Testimonials

The only way for the arts to truly innovate and grow in the Triangle is to work together. As the region grows, we have to start thinking more collaboratively and outside of our boxes, whether those “boxes” are geographic or disciplines such as theater or visual art. Triangle ArtWorks plays such an important role in our local arts community because they are the only organization dedicated to convening and building capacity in the arts on a regional level, helping us all get to the next level.

Charles Phaneuf
VP of Strategy
South Arts

I support Triangle Art Works and their efforts to support and grow artists and arts organizations in the Research Triangle Region. We have an amazing community of creative people in the region but, for the most part, they labor alone.

By encouraging collaboration, cross-pollination and growing resources, Triangle Art Works is filling a void in the local economy and providing support for our extensive arts cluster. Their work is vital for the Triangle and its arts community. I’m happy to partner with them to support and grow this industry.

Dianne Reid
Former President
Chatham County Economic Development

Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership supports Triangle ArtWorks and the valuable work that the agency does for the entire central region of North Carolina. Triangle ArtWorks is fostering a dynamic and engaging sense of place in the Triangle by supporting the arts as an economic development tool.

The Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership (CHDP) is a nonprofit agency working to bring together the resources of the Town, University and downtown community to maintain, enhance and promote downtown as the social, cultural, and spiritual center of Chapel Hill through economic development.  Our current agency Plan of Work leads with an objective of being downtown’s managing entity and economic development leader by specifically pursuing arts endeavors.

We fulfill this strategy by coordinating and sponsoring arts-related events, managing the 2nd Friday ArtWalk, installing store-front installations, as well as partnering on arts-focused planning initiatives. We also market and promote the businesses, events, and artistic experiences that happen downtown.

We look to Triangle ArtWorks to be the leading entity of establishing the arts as an economic driver for our entire region. On an individual level our agency has used Triangle ArtWorks’ resources like the Pop-Up Tool Kit; which we actively promote to our businesses and ArtWalk venues. Triangle ArtWorks serves as a valuable source of information sharing, with expert use of social media and networking events.

Just recently our downtown had a direct economic impact because of the work of Beth Yerxa, Executive Director of Triangle ArtWorks. When a local theater company lost its venue in a neighboring town, Beth linked the company up with my organization. We found a downtown theater in our business district that was willing to be the venue and we contributed a financial sponsorship for the venue use. The play brought hundreds of patrons to our downtown over a three-week run; dining and enjoying our businesses, that wouldn’t have been here without the work of Triangle ArtWorks.

We can consistently tell people that the Triangle region is a dynamic arts destination; Triangle ArtWorks shows people that it truly is!

Meg McGurk
Past Executive Director
Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership

I have been an active member of the local art community since 2010, starting and growing my small business as a glass artist. It is such a privilege to be an artist in the Triangle, especially now in a time where the wealth of creative energy and artistic expression is positively overwhelming. For artists like myself, who operate as both craftsmen and small business owners, the word “overwhelming” covers both sides of a double-edged sword.

On one side we had ample opportunities – a plethora of options for showing and selling art work. On the opposite side, we had a lack of organization – no central place to find opportunities and resources within the entire region. The first year of my art business was a massive struggle to balance my creative time in the studio with the business side in the office. While filling out applications will always be time consuming, even just finding the Calls-for-Artists and other resources required sifting through websites for 30+ arts councils, municipal groups, arts non-profits, independent galleries, etc. Social media initially helped but eventually following so many individual organizations clogged the process further – sorting dozens of posts to find something relevant and often only hearing about events after the fact. In addition, while many of these groups did a great job covering Raleigh or Durham or Hillsborough, no one was covering the entire region.

Enter Triangle Artworks. I first learned about ArtWorks, when their Director was on a panel at Visual Art Exchange. She described TAW and told the audience to follow them on Twitter, which I did absentmindedly. Within days, my approach to art “business development” was revolutionized. With a quick scroll through the Triangle Artworks Twitter feed, I could now achieve on my phone in just a few minutes a day what had previously taken me hours to accomplish on the computer. This allowed me to streamline my process for selecting shows and to focus my administrative time on things such as improving my website, contacting resources, and actually applying to shows.

With my balance between studio and office time in better shape, I was ready to venture into more networking. Again, Triangle Artworks intervened. While I had a decent handle on contacts and art events in Raleigh, the information I gleaned from Triangle Artworks helped me branch out into Chapel Hill, Durham, and beyond. My arts life was no longer confined to First Fridays in Raleigh. I could find an artist talk, panel discussion, exhibit opening, or volunteer opportunity any day of the month.

Having access to an organization like Triangle Artworks means artists have a fighting chance at finding the elusive balance between mastering a craft and building a business. It allows me to quickly evaluate multiple options, plan what events to attend in the coming weeks, and explore forms of creativity outside of my comfort zone of visual arts. My arts contacts now spread far outside of the visual arts, I have resources to assist with nearly any question that arises, and spend my time evaluating which opportunities to choose from – rather than searching for one at a time.

Melanie Stoer
Artist/Business owner
Melsie’s Glass

The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle is one of the fastest growing metro areas in the country – and one with a vast, diverse arts “scene.”  This scene however, has not historically been unified or coordinated.  There are multiple art forms – visual art, film, dance, theatre, music, even circus – and all sizes and levels in each art from amateur to underground to professional.  The arts “community” has not really existed as a community in this area, despite the fact that many local artists and thinkers know each other and want to participate and engage with each other’s work.

Triangle ArtWorks is connecting the dots in this vast network of creativity.  It creates awareness among artists, fosters networking, links artists to resources and connects the arts community with the community at large.

Bare Theatre recently found itself in need of a venue.  With only two weeks before rehearsals for Measure for Measure were to begin, the art gallery we had booked months in advance suddenly pulled up stakes.  With only two months left to find a new venue for a show with marketing already out, our search followed every lead we could find…unfortunately finding no venue that could accommodate the show and the dates.

We turned to ArtWorks.  Their Director was able to connect us with several downtown managers, who in turn connected us with local business owners.  Within days, we had located the perfect new venue – a 1927 movie house that fit perfectly with the 1920’s theme for the show we already had in place.  Not only was this venue perfect for the show – it allowed us to accommodate larger audiences, work with the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership to take our marketing even further, and Measure for Measure became the highest-grossing production in a non-amphitheater performing space in our 15-year history.  It was a huge box office and critical success for Bare Theatre, as well as a boon to The Varsity Theatre, dramatically increasing their attendance over the course of our three-week run, and it gave the town of Chapel Hill a unique Shakespeare production of a play that is rarely performed.  In short, everyone won!

The potential for ArtWorks to do even more of this vital work cannot be understated.  There simply is no other organization in the Triangle serving in this capacity.  As the population and economy grows in the region, it will be more and more important to connect artists with each other, with resources, with businesses, and with audiences. ArtWorks supports Bare Theatre, and Bare Theatre supports ArtWorks.

Todd Buker
Bare Theatre
Triangle-wide

In North Carolina’s Triangle region, we enjoy an abundance of writers, readers and other literary folks. And though the business of publishing is tough and competitive, those of us around here do not act as competitors, but as members of community – a community of writers joined in mission and purpose to the greater creative community. Triangle ArtWorks is an organization that is critical to this community-making.

From the beginning, Triangle ArtWorks has engaged with and served the literary community through

- Consolidating/communicating critical event and organizational information,
- Convening our community members with other artists for education, advocacy, and fellowship,
- Highlighting milestones of local artists
- Reminding us continually of our membership in the broad community and reminding us of the economic and social power we hold.

More concretely, as a small local literary publisher, I see Triangle ArtWorks as a key resource when I need to get the word out about the work we do. Triangle ArtWorks blog was one of the first sites to feature an article about a new book prize that we were launching, and because of this coverage, others followed, and we received an avalanche of excellent entries.

Of course. Triangle ArtsWorks is so much more than its considerable social media presence. I have attended a variety of workshops, discussions, and other gatherings convened by the group—each one well conceived and useful. I am particularly thankful for the real world, nuts-and-bolts approach that is the hallmark of their programming.

I cannot close without a word about Beth Yerxa. Having worked with her on another non-profit board, I want to affirm her deep knowledge of the community and its related market forces, her wonderful management skills, and above all, her vision for our creative community. She will be an excellent custodian of any investment in this great organization.

Lynn York
Writer
Chapel Hill