A Message from our President, Charles Phaneuf 

**NEW ADDRESS**
United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County
PO Box 26388
Raleigh, North Carolina  27611

Transcript of Video Message:

Hello. My name is Charles Phaneuf, and I’m the President of the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. I hope that you and your loved ones are staying healthy and safe.

I’ve now been in this role with United Arts for six months. Like every organization, we’ve been constantly adapting and evolving in that time to better accomplish our mission.

Organizations like ours, in my opinion, are never about a physical space. Since much of our day to day work can happen virtually right now we’ve been working from home since March when the stay at home order began.

So when the opportunity to give up our office space arose, we took that chance. As of August 1st, our new official mailing address is a PO Box, which you will see in the description for this video and/or the email you clicked on to get here. We are no longer occupying the office space on Glenwood Avenue.

Our mission is to build a better Raleigh and Wake County through support of and advocacy for the arts. Because we will be saving on rent, and because of other cost reductions we’ve made, we will be able to increase grants to organizations and artists this coming year, including our new Artist Support Grants, which is essential given the magnitude of the crisis that the arts community now faces.

We hope to share news with you soon about an exciting new home and partnership.

In the meantime please continue joining us for virtual programs. Our Artists in Schools Expo and Trainings are happening online over a series of sessions between now and August 15. Typically that program reaches 120,000 children a year in Wake County schools.

On August 7th we’ll host our fourth virtual First Friday, interviewing Pam Thompson Smith from the African American Cultural Festival, a grantee of United Arts about their exciting plans for a virtual festival this year. We’ll also talk with artist Matthew Willey, who’s commissioned through our municipal murals program to create a new work in downtown Wendell in his effort to paint 50,000 honey bees across America, the size of a healthy hive.

In reflecting on all that’s happened recently at United Arts, and in our arts community, I’m reminded of a quote, “The only thing that never changes is that everything changes.”

As always, we appreciate the community of supporters who make our work possible, whether by donating their time and/or resources.

Thank you and stay well.

Charles Phaneuf
President, United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County
[email protected]
(919) 839-1498 x203