2020-833-E Arts Commission-Skylight Gallery NCCARES grant

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programming or offerings. later becoming a co-op member), working with the town’s arts council v olunteers, created the monthly "Last Fridays" downtown arts celebration and art walk, as well as the Festiv al of the Autumn Moon under the guidance of Janet Ledbetter and her roster of international musicians, thus bringing div ersity and tourists to town. Continuing that commitment to community engagement, the Hillsborough Artists Cooperativ e/Skylight Gallery has sponsored hundreds of local and guest artists of all ages, with ethnic div ersity, creativ e freedom, and without judgment based on established reputation. Award-winning teacher, filmmaker and co-op member Andrea DeGette since 1999 has featured art by children and photography by high school students. The co-op also has hosted multiple community forums on topics such as 9/11 and global warming, and poetry salons, and showings of v ideos such as “Equal Means Equal.” Many exhibits are non-commercial, for example the co-op participated in "The W alls W e Build," a regional effort led by Donn Young; has hosted a series of political installations by Hunter Lev insohn; mounted Jacquelin Liggins’ photographs of local African- Americans ov er ninety years old (“90+); and inv ited Pakistani- American Kulsum Tasnif to exhibit her “Journey to the Good Life” mixed media paintings about refugees which caused one v isitor, a local writer, to burst into loud sobs. Group exhibits such as “Inalienable,” featuring a plastic bubble with a tea party inside (Shiangtai Tuan and guests), elicited interaction with v isitors, who were offered masks to wear and take home (painted paper plates with elastic). Other co-op studio artists and guest artists create and sell fine arts and crafts to appreciativ e locals and tourists, plus teach traditional methods of drawing, painting, darkroom photography and film- making. Since its beginning, the co-op's annual open studio tours, monthly art walks and special ev ents hav e brought new art lov ers and thinkers to town. Additional open hours were added more recently: In 2017 Jacquelin Liggins’ studio welcomed Roberta W allace and then “Repo Nan” Kuney (denim artist) and the trio began opening studios and the Skylight Gallery on weekend afternoons. They created signs, set up planters, painted the downstairs door red, and made the co-op ev en more enticing to an ev er-growing number of art lov ers. By March 2020 when Cov id 19 hit, there were 10 rent-paying co-op members, an activ e and div erse exhibition schedule with group shows and guest artists, and three members keeping the gallery and their studios open on weekends. Despite the shutdown, most of the co-op artists hav e stayed, paid rent, ev en as their use of the facility has been restricted. DocuSign Envelope ID: 9817B4A2-1328-4ADD-8A8E-BC5D68851AA4