Press Releases

The Hamiltones, a Grammy-nominated gospel group from the Charlotte area, will perform at the Executive Mansion on Wednesday, Feb. 19, kicking off a new season of “Music at the Mansion,” hosted by First Lady Kristin Cooper.First Lady Cooper, Susi H. Hamilton, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and Wayne Martin, executive director of the N.C. Arts Council, will welcome The Hamiltones to the Executive Mansion.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the official induction of Jaki Shelton Green as North Carolina’s first African American poet laureate.

Kimberly Radewicz, a seven-year employee of the N.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, is the new superintendent at Eno River State Park in Durham. Radewicz succeeds Keith Nealson, who was named the division’s Chief Ranger last fall after serving as superintendent at Eno River for 10 years. A superintendent is the chief of operations and administration at a state park or recreation area and has wide-ranging responsibilities for staffing, training, law enforcement, visitor services, natural resource protection, community outreach and environmental education.

Programs celebrating women’s history will be offered at venues of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in March. This month continues the department’s celebration of women’s fight for suffrage and equality, with the theme, “She Changed the World: North Carolina Women Breaking Barriers.” The commemoration of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage from March 2019 to November 2020 will expand on contributions of North Carolina women to the state and nation.

North Carolina high school students from 25 counties across the state will take the stage on Saturday, Feb. 22, in Greensboro, to compete in the annual statewide Poetry Out Loud competition. Thirty-five schools are sending students to compete in Poetry Out Loud, which is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in partnership with the Poetry Foundation and the North Carolina Arts Council. The event is free and open to the public.

The N.C. African American Heritage Commission (AAHC), a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, has created a new traveling exhibit featuring sites important to, and personal memories about, African American travel during the “Jim Crow” era of legal segregation.  The exhibit will be on display at the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro from March 3-April 22 and the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham from March 14-April 6. 

Students at the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) will have the opportunity to learn and earn this summer through a 10-week paid summer internship within the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.   

Brooke Simpson, a Haliwa-Saponi vocalist, songwriter, and finalist on NBC’s hit talent-competition show “The Voice,” is the latest North Carolina musician to take part in Come Hear North Carolina’s series “In the Water.”

Tensions spiraled into hostilities between the former allies of France and England during the French and Indian War, a time of shifting allegiances and loyalties. Fort Dobbs State Historic Site will capture the climax of those pressures that erupted in a confusing night-time skirmish on Feb. 27, 1760, as up to 70 Cherokee warriors attacked the fort. 

From hearing the calls of endangered birds in a sanctuary in eastern North Carolina to seeing a mountain sunrise in the west, our state has unlimited rural treasures awaiting discovery. We are a rural state, with 80 of 100 counties beyond the hustle and bustle of major cities. Without a doubt, the state’s most beautiful natural resources can be found in rural North Carolina. In 2020, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is launching a new initiative to celebrate North Carolina's rural counties.