The Carrboro ArtsCenter celebrates 50 years

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Hi! Happy weekend.

The Carrboro ArtsCenter celebrated 50 years yesterday with a series of evening events, including the unveiling of a “rooftop guardian angel sculpture” by artist Bob Gaston. The anniversary prompted me to revisit Byron Wood’s feature, from last September, on the ArtsCenter’s beautiful $4 million, 17,000+ square-foot home near Main Street:

“Across its increasing public offerings, there’s a clear impulse to define the ArtsCenter as an open space for approaching and accessing art forms, techniques, and technologies—while reducing the social, educational, and economic impediments that often prevent that. “It’s all about access,” says community engagement director Heather Tatreau.”

I didn’t make it to the anniversary event yesterday because I sat in on a rehearsal for the very fun new Bull Durham musical coming soon from Theatre Raleigh (more on that soon!), but I do feel excited by an uptick in new arts opportunities around the Triangle—places like Photo Farm, a new arts space in Chapel Hill, come to mind. I’m very excited for y’all to read our forthcoming September 4 Fall Arts Preview, which will be packed with forthcoming performing and visual arts events around the Triangle.

Of course, it’s difficult to sustain a creative space or career these days. A few weeks ago, I shared with you that Carrboro’s Peel Gallery is fundraising after a sudden spike in rent, and I know of several other arts organizations that are struggling to balance the realities of inflation, high overhead rent costs, and lagging foot traffic with their creative missions. If you look at the fundraising thermometer on Peel’s Instagram, it does look like they’re inching closer to their financial goals, thanks to generous local contributions—a reminder that art is a function of community.

On that note, it’s the Third Friday Art Walk and Gallery Crawl in Durham. If you have a free evening, get thyself downtown and patronage some businesses!

Thanks for reading, and have a nice weekend.

elsewhere in the culture section

Via 9th Street Journal: A scene report on The Can Opener, downtown Durham’s new food truck park. You can read Lena Geller’s feature from last year on the park, too, to learn more. (And for those looking to make new friends, the space has a “skip the small talk” event later this month.)

ICYMI: Letter’s Bookshop transitions into a co-op model. Durham author and activist adrienne maree brown sits down with the INDY to discuss their new book. A new collection of writing on North Carolina playwright Paul Green. Skylar Gudasz has a new album, Country, and Fancy Gap has a debut self-titled album. Twisters is playing (went and saw it last week….it’s fun!) as are a bunch of other good films.

out and about in the triangle

Raleigh’s growing Seaboard Station has a new addition: Pins Mechanical Co., an entertainment spot that will include arcade and bowling. (I still miss East Durham’s Village Lanes.) A crafts distillery, Boatsman Spirits Company, is also opening in Seaboard. The ambitious Swing Racquet and Paddle—25 pickle courts and an expected $360 million in economic impact, over the next three years—has broken ground in Raleigh.

In Durham, Delafia is the latest wine bar mix and it looks like a romantic date bar. A fall concert guide from Axios and the Sleepy Cat Festival lineup is out! You can learn about the local label’s annual festival here. Raleigh’s Art Fair will take place on October 5.

out and about in the world

How quilting comforts during crisis. A new Leon Bridges song. Gena Rowlands Could Knock You Out. In The Bitter Southerner: Poetry and a Mississippi memoir. In the Oxford American, a “decade of Southern poetics.“

— Sarah Edwards —
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