Arts Across NC North Carolina Arts Council

As we wrap up this season, we introduce you to Piedmont Opera and Stecoah Valley Cultural Arts Center--- two arts organizations that had contrasting experiences during the pandemic. One was forced to shut down almost completely because of its location and the vulnerable aging population it serves, while the other was the only opera company in NC to produce during the state-mandated lockdown. Fast forward to today, both organizations are thriving. Their calendars are filled and most importantly, they are serving their communities.

If there is one thing we’ve learned over the past two years, it’s that “post-pandemic” is a term that doesn’t quite accurately capture our global reality. We also know that we’ve been navigating and adjusting to a new normal. Vitality, fellowship, and healing are the qualities the arts spark, and they are what has helped North Carolina rebuild and emerge resiliently from the pandemic! Here in North Carolina, the arts are Back!

What do ArtsTogether in Raleigh and DREAMs center for arts education in Wilmington have in common? Besides being amazing safe spaces where young people can thrive, the two arts organizations are committed to serving disadvantaged communities. In this episode, we speak with Nikki Turner, dance instructor and preschool teacher at Arts Together, and Liz Wells, program director at DREAMs center for arts education. The experiences of Nikki, Liz, and their respective arts organizations reveal the importance of taking a practical approach when engaging traditionally underserved populations. Arts Together and Dreams center for the arts are genuinely committed to their communities and demonstrate that the arts are an essential component to revitalizing, building, and empowering a community.

Arts Together's Website: https://www.artstogether.org/

DREAMs Center for the Arts' Wesbite: https://givetodreams.org/

Beyond the material struggles artists and arts organizations have faced over the last two years, there was also an ever-present and less explored existential struggle. Being an artist, specifically a teaching artist, isn’t just a career. It’s an identity. And when you can’t do the job that makes you who you are anymore, well, who are you?

In this episode of Arts Across NC we talked with two teaching artists – Alfredo Hurtado, an Army veteran, actor, and professional dancer with Black Box Dance Theatre in Raleigh, and Lakeetha Blakeney a theatre educator and writer from Concord, North Carolina. Alfredo and Lakeetha both spent time reflecting on what a personal loss they felt when their creative avenues were shut off suddenly, how the virtual alternatives didn’t quite fill in for that missing piece, and the joy and fulfillment they have felt as we cautiously return to a sense of normalcy.

You can learn more about Lakeetha Blakeney’s work at KeethaB.org. Alfredo Hurtado is a founding member of Black Box Dance Theatre, a modern dance company that uses dance as “a catalyst for meaningful human interactions, powerful storytelling, and transformative art-making”. Learn more about their work at BlackBoxDanceTheatre.org.

This June, Alfredo will perform in Raleigh Little Theatre’s presentation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical, In The Heights.

In 2019, Laura Way became the president and CEO of ArtsGreensboro, one of our state’s local arts councils, and immediately began implementing changes. North Carolina has one of the most highly developed networks of local arts councils in the country. For over half a century, we have provided funding and technical assistance to encourage arts organizations to deliver multiple ways to broaden, deepen and diversify participation in the arts in local communities. The larger local arts councils in the state are grant-makers, providing Grassroots Arts Funds along with additional sources of funding to support and strengthen arts activities in their counties.

Laura’s previous experience as Executive Director of GreenHill Center for North Carolina Art, a funded partner of ArtsGreensboro, gave her a unique outsider perspective. She was well aware of the inequities in grant funding and was committed to implementing change. Her commitment to DEAI work began earlier in her career, but during the pandemic, Laura and her staff took that commitment to a new level by redistributing grant funds with the goal of addressing structural inequities and increasing philanthropic overall support for BIPOC artists and arts organizations.

Hailing from New Orleans, the birthplace of Jazz, husband and wife duo Lonnie and Ocie Davis relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina after the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina dislocated them. With no intentions of starting an arts non-profit, when they arrived in Charlotte, the two Jazz musicians saw an opportunity to curate a thriving Jazz community, thus, in 2010, JazzArts Charlotte was born. In this episode, we learn how the pandemic expanded the organization's audience and enhanced their technical and digital skills.

Audio Credit: JazzArts Charlotte is BACK [mini-documentary] via YouTube

During the pandemic, performance venues and organizations were stuck on hold, hoping for a sign of normalcy that would allow for live audiences and actors on stage once again. In March of 2020, like many theaters across the United States, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte (CTC) was forced to stop all production.

Due to social distancing requirements and closure of venues, curtailing not only public performances but also rehearsals, the theatre was forced to end production on their performance of “GRIMMZ,” a hip-hop fairytale. However, over the following year and a half, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte’s decision to pivot to digital production led to a surprising Drama League Awards nomination, proving their ability to imagine new ways to engage with the idea of live-ness and community through a digital landscape.

In this episode, we speak with artistic director Adam Burke, professional actors Isabel Gonzalez and Isa Long, and community programs manager, Mary Katherine Smith.