ArtCore 2027 Cohort Begins Its Work
ArtsCore 2027 Cohort Supports new Statewide Arts Leaders
On October 9, twenty-one arts leaders from across North Carolina gathered at the Cultural Center in Greensboro to launch the work of the 2027 ArtsCore Cohort.
Since the onset of COVID-19, the arts sector has seen a troubling loss of new leadership, impacting not only individual organizations but the statewide cultural ecosystem. In response, Triangle ArtWorks, with support from the North Carolina Arts Council, officially launched the ArtsCore program in 2025. ArtsCore is designed to foster professional growth, peer connection, and long-term support for emerging arts leaders. The first session was led by Hannah Grannemann of UNC Greensboro, who leads the program with Triangle ArtWorks Executive Director. Beth Yerxa.
In this first Session, cohort members spent the afternoon discussing the challenges faced by their organizations, as well as personal and leadership challenges. This Session allowed the Cohort to begin to share their ideas on responding to these challenges and helped frame the work for the next five Cohort Sessions. At the end of the Session, they also heard from more seasoned local leaders (see picture below!) who shared their approaches to the Executive Director role and how they are addressing current challenges.
The cohort will meet for five additional sessions focused on leadership development, learning, and networking.
After spending an afternoon sharing common challenges and their own responses to these challenges, attendees heard from a panel of Arts Leaders about their approaches to these issues. The panel included (R to L) Jocquelyn Boone, Chief Creative Economy Officer, Creative Greensboro; Roz Fulton, Executive Director, Community Theatre of Greensboro: and Rebecca Willie, Executive Director, Music for a Great Space. Seen here with panel moderator, Hannah Grannemann.
ArtsCore 2026 Cohort Members
Gina Stewart (Mecklenbury) Visart,inc
Melanie Veazey (Yancey) Parkway Playhouse of Burnsville, Inc.
Fritz Knack (Wayne) Arts Council of Wayne County
Chris Williams (Alamance) Alamance Arts
Devra Thomas (Person) Kirby Cultural Arts Center
Courtney LaCaria (Buncombe) Local Cloth, Inc.
Ginnie Huntley (Wake) Arts Together
Hanna Thompson (Henderson) The Arts Council of Henderson County
Joe Grant (Montgomery) Starworks
Trista Reis Porter (Pitt) Greenville Museum of Art
Hannah Schutzengel (Durham) Liberty Arts
Eli Cunningham (Buncombe) Asheville Community Theatre
Timothy Jeffers (Forsyth) Delta Arts Center
Stephanie Newman (Gaston) Gaston Arts Council
Courtney Wheeler (Statewide) PineCone
This project is supported by the North Carolina Arts Council,
a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
The logo of the NC Arts Council is graphic with yellow, red, blue and green diamonds, forming a circle around a green circle with the word “arts”.