Call to Action – Senate budget/Wake County
Arts NC has issued a Call to Action to address the cuts to the NC Arts Council proposed in the Senate budget. This Call is urgent and immediate. Here is the info from Arts NC:
Last night the Senate released its Biennium budget for 2013-2015. We are profoundly disappointed and concerned that Senate leadership has disproportionately targeted the North Carolina Arts Council for debilitating cuts of $1.78 million to the grants programs and administration.
This recommendation represents a 8% reduction in support of the North Carolina Arts Council for the Biennium budget and is significantly more than any other agency in the Cultural Resources budget recommendations. This reduction follows a pattern of dismantling the North Carolina Arts Council as the agency has experienced a 37% reduction in per capita funding over the past six years. We must speak up and voice our outrage at these recommendations. … Read More
Arts NC Call for Action on Pending Tax bill
Karen Wells at Arts NC has issued a Call for Action regarding the NC Senate’s current tax bill. As always, Karen and Arts NC have done great work in informing you of the issues and providing resources to take action, so I will just repeat their work here:
What is at stake -
From Karen Wells email: ”I am writing with an urgent request for you to become actively and quickly involved in the Call to Action sent yesterday about Senate Tax Reform. Let me spell out what is possible in Senate actions within the next few weeks:
- If the Senate tax plan were to pass and if they base the budget on tax plan revenues, we will be short hundreds of millions of dollars from the current year’s revenue. Add the Medicaid surprises and the cuts to the budget will be unprecedented. If this goes through, we should expect debilitating cuts to the grants programs of the North Carolina Arts Council.
- The Senate plan calls for a phase out of sales tax refunds over three years. That would add 6.5% to the cost of goods and services that your purchase.
- The Senate plan could require a collection of 6.5% sales tax on admissions, classes, registrations, and memberships. Imagine the response to rising prices and your administration costs.The Senate plan would eliminate the charitable deduction for individuals.
- The Senate plan would eliminate the charitable deduction for individuals.
Tags: arts advocacy, arts nc, Call to Action, Karen Wells, nonprofit tax
Bluegrass takes over the Triangle in September
Old Habits bluegrass promotes the IBMA at Raleigh Downtown Farmer's Market kick-off.
This September, the world is coming to Raleigh for bluegrass. In case you haven’t heard, the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) is bringing the World of Bluegrass to Raleigh the week of September 24-28, 2013. This will be a the first year of a three year committment to hold this event in Raleigh.
The event, previously held in Nashville, draws over 16,000 fans, artists, and music industry professionals from around the world. IBMA is a group of professionals and fans from 50 states and 30 countries working together for the future of bluegrass music. The event is part annual industry summit, part bluegrass family reunion, includes a glitzy awards show and music festival and celebrates all things bluegrass. … Read More
Tags: bluegrass music, IBMA, International Bluegrass Music Association, Raleigh, Red Hat Ampitheater, Triangle arts scene, Triangle bluegrass, Triangle music scene, WIde Open Bluegrass Festival, World of Bluegrass
Golden Belts newest arts space – SPECTRE Arts
by Brandon Cordrey
Durham’s newest art venue is scheduled to make its debut as part of May’s Third Friday events. Just across the street from the Golden Belt complex a small white church is being renovated to house SPECTRE Arts. The space will offer rotating exhibitions, two artist studios, and great indoor/outdoor space available for event and workshop rentals. Alicia Lange purchased the property two years ago and has been overhauling it for the past year.
… Read More
Tags: Alicia Lange, Durham art galleries, durham arts community, Durham event space, Durham venues, for profit arts businesses, Golden Belt, SPECTRE Arts, venues, visual arts
Arts Access makes arts more accessible, while supporting artists with disabilities.
by Brandon Cordrey
Learning that you may be excluding nearly one in six North Carolinians is a tough realization for an arts organization. Tasks that are seemingly simple for some individuals — such as reading, walking and hearing— can be barriers for individuals with disabilities, preventing them from experiencing the joys of theater, dance and visual arts. Even the timing of an arts event can make it inaccessible to some. Events that are costly or held in the evenings may not be accessible to those who live on fixed incomes or rely solely on public transportation. Having a visual or hearing disability could be a deterrent from attending performances, exhibitions, museums or galleries. For artists with disabilities, it can be difficult to find support and training, or to show your work. … Read More
Tags: Americans with Disabilities Act, Artists with disabilities, Arts Access, audio description
Introducing Owl Tree Theater – New alternative theater in Cary
By Sarah Hager
Four new theater companies have been added to the Triangle theater scene recently. Today, we let you know about Owl Tree Theater in Cary. Watch for information on the other three coming soon!
Owl Tree Theater for the People is a Cary-based alternative and independent theater company that launched in September 2012. Priding itself on being “reckless in a good way,” its performance style will be experimental and edgy. Performing original work for most of the year, the company also plans to reinterpret a classic each season in an unconventional way. … Read More
Tags: Cary theatre, Owl Tree Theater, theater, theatre, Triangle theater
NC Arts Council to hold community meeting in Chapel Hill
The NC Arts Council is writing a new Strategic Plan and wants your input.
At Creative Carolina Connects, five public meetings around the
state, the NC Arts Council wants you to “share ideas about how partnerships between the state and local communities can ensure the arts remain essential to North Carolina’s future.” The Arts Council will use the input from these meetings to develop their 2014-2018 Strategic Plan “We want to hear from citizens about how the arts should be developed and utilized for the well-being of our communities,” said Wayne Martin, executive director of the N.C. Arts Council. … Read More
Tags: Carolina Creative Connects, creative community, creative economy, NC Arts Council
Pleides Gallery opens in Durham’s Five Points
by Brandon Cordrey
If you’ve spent time in the Five Points area of downtown Durham in the past month, you may have noticed some curious activities inside the glass storefront of 109 East Chapel Hill Street. This very contemporary space will soon house a new fine art gallery, the newest adventure of entrepreneurs Renee Leverty and Kimberly Wheaton. After having mulled identical ideas over individually, they teamed up while working together at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. Both thought downtown Durham needed a fine art gallery whose main purpose would be to promote artists and sell their work. … Read More
Tags: Art Gallery, creative business, Durham, for profit arts businesses, gallery, Pleiades Gallery, visual arts
Sound Pure opens storefront in Durham
by Brandon Cordrey
Sound Pure is the Triangle’s newest independent music store. Since 2000 their online store has been selling high-quality equipment to musicians around the world. The new storefront marks the company’s newest chapter and strengthens their continued commitment to the local music community. Sound Pure recently purchased the Raleigh music store Indoor Storm as well as the vacant building next to their preexisting one on Washington Street in downtown Durham in order to provide even more services to their clientele. … Read More
Tags: creative business, Durham, economic impact of the arts, for profit arts businesses, Soundpure
The Shadowbox – Durham’s new venue for performance/rehearsal/whatever!
The exterior of Shadowbox.
The number two need we hear from all creative disciplines in the Triangle is the need for “space”. Space to rehearse, space to show work, space to perform…whatever. We are happy to report that there is a new flexible space just coming online in Durham.
Shadowbox interior..so far. Although the owners are working on improvements, the space is currently available for use.
Tags: Durham, Jim Haverkamp, Shadowbox, venues