Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.

Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020
Asheville Outlets to Host American Red Cross Blood Drive – April 22 and 23
Apr 22 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Asheville Outlets--Food Court

Asheville Outlets will host a blood donation drive in partnership with the American Red Cross on Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day inside the Food Court.

Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/give and entering the sponsor code Ashevilleoutlets. The American Red Cross will establish additional safety guidelines to ensure all donors are socially distanced.

Donating blood products is essential to community health and eligible donors are strongly urged to
donate blood, platelets, or AB Elite plasma. The Red Cross only collects blood from individuals who are
healthy and feeling well at the time of donation – and who meet other eligibility requirements.
At each blood drive or donation center, Red Cross employees follow thorough safety protocols, including:
 Wearing gloves and changing them often.
 Wiping down donor-touched areas after every collection.
 Using sterile collection sets for every donation.
 Preparing the arm for donation with aseptic scrub.
 Conducting donor mini physicals to ensure donors are healthy and well on day of donation.
We have also increased our vigilance concerning some of these safety protocols including:
 Enhanced disinfecting of surfaces and equipment.
 Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering and throughout the donation appointment.
 Temperature checks before presenting donors enter the blood drive or donation center.
 Following social distancing practices between donors including donor beds, as well as waiting and
refreshment areas.
 During this time, blankets typically used by platelet, Power Red and AB Elite donors at Red Cross blood
donation centers will be laundered after each use, which may limit the availability. Donors are
encouraged to bring their own blankets, but electric blankets and heating pads are not permitted.
 Staff wearing basic face masks.
To ensure our staff are healthy each day, we have implemented standard staff health assessments prior to all
blood drives.  Finally, only eligible and healthy people can give blood.  These mitigation measures will help
ensure blood recipient safety, as well as staff and donor safety in reducing contact with those who may
potentially have this respiratory infection.

NC Center for Nonprofits: Crisis Management
Apr 22 @ 11:15 am – 11:45 am
podcast

https://www.ncnonprofits.org/events/crisis-management%C2%A0five-steps-equip-and-fortify-your-nonprofit%C2%A0-thrive-during-crisis

 

Crisis Management: Five Steps to Equip and Fortify Your Nonprofit to Thrive During a Crisis

Individuals on a nonprofit team are likely to cope and react differently to a crisis. For some, a crisis is a challenge to be conquered; they enjoy being tested, working under pressure, and the opportunity to experiment and innovate. For others, a crisis causes panic and decision paralysis; their short attention spans grow shorter and nerves are on edge. This webinar presents five strategies to equip your diverse team to weather an active or future crisis.

Beacham’s Curve Aid Supply and Food Drive
Apr 22 @ 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Ambrose West

Every Wednesday from 12-6pm, Carolina Hemp Company and Ambrose West, alongside their neighbors on West Asheville’s Beachm’s Curve, will host a community aid drive to gather and donate supplies and food to support local emergency relief efforts. Recipients include Homeward Bound, Western Carolina Rescue Ministries, 12 Bones, the YMCA, and more! As Asheville’s Hometown Hemp Company, Carolina Hemp Company values their local community, and believes in supporting each other when in need. In times such as these, we are reminded of the unfortunate imbalance in society’s ability to afford and have access to basic necessities. The Carolina Hemp Company mission is and always has been Bringing Balance Through Hemp and they now have the opportunity to practice this through service to the Asheville community. While being encouraged to separate, it is important we still band together to pool resources, communicate, and take care of each other. Carolina Hemp Company will be collecting non-perishable food items, cooking essentials, health and wellness products, cleaning and sanitation supplies, and general toiletries, and camping gear to load into the Hemp Xpress Trolley and distribute to local organizations who are dedicated to providing shelter, food and health services to those who need it most. Updates and detailed information will be posted to the Beacham’s Curve Aid Supply and Food Drive event page on the Carolina Hemp Company facebook page.

 

The staff is committed to practicing conscious handling and delivery of all supplies through hand washing, wiping down items, and limited contact between donors, themselves, and the receiving organizations’ representatives

 

Zoom: Andrew Bednarzik “Combating Stress During Quarantine”
Apr 22 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
zoom

Image may contain: 1 person, closeup and outdoor

The Runner’s Mechanic Physical Therapy Clinic is very pleased to welcome back counselor Andrew Bednarzik during this challenging time of COVID-19!

Please join by clicking this Zoom link: April 22nd 6pm :https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88280850998

Andrew will share with us a few mental strategies and words of advice to help ease any stress or anxiety this stay-at-home change may be bringing into your life. We can all get through this together!

Pack Memorial Library Hosts: Kid’s Art Lessons At Home With Margaret
Apr 22 @ 6:30 pm – 7:00 pm
Pack Library On Line

Image may contain: 1 person, possible text that says 'BCPL PRESENTS ART LESSONS AT HOME WITH MARGARET'

Margaret works at Pack Memorial Library. Currently, she is at home with the rest of us trying to flatten the curve by social distancing. The wonderful thing about Margaret is she is multi-talented!

We decided we should feature her art skills throughout the week with evening art programs! Video lessons will be featured every three days and in between, we’ll post the supplies needed. If you have any questions, about a certain class or material needed, let us know, send a comment or DM. We’re also interested in what you’ve been making, so please share if you want to!

Live Zoom classes for adults will be coming up as well, so if you have immediate questions, you can ask her directly by attending a class! (Dates will be posted soon.)

For most of these lessons, we advise there be a parent supervising young children. Most of the projects are kid friendly with adult supervision.

Thursday, April 23, 2020
 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Apr 23 all-day
Arts North Carolina Online

The NC Department of Employment Security (NCDES) is still awaiting guidance and working to implement Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), the program that will provide benefits for those who had not been previously covered by the state unemployment system. However, there was a major change in how Employers can address COVID-19 Unemployment announced last week as part of Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 131. https://artsnc.org/update-changes-to-nc-unemployment-filing/
6 Virtual International Museum Tours
Apr 23 all-day
Virtual Tours

While staying at home and practicing safe social distancing are the best courses of action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t mean we have to miss out on cultural landmarks around the world. Thanks to the Google Arts & Culture Project, from New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, to Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, here are 6 museums you can tour right now from home.

MoMA, New York

The first museum founded to showcase modern art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York has been doing just that for more than 90 years. From Picasso to Van Gogh, the MoMA is home to incredible pieces of history from the world of contemporary art.

Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City

Tour La Casa Azul, the former home of world-renowned artist Frida Kahlo – and current home to the museum honoring her life and legacy. Visible here are not only works from Kahlo, but also numerous personal belongings including her clothing and a body cast she famously painted while ill.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

On display at the Musée d’Orsay, you’ll discover famous works from French artists who lived and worked between 1848 and 1914. Paintings by Monet, Gauguin, and Cézanne – among others – are featured on this Parisienne art tour.

La Galleria Nazionale, Rome

With just about 500 of its approximately 20,000 artworks digitized for this virtual tour, La Galleria Nazionale in Rome features everything from antiquities to seminal pieces representing the Futurist and Surrealist art movements.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe

Honoring one of America’s preeminent artists, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum settled in the same New Mexican desert she once called home. It is dedicated to enriching visitors in the incredible legacy left by the late artist with its collection of her paintings; of which 30 can be viewed online.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam

One of the more thoroughly digitized experiences is Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. With over 145,000 works available to view virtually, enjoy incredible works from artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Verspronck, to name a few.

City of Asheville provides hand washing stations to help reduce spread of COVID-19
Apr 23 all-day
City of Asheville
illustration of someone washing hands

 

 

Update:

For a map of temporary, portable hand washing stations and restrooms, visit this link. The map is being updated as new stations are installed.

 

Original post:

With the COVID-19 public health emergency going on it has never been more important to be able to wash your hands. Besides keeping 6 feet of distance between yourself and others, hand washing and sanitation have been identified as important measures in reducing the spread of contagion.

handwashing station
Portable hand washing station on the sidewalk by Pritchard Park.

That’s why the City of Asheville has installed portable hand washing stations in several strategic places around town. We realize that people sometimes have to travel on ART buses to get to work, buy groceries or pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy, for example. Also, our unsheltered population needs places to wash their hands as well.

For these reasons, the City has installed portable hand washing stations at the following locations:

  •         Outside of Pritchard Park, on the sidewalk.
  •         Pack Square Park, downtown
  •         AHope Day Shelter, 19 N. Ann St.
  •         ABCCM Medical Ministry, 155 Livingston St.
  •         12 Baskets, 610 Haywood Road
  •         Haywood Street Congregation, 297 Haywood St.
Portable restroom facilities have been provided outside Pritchard Park, in Pack Square Park and at the ART Station.

 

 

The City of Asheville is coordinating these actions in partnership with Buncombe County Public Health Officials.

 

This is an evolving situation and information is often changing. For resources on prevention best practices and news updates, visit Buncombe Ready. Additional guidance is on the Buncombe County Public Health website.

 

For information on how to sign up for City and County government alerts, visit this link.

Free livestream performances: Center for Puppetry Arts
Apr 23 all-day
Center for Puppetry Arts on line

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts is closed, but as it notes on its homepage, it’s “digitally open.”

That includes livestreaming performances and an expanded lineup of digital learning activities and workshops, which are all available for free online.

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/center-for-puppetry-arts-livestream-performances-for-free/KuBGQBiqLKxYs2l0WORhWO/?fbclid=IwAR17Ds6ftqLlyHEMda-rNXz3a9PHlERNkHuILTYJON58mQ005dZtC-DkUSc

Free Online Yoga and Meditation
Apr 23 all-day
online

Scoop: Free Online Yoga and Meditation

Find your zen during this stressful time. Miranda Peterson of Asheville yoga hike company Namaste in Nature has developed a series of free, online videos to help you relax. From a 10-minute sensory meditation to a gentle, immune boosting yoga asana practice, these videos are designed to “calm and support your immune system.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-xlv6hOjSADsdrMgIDWVRQ

FREE Video Course by Wild Abundance: 10 Spring Wild Foods
Apr 23 all-day
Wild Abundance Online

FREE Video Course by Wild Abundance

Discover delicacies growing right outside your door.

Your guide through this course is seasoned Wild Abundance instructor Luke Cannon, who has practiced wild food foraging for over two decades. More than a botanist, Luke is a long-time pursuer and teacher of the magic and medicine of plants. An avid naturalist, Luke draws from a diverse pool of knowledge, combining his natural history studies with his life experience in organic farming, natural building, permaculture, nature-based mentoring, and rural homesteading.

Global 2020 City Photo Nature Challenge with The North Carolina Arboretum
Apr 23 all-day
The North Carolina Arboretum Online

Ready, set, snap! Connect with fellow nature lovers from around the world in the 2020 City Nature Challenge, a worldwide bioblitz held April 24 – 27 that encourages participants to get outside and celebrate their region’s biodiversity by taking photos of plants and animals found in their communities and uploading them to iNaturalist. This year, the Challenge will not be a regional competition but rather a four-day global citizen-science collaboration that embraces the healing power of nature and supports scientists worldwide. The Arboretum will be serving as the lead institution for the Western North Carolina region and will be offering a variety of online programming for adults and youth in conjunction with the Challenge.

How to Participate

1.) Download iNaturalist, a free mobile application on your iPhone or Android device.

2.) From April 24 – 27, get outside in your backyard or a nearby natural area (while practicing social distancing) and take pictures of wildlife, including plants and animals (no pets, please!).

3.) Upload your photos to iNaturalist and tell your friends to join in on the fun! **Children 12 & under can submit their photos via ecoexplore.net.

 

LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems!
Apr 23 all-day
Kennedy Center Online

Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence at Home

Around the world, people of all ages have joined Mo Willems in his studio for weekday LUNCH DOODLES. The three-week run, all 15 episodes and their downloadable activities, are archived below. Let the doodling continue! Please tag your artwork on social media with #MoLunchDoodles so that we can all see it!

We applaud the many other authors and illustrators who are sharing stories and leading activities online. For a short list of people to visit, click here[Please note that this list is just a small number of the many wonderful artists who are sharing their talent and insights at this time. So, grab a favorite grown-up and look around the internet to discover authors/illustrators who are new to you!]

You can always visit Kennedy Center @ Home to enjoy free videos of extraordinary live and on-demand performances. Our KC Ed Now site also has fun educational activities to do at home.

Mo Willems and the Kennedy Center thank YOU for sharing your creativity with us! This pandemic is going to require some time to get better.  It is also going to require lots of kindness, lots of empathy, and lots and lots of doodles. Doodle on, fellow ART MAKERS!

The North Carolina Arts Council and Covid-19
Apr 23 all-day
Arts North Carolina
The NC Arts Council staff and board are working on a plan which they believe will help stabilize the state’s nonprofit arts organizations and artists and sustain our arts infrastructure. Their major goals include:

  • Maintaining full funding levels for organizations in their operating support categories even though programming will likely be disrupted
  • Redirecting resources that normally support organizational project grants to create a Stabilization Fund open primarily to those nonprofit arts organizations that do not receive operating support
  • Providing relief to artists by increasing the pool of grants accessible to individual artists
YWCA instructors: Online Workouts
Apr 23 all-day
YWCA Online

PROMOTING HEALTH AND HEALING

We understand the disruption of daily life and social distancing can be incredibly difficult. For many of us, daily activities, social groups, and routines dissipated overnight.

In an effort to help keep us all connected, our fitness instructors put together a series of home workouts too. Going forward we will be continuing to provide active resources. We hope you enjoy these workouts, made just for you, by your friendly and familiar YWCA instructors.

Energy mover with Virginia

Strength Building with Kai

Senior Exercises with Ellen

Click Here and subscribe to see the full playlist!

For more information contact Membership Coordinator, Emil Gonsalvez, at [email protected].

Carolina Hemp Company Free Delivery + Curb-Side Pickup
Apr 23 @ 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
Carolina Hemp Company
Virtual Tai Chi Class with Dr. Adam Potts
Apr 23 @ 10:00 am – 10:45 am
online

Image may contain: 1 person, standing, possible text that says 'Free Virtual Tai Chi Class with Dr. .Adam Every Thursday at 10 AM Potts'

Enjoy learning Tai Chi from your own home with Dr. Adam Potts. Adam has been teaching the Tai Chi class for Veterans at Pack Memorial Library. Now that the library is closed, Adam will be hosting free online classes for everyone to access.
Adam is a former US Marine who served 2 tours in Iraq. He is now a Doctor of Physical Therapy and a Tai Chi Instructor.

– Build Strength, Balance, and Coordination
– Relieve Stress, Anxiety, and Depression for Well Being
– Connect with eachother enjoying a fitness class with others virtually
-Ability to connect with Adam and ask any questions you may have regarding the class

Class will be held through the ZOOM platform, when you register, you will receive a link in your email to access the class. You must register for the class to get the password and link. Class will be every Thursday and each class will require a new registration. Visit our online events calendar at buncombecounty.org/library and select the Thursday dates you’d like to attend, click sign up, and check your email for an automatic message with the Zoom information.

Tai Chi is appropriate for children, but we insist that an adult participate with the child. Class is fit for the entire family!
This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Library.

Asheville Hemp Farms Free Shipping and Free Delivery Local Community
Apr 23 @ 11:00 am – 6:00 pm
Asheville Hemp Farms
Asheville Outlets to Host American Red Cross Blood Drive – April 22 and 23
Apr 23 @ 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
Asheville Outlets--Food Court

Asheville Outlets will host a blood donation drive in partnership with the American Red Cross on Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23, 2020 from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day inside the Food Court.

Donors are asked to register in advance by visiting RedCrossBlood.org/give and entering the sponsor code Ashevilleoutlets. The American Red Cross will establish additional safety guidelines to ensure all donors are socially distanced.

Donating blood products is essential to community health and eligible donors are strongly urged to
donate blood, platelets, or AB Elite plasma. The Red Cross only collects blood from individuals who are
healthy and feeling well at the time of donation – and who meet other eligibility requirements.
At each blood drive or donation center, Red Cross employees follow thorough safety protocols, including:
 Wearing gloves and changing them often.
 Wiping down donor-touched areas after every collection.
 Using sterile collection sets for every donation.
 Preparing the arm for donation with aseptic scrub.
 Conducting donor mini physicals to ensure donors are healthy and well on day of donation.
We have also increased our vigilance concerning some of these safety protocols including:
 Enhanced disinfecting of surfaces and equipment.
 Providing hand sanitizer for use before entering and throughout the donation appointment.
 Temperature checks before presenting donors enter the blood drive or donation center.
 Following social distancing practices between donors including donor beds, as well as waiting and
refreshment areas.
 During this time, blankets typically used by platelet, Power Red and AB Elite donors at Red Cross blood
donation centers will be laundered after each use, which may limit the availability. Donors are
encouraged to bring their own blankets, but electric blankets and heating pads are not permitted.
 Staff wearing basic face masks.
To ensure our staff are healthy each day, we have implemented standard staff health assessments prior to all
blood drives.  Finally, only eligible and healthy people can give blood.  These mitigation measures will help
ensure blood recipient safety, as well as staff and donor safety in reducing contact with those who may
potentially have this respiratory infection.

LEAF Global Arts: Easel Rider LIVE!
Apr 23 @ 3:00 pm – 3:30 pm
LEAF Global Arts Facebook

Image may contain: 2 people, people standing, child and outdoor

Join us for an Easel Rider craft on Facebook Live with our Community Engagement Director, Marsha Almodovar. These fun crafts will utilize supplies you can easily find in your own home. Tune in each Thursday at 3pm EST as we go live to provide step by step instruction, and enjoy a moment of creativity and connection in your day!

Friday, April 24, 2020
 Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
Apr 24 all-day
Arts North Carolina Online

The NC Department of Employment Security (NCDES) is still awaiting guidance and working to implement Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), the program that will provide benefits for those who had not been previously covered by the state unemployment system. However, there was a major change in how Employers can address COVID-19 Unemployment announced last week as part of Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 131. https://artsnc.org/update-changes-to-nc-unemployment-filing/
6 Virtual International Museum Tours
Apr 24 all-day
Virtual Tours

While staying at home and practicing safe social distancing are the best courses of action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t mean we have to miss out on cultural landmarks around the world. Thanks to the Google Arts & Culture Project, from New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, to Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, here are 6 museums you can tour right now from home.

MoMA, New York

The first museum founded to showcase modern art, The Museum of Modern Art in New York has been doing just that for more than 90 years. From Picasso to Van Gogh, the MoMA is home to incredible pieces of history from the world of contemporary art.

Museo Frida Kahlo, Mexico City

Tour La Casa Azul, the former home of world-renowned artist Frida Kahlo – and current home to the museum honoring her life and legacy. Visible here are not only works from Kahlo, but also numerous personal belongings including her clothing and a body cast she famously painted while ill.

Musée d’Orsay, Paris

On display at the Musée d’Orsay, you’ll discover famous works from French artists who lived and worked between 1848 and 1914. Paintings by Monet, Gauguin, and Cézanne – among others – are featured on this Parisienne art tour.

La Galleria Nazionale, Rome

With just about 500 of its approximately 20,000 artworks digitized for this virtual tour, La Galleria Nazionale in Rome features everything from antiquities to seminal pieces representing the Futurist and Surrealist art movements.

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, Santa Fe

Honoring one of America’s preeminent artists, the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum settled in the same New Mexican desert she once called home. It is dedicated to enriching visitors in the incredible legacy left by the late artist with its collection of her paintings; of which 30 can be viewed online.

Rijks Museum, Amsterdam

One of the more thoroughly digitized experiences is Rijks Museum in Amsterdam. With over 145,000 works available to view virtually, enjoy incredible works from artists like Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Verspronck, to name a few.

Art in the Time of COVID Pink Dog Creative
Apr 24 all-day
Pink Dog Creative Online

Welcome to Art in the Time of COVID– an online artwork exhibition by Pink Dog Creative artists. The work in this exhibition is either related to the COVID-19 pandemic, made during the time of Stay-At-Home orders, or is uplifting or otherwise helpful during this challenging time. Most of the work is for sale. Our artists are hard at work and appreciate your support during this difficult time. Check out our artist pages and please get in touch with artists directly for information on work, online classes, & commissions! Work will continue to be added during the quarantine, so please check back for updates.

Karen Keil Brown, Where Will Our Path Take Us, Oil on canvas, 14 x 11″

Free livestream performances: Center for Puppetry Arts
Apr 24 all-day
Center for Puppetry Arts on line

Amid the coronavirus outbreak, Atlanta’s Center for Puppetry Arts is closed, but as it notes on its homepage, it’s “digitally open.”

That includes livestreaming performances and an expanded lineup of digital learning activities and workshops, which are all available for free online.

https://www.ajc.com/lifestyles/center-for-puppetry-arts-livestream-performances-for-free/KuBGQBiqLKxYs2l0WORhWO/?fbclid=IwAR17Ds6ftqLlyHEMda-rNXz3a9PHlERNkHuILTYJON58mQ005dZtC-DkUSc

Free Online Yoga and Meditation
Apr 24 all-day
online

Scoop: Free Online Yoga and Meditation

Find your zen during this stressful time. Miranda Peterson of Asheville yoga hike company Namaste in Nature has developed a series of free, online videos to help you relax. From a 10-minute sensory meditation to a gentle, immune boosting yoga asana practice, these videos are designed to “calm and support your immune system.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-xlv6hOjSADsdrMgIDWVRQ

FREE Video Course by Wild Abundance: 10 Spring Wild Foods
Apr 24 all-day
Wild Abundance Online

FREE Video Course by Wild Abundance

Discover delicacies growing right outside your door.

Your guide through this course is seasoned Wild Abundance instructor Luke Cannon, who has practiced wild food foraging for over two decades. More than a botanist, Luke is a long-time pursuer and teacher of the magic and medicine of plants. An avid naturalist, Luke draws from a diverse pool of knowledge, combining his natural history studies with his life experience in organic farming, natural building, permaculture, nature-based mentoring, and rural homesteading.

LUNCH DOODLES with Mo Willems!
Apr 24 all-day
Kennedy Center Online

Kennedy Center Education Artist-in-Residence at Home

Around the world, people of all ages have joined Mo Willems in his studio for weekday LUNCH DOODLES. The three-week run, all 15 episodes and their downloadable activities, are archived below. Let the doodling continue! Please tag your artwork on social media with #MoLunchDoodles so that we can all see it!

We applaud the many other authors and illustrators who are sharing stories and leading activities online. For a short list of people to visit, click here[Please note that this list is just a small number of the many wonderful artists who are sharing their talent and insights at this time. So, grab a favorite grown-up and look around the internet to discover authors/illustrators who are new to you!]

You can always visit Kennedy Center @ Home to enjoy free videos of extraordinary live and on-demand performances. Our KC Ed Now site also has fun educational activities to do at home.

Mo Willems and the Kennedy Center thank YOU for sharing your creativity with us! This pandemic is going to require some time to get better.  It is also going to require lots of kindness, lots of empathy, and lots and lots of doodles. Doodle on, fellow ART MAKERS!

National Arts Action Digital Summit
Apr 24 all-day
Americans For The Arts

WELCOME TO THE FIRST-EVER NATIONAL ARTS ACTION DIGITAL SUMMIT!

Designed to bring advocates the latest updates in federal arts policy, compelling up-to-the-minute data, and successful advocacy techniques, the National Arts Action Digital Summit is the best way to prepare yourself to make key asks of your federal elected officials and to learn how to be the best arts advocate you can be.

Amid the health crisis of COVID-19 and wanting to prioritize the health and safety of our attendees, we made the difficult decision to cancel the traditional in-person gathering of the National Arts Action Summit originally planned for the end of March. Now we are delighted to bring advocates a brand-new experience to engage with one another digitally, and to have an entire suite of arts policy webinars at your fingertips!

Advocating for the arts is more important now than ever, and we’re excited to present over a dozen plenary and issue-specific breakout session webinars live from April 27 – May 1, 2020. Over these five days, you’ll gain a depth of knowledge from policy experts at Americans for the Arts and many of our National Partners. You’ll also be able to watch a recording of these webinars whenever you like to refresh your understanding of the issues.

The North Carolina Arts Council and Covid-19
Apr 24 all-day
Arts North Carolina
The NC Arts Council staff and board are working on a plan which they believe will help stabilize the state’s nonprofit arts organizations and artists and sustain our arts infrastructure. Their major goals include:

  • Maintaining full funding levels for organizations in their operating support categories even though programming will likely be disrupted
  • Redirecting resources that normally support organizational project grants to create a Stabilization Fund open primarily to those nonprofit arts organizations that do not receive operating support
  • Providing relief to artists by increasing the pool of grants accessible to individual artists
Vessels of Hope Fundraiser for The Village Potters Clay Center
Apr 24 all-day
The Village Potters Clay Center

VESSELS OF HOPE: A CALL FOR HELP FROM THE VILLAGE POTTERS CLAY CENTER

Sarah Wells Rolland is making 500 vessels in fundraiser for TVPCC.

Sustaining TVPCC through this season of closure has become my primary job. I have applied for multiple loans, EIDL, PPP, from my personal bank, and now we wait. I am filled with hope! I believe that what we began here in 2011 is just now becoming fully grown.

So, I asked myself, What can I do? Vessels of Hope came to me immediately and I knew I had to do it. I am personally embarking on a challenging labor of love, making 500 vessels, each unique just like you. I am asking you to become a vessel of hope with me and our wonderful community for The Village Potters Clay Center.”

Sarah will be at the wheel making these Vessels of Hope for the next 12 weeks, and glazing them using a broad palette. Every vessel will vary in shape, surface and color, each one unique. They will be fired regularly as there are enough for a kiln load, expecting at least 4 firings among the large gas kiln, the new Rolland kiln, and the Kazegama wood ash kiln at TVPCC to complete this project.

As this is written, Sarah has made 121 vessels, and 120 are already purchased. During this process, pictures and videos of Sarah making the vessels will be posted to social media and shared with benefactors, so we all feel connected and continue to nurture hope in this time. When the vessels are all completed, The Village Potters team and volunteers will gather and pack them, but there will be no specific allocation of pots to people. Locals will be welcome to come by and pick up their vessel, and whether for shipping or pick up, pots will be distributed from the packed boxes, so nobody will know which pot they receive until the box is opened .

Sarah’s goal is for 500 benefactors, people who believe in the mission at The Village Potters Clay Center, and who are in a position to help. A minimum donation of $100 is asked for each Vessel of Hope, which includes shipping. For those who are able and would like to purchase more than one as gifts, individual pick up or shipping may be arranged. *10% of the proceeds generated through this project will be donated to artists in the River Arts District who are also struggling to stay open.

More from Sarah Wells Rolland: “These “Vessels of Hope” are a joyous creative pursuit for me personally, and you can be a part. I thank you for your love and support!”

The Village Potters Clay Center Team: Sarah Wells Rolland, George Rolland, Lori Theriault, Judi Harwood, Julia Mann, Christine Henry, Tori Motyl, and Lindsey Mudge,