Press Releases

The North Carolina Arts Council announced today $11.5 million in grant awards for Fiscal Year 2024–25. Three hundred sixty-six grant awards will support nonprofit arts organizations, schools, after-school programs, municipalities, and artists in all 100 counties this year. The grants range from $5,000 to $338,000.“The arts benefit North Carolinians of all ages,” said Governor Roy Cooper. “These grants will enrich our communities as well as grow their economies throughout all one hundred counties.”Funding priorities this year include organizations and projects that:

WHAT: Winston-Salem Community GatheringWHEN: Tuesday, Aug. 27, 6–7:30 p.m.WHERE: Malloy/Jordan East Winston Heritage Center Branch Library, 1110 East Seventh St., Winston-Salem, NC 27101WHAT: Raleigh Community GatheringWHEN: Wednesday, Aug. 28, 6–7:30 p.m.WHERE: Chavis Community Center | Multipurpose Room 205, 505 Martin Luther King Junior Boulevard Raleigh, NC 27601

The North Carolina Museum of History is excited to announce a calendar full of events as the long summer days fade into the cozy glow of autumn!Come and celebrate the last few weeks of the museum building being open with live music performances like no other! Our fall schedule includes three more Tar Heel Troubadours concerts, a celebration of Americana, roots, bluegrass, and traditional music performed by artists from North Carolina or currently living and working in the state.Read on for all our fall events. Programs are FREE unless otherwise noted.

Guests at the North Carolina Zoo may have noticed a new addition to the Zoo’s band (or group) of Hamadryas baboons. A young female (“Winnie”), delivered naturally on June 16, is one of more than a dozen animals born during the Zoo’s 50th Anniversary year, including critically endangered red wolf pups, six Van der Decken’s hornbill chicks, and a bongo.

The North Carolina Zoo and its original elephant, C’sar, have officially marked 50 WILD Years together. C’sar’s journey from the wild plains of Kenya to his home in Asheboro is a story of survival, adaptation, and the enduring spirit of one of nature's most magnificent creatures.

An American Indian tribe linked to a settlement primarily in the northern Piedmont region straddling Person County, N.C.,  and Halifax County, Va., soon will be recognized with a North Carolina Highway Historical Marker.

The N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation announced that Erin Brown has been named a superintendent at Falls Lake State Recreation Area. Brown has moved into the position that Crystal Lloyd vacated last year when she transferred to Carolina Beach State Park. Brown joins David Mumford, the lead superintendent.

Thanks to a $75,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown State Historic Site will hire a financial sustainability advisor. This advisor will guide the historic site in developing a new strategic financial plan to support future preservation efforts and to grow its African American history and educational programs for the statewide and local community.

 The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources has been awarded a $100,000 Battlefield Restoration grant from the National Park Service to produce a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) to guide the restoration of key portions of the Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site in Johnston County.

Jacob Brown is the new park superintendent at Raven Rock State Park in Harnett County, the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation announced. Brown succeeds John Privette, who became the division’s law enforcement specialist last year.Park superintendents manage operations and administration at a park and have wide-ranging responsibilities that include staffing, training, law enforcement, planning, resource management, interpretation and education, and visitor services.