most diverse cohort of Apprentice Fellows yet. Every other year, A+ Schools provides a series of information and training sessions for those interested in becoming an A+ Fellow that covers the unique process of training schools in arts integration. After an evaluation process, A+ staff selects candidates who best match the program's needs. Meet the nine A+ Apprentice Fellows who hit the ground running during their summer conferences here.

We are excited to welcome Kyesha Jennings to the staff of the North Carolina Arts Council. She joins our team as the content director. Kyesha is a PhD candidate at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where her research primarily focuses on African American literature, hip-hop studies, and popular culture. As a hip-hop scholar and academic, she has 10 years of experience working in a collegiate setting. Most recently, she was a full-time lecturer at N.C. State University.
 
Kyesha has worked in academic and nonacademic spaces as a speaker, writer, editor, curator, project manager, and content creator. She has written about arts and culture for Indy Week, CLTure, Vulture, and the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, where she produced a series of stories about N.C. hip-hop and recipients of the N.C. Artist Support Grant. She brings to her position a diverse range of experiences planning and producing public-facing arts and cultural events, festivals, and programs. Her commitment to the arts can also be seen in her volunteer experience, which includes working with the Museum of Durham History, Durham’s Public Art Committee, Downtown Durham Inc’s Great Jones Street Mural Project, and Dix Park Plaza & Play Focus Group 2020. During her four years on the Public Art Committee, she was the lead liaison for several major projects and contributed to improving the city’s diversity and equity initiatives. Contact Kyesha at Kyesha.Jennings@ncdcr.gov or (919) 814-6522.
 
This month, Kathleen Collier accepted a new position within the agency: arts-in-education director. Kathleen previously served as the visual arts program director and accessibility coordinator. Before joining the agency in 2018, Kathleen served as the coordinator of pre-college programs at N.C. State University’s Design Lab, where she worked with design faculty and area professionals to develop art and design curricula for K–12 audiences and teacher professional development. She worked as an education specialist with the Art of Collaboration program at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she assisted with arts-integration teacher development training in rural counties statewide. During her tenure with the Mint Museum, in Charlotte, Kathleen was the learning and engagement programs coordinator and developed adult, college, and community programming. She will continue her work as accessibility coordinator in her new role. Contact Kathleen at Kathleen.Collier@ncdcr.gov or (919) 814-6515.

Spectrum News interviewed Arts Council Deputy Director Dr. Tamara Holmes Brothers for a story about a new mural in Chapel Hill that celebrates several local Black civic leaders. Dr. Brothers said the mural, which was commissioned by the Town of Chapel Hill and made by artist Kiara Sanders, is one of many social justice works created in the months following the death of George Floyd. Read that story here.