The Orange County Arts Commission (OCAC) is pleased to announce recipients of the 2025-26 Grassroots Arts Program and Artist Project Grants. The OCAC awarded thirty-one grants to twelve artists or artist-groups and sixteen nonprofit organizations or schools, totaling $108,000.
2025-26 Grassroots Art Program Grant Recipients
- The ArtsCenter: Bad Art Club: Free For All & OCPS Title 1 AIR
- Boomerang Youth: Escape Artists: High-Quality Arts Education for SEL Growth in Marginalized Youth
- Calico Makers: Calico Makers Market Performing Arts Program
- CHCCS Foundation: Creative Art Programs at Phoenix Academy High School; Poet Laureate Program for CHCCS High Schools; African Drum Workshops at Three CHCCS Elementary Schools
- Chelsea Theater: General Operating Support
- Cosmic Rays Foundation: 2026 Cosmic Rays Film Festival: Filmmaker Honoraria and Operations Support
- Estes Hills PTA: Estes Hills Elementary Cultural Enrichment Program 2025-26
- Fairview Youth in Action: Mosaic Project at Fairview Community Center
- frank gallery: Operational support for FRANK Gallery 2025/26
- Hillsborough Arts Council: Cultural Performances at Hillsborough’s Last Fridays & the Art Walk, Live on the Lawn Performance Series
- McDougle Elementary PTA: Cultural Arts Programming for 2025-2026
- Musical Empowerment: Musical Empowerments Music Mentorship and Instruments Lending Programs
- Orange Community Players: Seussical
- Prism Design Lab: Exploring Architecture Workshops in Public Schools in Orange County
- VoicesChapelHill: Support for Accompanist Costs
- Women’s Voices Chorus: Operational support
2025-26 Artist Project Grant Recipients
- Morrow Dowdle: Community-centered performance and open mic series at the Eno Arts Mill Gallery
- Julia F. Green: Story Connection: free live storytelling classes and performances
- Mer Haggerty: Collage Stop x Collage Night at Peel Gallery
- Steph Hoover: Feeling at Home: A workshop series and exhibit highlighting housing justice organizations
- LEVEL Retreat: LEVEL 2025-2026 Local Artists-in-Residence
- Nerys Wendon Levy: Honoraria for performing artists at the 26th Mildred Council Annual Community Dinner at Mc Dougle Schools Cafeteria on April 26th 2026
- Madeline Popkin: Audio Soundscape to exploring the impact of underwater sound pollution
- Marcela Slade: FREE studio painting workshops
- Lindsay Leach Sparks: Eno Flute Ensemble
- Yuliia Sytnyk: “Twelve Faces of Courage: Art, Stories and Workshops to showcase Women and the Ukrainian Refugee Experience”
- Barbara Tyroler: Looking Back Through the Trees: An Infrared Exploration of Chapel Hill and Carrboro First Integrated Public School Community
- Carson Whitmore: “A Really Big Picnic”
OCAC Arts Grants are annually funded by the North Carolina Arts Council, a department of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and the Orange County Board of County Commissioners.
For more information about OCAC’s Arts Grants, visit www.artsorange.org/grants or contact Katie Murray, director of the Orange County Arts Commission, at 919-245-2335 or kmurray@orangecountync.gov.
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