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Cultural Arts

Our goal: Cultural arts that represent the people and places of the Triangle

The local arts sector, and the creative people it employs, enhances the quality of life, stimulates innovation to attract and retain talent, provides a magnet for cultural tourism, and contributes to overall economic vitality. Historically, $377 million of spending and event-related spending is generated by nonprofit arts and culture audiences in the Triangle every year - making up a large and vital portion of our regional economy. Research has shown that engagement in the arts has positive effects on health, positive impacts on children's social and emotional development, and has a role in influencing social change.

Despite the wide-ranging benefits, however, cultural arts organizations face ongoing challenges to their sustainability - competition for resources and audiences, inadequate performing and rehearsal space, and lack of funding. In research conducted by North Carolina State University's Institute for Nonprofits, groups working in the arts self-reported lower organizational capacities than others in the nonprofit sector, making it harder for them to grow, evolve, and reach expanded audiences.

We're Working To

Increase culturally representative arts programming

Increase art in public and community spaces

Catalyze a culture of philanthropy in support of art, particularly grassroots

2024-2026 Cultural Arts Grantees

Click on the organization's logo to learn more about the vital work they do in our community.

View a list of Cultural Arts nonprofit partners since 2013.

Donors - Support Our Impact in the Arts!

Artspace

Artspace is a non-profit visual arts center that uses art to inspire positive community impact.

Chatham Arts Council

Chatham Arts Council nurtures creative thinkers in Chatham County by investing in artists and educating kids through the arts.

Diamante Arts & Cultural Center

Diamante Arts and Cultural Center is the longest standing Latino Hispanic Arts and Culture organization in North Carolina. Diamante is dedicated to the preservation, development, and promotion of the culture, heritage, and artistic expressions of the diverse Latino/Hispanic community of North Carolina.

Northstar Church of the Arts

After four decades of producing award winning music and architecture, Nnenna and Phil directed their artistic energy toward Durham’s growing economic engine with the goal of providing an arts and cultural space that is openly accessible to all Durhamites. As gentrification threatens to displace and marginalize our community, Northstar Church of the Arts provides a welcoming, safe and vibrant environment for sharing art in all its form – right in the heart of the city.

Prism Design Lab

Prism Design Lab's mission is to spark creativity and to equip young people to imagine, design, and shape the built environment - amplifying their voices as the future designers of our community.

ShaLeigh Dance Works

ShaLeigh Dance Works is a non-profit, dance-theatre company dedicated to inspiring people of all abilities, social backgrounds, cultures, and generations with the transformative power of dance.

The Beautiful Project

The Beautiful Project uses photography and writing to confront positive & negative portrayals of Black girls & women.

Triangle Native American Society

Since its inception, the Triangle Native American Society (TNAS) has worked to promote and protect Native American identity in the Triangle area by increasing public awareness of the cultural and economic contributions of Native peoples, as well as advocating for greater recognition of their needs.

Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra

The Wake Forest Community Youth Orchestra provides expert orchestral instruction and free instrument access to K-12 youth in rural and under-resourced communities. Through transformative string music education, we empower students to grow as artists, embrace their creativity, and lead with confidence—nurtured within a supportive community that inspires them to reach their fullest potential.

Walltown Children's Theatre

Walltown Children’s Theatre inspires positive social change by empowering and reconnecting young people from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, creating a new expression of community, and enriching their lives and those of their families and communities, through exemplary performing ​arts instruction and youth development programming.

Triangle Community Artists Gallery

As part of our focus on cultural arts, the Foundation's office space also serves as a rotating art gallery, for two main reasons: to support and foster local artists, and to encourage our community to connect and engage in a meaningful conversation inspired by art.

Current Artist in Residence: Shayla Thornton

The Durham Art Guild and Triangle Community Foundation are thrilled to present Shayla Thornton's work in the Triangle Community Artists Gallery.

Click the button below to learn more about Shayla and to view a few pieces of the collection. To view the full gallery in-person, please contact Zach Ward, Senior Program Officer, at [email protected].

Learn more about our gallery
larger photo of shayla thornton

Featured Stories

BUMP: The Triangle | The Power of Passion for the Arts

BUMP's origins began in Boston as the Boston Urban Music Project founded by Georgiary Bledsoe. Dr. Bledsoe relocated the organization to NC in 2012 where it has evolved into BUMP: ...
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Arts Access NC | Connecting Art to All in the Community

"We are a connector of people - people to opportunities, people to arts, and people to organizations." - Eileen Bagnall, Executive Director, Arts Access NC In 1984, an organization emerged ...
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Diamante Arts and Cultural Center | Diversifying the Community’s Art Sector

"We serve artists, performers, cultural advocates, arts and cultural organizations, art supporters, and the general public seeking to preserve, develop, and promote the cultures, heritage and artistic expressions of the ...
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TheGifted Arts | The Transformative Power of the Arts

Open the doors of TheGifted Arts studio on a Saturday morning and you can immediately feel the energy. The thumping beat of the music, the encouraging call outs from the ...
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Questions?

Zach Ward

Job Title(s)
Senior Program Officer
Phone
919.474.8370 ext. 4028