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Alexis Pauline Gumbs discusses her NEA creative writing fellowship
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When Alexis Pauline Gumbs, a self-identified “Queer Black Troublemaker. . . and an aspirational cousin to all sentient beings” received word by phone that she would receive a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), she froze. In today’s world of technology and instant communication across a wide range of platforms, receiving a call from an unrecognized number with news as momentous as that can be strange. Visit our blog to read more about her reflection on the prestigious accomplishment.
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The Light Factory Photo Arts Center launches a mentorship program to invest in Black photographers
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Photo by Light Factory Photo Arts Center Mentee Cheryse Terry
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When Titus Heagins, a documentary photographer and educator, decided he wanted to give back, he had no idea that a visit to the Light Factory Photo Arts Center in May 2021 would be the catalyst for an impactful mentorship program that he would design and facilitate. He visited the Light Factory to support a fellow photographer whose work was on exhibit. While there, Heagins had a conversation with Executive Director Kay Tuttle. Though neither Heagins nor Tuttle remembers exactly what they spoke about, the two describe the moment as a “nice conversation that was fun.” “I think we joked and laughed about a few things,” Heagins said. “And we talked seriously about photography.”
After traveling the world for well over twenty years documenting the lives of people who often are seen as “other,” Heagins found himself advocating for young Black photographers any chance he could. In the early stages of his career, he could not find a mentor who was interested in his work as a Black photographer. He had to look for ways around the barriers he faced on his own.
During their conversation, Tuttle mentioned wanting to start a mentorship program. She had been toying with the idea for quite some time, and Heagins was all ears. “For me, typically, I always bring up issues of African Americans in photography, and I feel that Kay heard me,” said Heagins. Read more about how this intentional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) effort impacted the lives of two Light Factory mentees on our blog.
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Meet Faith & Harmony, Eastern Carolina’s celebrated quartet gospel group
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Faith & Harmony, Photo by Aaron Greenhood
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Guest writer Aaron Greenhood, an arts administrator with extensive experience in musical programming, traces North Carolina’s deep cultural roots by using place and community to introduce readers to Faith & Harmony, a family gospel group raised in Greenville, NC. They are the six granddaughters of Johnny Ray Daniels and Dorothy Vines, the founding members of eastern Carolina’s celebrated gospel group The Glorifying Vines Sisters. Read more about how the group follows the Black gospel tradition and watch them perform in front of their home church.
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Stay tuned! We’re launching a new season of our podcast, “Arts Across NC”
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The Arts Across NC podcast is back with a new season. Join us this March as we look back on the pandemic and its impact on North Carolina’s arts sector over the last two years. With the help of artists, arts organizations, and arts leaders from across North Carolina, we are sharing stories of mental struggles, cancelled performances, and difficult decisions. The stories of the past two years also include themes of innovation, hope, and moments of profound connection. Be sure to listen on Soundcloud and Apple Podcasts. |
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 On April 1, Dara Silver will join the North Carolina Arts Council as senior program director for artists and organizations. Silver currently serves as director of foundation and corporate relations at the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. She has managed grant seeking efforts and secured funding through local and state government, corporations, and various foundations. She has been there for 11 years working in various areas of grant making, development, marketing, and special initiatives. Special initiatives she has worked on include Americans for the Arts’ Arts and Economic Prosperity Study 5, the City of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County’s Public Art Commission, the City of Winston-Salem’s STAR Community Program, and Family Services’ Family Violence Prevention Initiative.
In 2015, Silver received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Young Dreamers’ Award from the City of Winston-Salem’s Human Relations Commission for her efforts in making a more inclusive arts community. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Art History from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Master of Public Administration from Appalachian State University, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. She currently serves on Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leaders Council, and as a board member of Arts NC, the Arts Based School, and the City of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County Public Art Commission. |
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 Barbette Hunter joins the North Carolina Arts Council as grants coordinator. She is also employed as a program coordinator at Raleigh Arts. In her previous position there, she was an arts grant assistant for almost half a decade. Before joining the City of Raleigh, Hunter was employed by various agencies within the NC state government system for a total of almost 13 years. She previously served as an interim theater and dance director at the North Carolina Arts Council, and is happy to return and serve in a new capacity. She is a freelance theater artist who has performed with numerous theater companies in the Triangle. Since 2004, she has been a teaching artist for RLT and Cary Applause! Youth Theatre. From 2015 to 2019, she served as the stage manager of the Family Village Stage at the African American Cultural Festival. Hunter received a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications from North Carolina State University, and did some graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She serves on the board of directors for Raleigh Little Theatre and Seed Art Share. |
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Celebrate Black History Month with the NC African American Heritage Commission. This February, and every month, the commission continues its work to preserve, protect, and promote North Carolina's African American history, arts, and culture for all people. Celebrate literature and hear from North Carolina authors with the 5th Annual Black History Month Read-In! presented by the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission. View their curated list featuring selections for adults, young adults, middle-grade youth, and young children. 
#TeachingArtistTuesdays is back! Teaching Artist Tuesdays began in the summer of 2020. Developed by the North Carolina Arts Council in partnership with the Teaching Artist Certificate Program at North Carolina Central University, this free online workshop series is designed to serve as a roadmap for North Carolina's teaching artists who are navigating the Covid-19 landscape. The "Tips and Resources for Successful Grantmaking” workshop on March 15 will aim to break down the grants process and provide helpful insight into what makes up a compelling and successful grant application. Contact Kathleen Collier, the NC Arts Council's Arts in Education Director and Accessibility Coordinator, for more information.
The National Endowment for the Arts announced its first round of recommended awards for the coming fiscal year, totaling nearly $33.2 million, $540,000 of which was awarded to 28 North Carolina grant recipients. Among North Carolina grantees, Bennett College, a private historically Black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, will receive a $20,000 grant to support the Black Lives Matter Theater Festival. This is Bennett College’s first grant award from the NEA. Read the full press release on the Arts Across NC blog. The National Endowment for the Arts recently announced $57,750,000 in grant funding from the American Rescue Plan to arts organizations to help the arts and cultural sector recover from the pandemic. Ten North Carolina arts organizations were recipients. Read the full press release on the Arts Across NC blog. In our continued effort to support the arts sector through the pandemic, the North Carolina Arts Council distributed $7.9 million in grant funds to arts organizations and artists across the state in fiscal year 2021-22. The source of these funds was a combination of state, federal, and private dollars. The Arts Council awarded 378 grants in 12 categories.
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High Point native Fantasia Barrino will make her feature film debut in The Color Purple movie musical. Barrino, who won the third season of the American Idol competition, will play Celie, a role she earned rave reviews for in her Broadway performance in 2007. Read more about the screen adaptation of the award-winning musical on CNN.Asheville Area Arts Council is preserving art that protested George Floyd’s murder with an exhibition and auction. Street murals that appeared around downtown Asheville following the murder are now part of the 2020 AVL Protest Murals exhibition. Read more about the virtual gallery and online auction, which runs through February 28, in The Mountain Xpress. Tickets are on sale now for Art in Bloom, a five-day festival of art and flowers at the North Carolina Museum of Art.
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