Dear Friends,

I know that you’re getting a lot of messages about COVID-19, and I wanted to share some information about what’s happening at United Arts.

First, I have some updates about our events scheduled in the next month. Next Thursday’s Learning Lunch with Nate McGaha of Arts North Carolina will now happen online via WebEx. We hope that you’ll be able to join us for a conversation about arts advocacy.

After discussion with Wake County Public Schools, we have decided to cancel the First Friday reception scheduled for April 3 in celebration of Gifts of Gold. We do still plan to show this exhibit during the month of April here at our gallery on Glenwood South, and we hope that you’ll drop by to see the wonderful work by WCPSS students. 

One thing that won’t be affected is our Professional Development Grants for artists, which you can apply for online. The deadline to submit those has been extended to April 10, 2020. More details are here.

For now, we plan to keep our offices at United Arts open, though we’re encouraging people to take necessary precautions for their own personal health and safety and to use conference call and videoconferencing options to participate in meetings. 

Last, and perhaps most importantly for our field, this crisis is affecting many of our local arts organizations and artists. If you have tickets to an event that’s been cancelled, and you can afford to convert that ticket purchase into a donation, please consider doing so. Artists and arts organizations are facing a loss of revenue that will be detrimental to their fiscal health.

Thank you for supporting the arts, and please stay safe and healthy during these challenging times.

Charles Phaneuf

President, United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County

[email protected]

(919) 839-1498 x203