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WRAL has teamed up with arts councils from Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake Counties for an event to help benefit the local arts community.

WRAL has teamed up with arts councils from Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake Counties for a live event on March 10 to help benefit the arts community devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. 

Big Night in for the Arts

The <a href="https://bignightin.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Big Night In for the Arts</a> aired live on WRAL on March 7, 2024. The event featured performances from local and national talent.

Funds raised will help local nonprofit arts and cultural organizations continue on a path of recovery and reentry post-pandemic.

Donations are being accepted online <a href="https://bignightin.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">via the Big Night In for the Arts website. </a>

Big Night Coverage

The arts are inherently healing by nurturing social, and emotional wellness and igniting joy.

Anyone who's kind of searching for an answer, searching for a direction, searching for inspiration or a belief that they can do a thing, can find it because they're either looking at a artist that looks like themselves, they're hearing or experiencing or seeing art that kind of rep represents something they've been thinking about or struggling with themselves that they think they're only thinking about alone or they're able to hear things framed in a way that they haven't thought about. That kind of unlocks a different way of thinking and helps them get through. They're what makes a person who they are. They give people the opportunity to see themselves differently, to see the world differently, to see each other differently. They offer spaces to well, to create, but to also be involved in a way that's different from maybe their everyday life. They get to step out and just be a different person. And without the arts, there would be no color to life. It's what makes everything just that much more exceptional in the world. It is a healing factor. I went through a um grieving process when my fiance passed away and that helped me you know, get through a very difficult time. Um getting those thoughts out onto the canvas, just releasing some of those emotions, you know, through my hands. It just, it was therapeutic helping me get through that. And anytime you're doing something with your hands, it just, it helps relieve a lot of that. Um, grief, it changes who you are and it helps you grow, it helps you realize that the world is a lot bigger than just you. As you know, more people get hands on with, with art, more people experience it, they start to open up to life a little bit more.

Big Night In for the Arts: Healing

Creating more than 30,000 jobs and $1 Billion in economic activity, the arts power prosperity.

This is a case where a mural I would say single handedly saved this business. And I don't know if they were considering closing, but they were definitely doing significantly less business. They really needed to push it really improved, just the appearance of the building and it, it really increased their business. And it was like very obvious how, how much it changed their foot traffic. We have uh people that come to Shori Hills events from all over the world. Thousands of people are coming here for our events and so they're staying multiple days so that tourism is increased by these people sort of descending on Chatham County and we're making money off of this. So we're, but we're invest, we try to invest as much back in the community as possible because we are a community art center, the African American Culture Festival of Raleigh and Wake County is a festival that's held on Labor Day Weekend that attracts over 44,000 people. And that was a mission of preserving our African American heritage and Culture. And United Arts Council was one of the, the first people to help assist with the festival. And 12 years later, they have still supported us and been able to help give us funding that helps us with operational expenses. It helps us with programming expenses. It helps us to be able to create and put on this festival for our community music that's often played on people's front porches in living rooms, in backyards has now become a catalyst for upwards of $17 million a year of direct economic impact every fall. when IB Ma and bluegrass come to town. We're, we're very, very proud of that work. And I think it says something really special about this community. The opportunity to have the people that live in your community be the benefactors of the purchasing of art, to have them be the ones who play music at your weddings, your your events, those local dollars turn over so many more times and bring so much more value to that local economy than you can ever have thought.

Big Night In for the Arts: Powering prosperity

Fostering community and a sense of belonging through unique experiences, the arts bring us together. 

Arts are uniquely positioned to cross boundaries and reach us in ways that other disciplines and other means cannot. From my perspective. As a musician, there isn't a place that is without sound or without rhythm from the very existence of human beings. So when you have organized sound, that lands in music, in a musical space that not only satisfies you but gives you something to share with other people, breaks down boundaries and brings people together. So I think there's a certain quality about music and the arts in general that really help us see ourselves uh and see each other. We decided to include art in our work because it makes us happy. It makes our community happy. It makes our community feel themselves reflected in the society we live in, feel proud of who they are and where they came from. It's wonderful. It's like it makes my, my spirit move in a, in a beautiful way, you know, um it makes me feel like I have a purpose in life, you know, just being able to spread my art. Because when I spread my art, I'm able to go ahead and create conversations about what I'm talking about in my music. Public art helps, you know, just everyone feel better, everyone who lives here or who's visiting, they get a better impression of the town. They're just like, this is a nice town, you know, where people are happier if their surroundings are beautiful, you know.

Big Night In for the Arts: The arts bring us together

United Arts provides noncompetitive grants to schools to help provide Artists in Schools programs for their staff and students. This program helps get local artists into schools for events and workshops.




The Arts Councils in the Triangle put artists working artists into our K through 12 curricula and school system, which is great exposure for kids. Creativity is the root of all problem solving. So if we can make sure that our students now are creative, then we will have a dynamic workforce. And it all starts with an artist and a vision. We have so many students these days suffering with de depression, mental illness, anxiety, they have to worry about their home life which is hard. Some of them, some students come from hard home life, then they have to come inside the school and they're dealing with the peer pressures of everything that's going on around them. Arts can really release some of that pressure when Black Box Dance theater comes into a school and they are bringing dance and they're bringing math concepts into that dance. There's no pressure around that. And by the end, every student is full out dancing, they've developed confidence in something new and by the way it relates to math concepts. How fabulous is that?

Artists in Schools program helps connect artists with community 

Artists in Schools 

The arts provide an opportunity for expression and healing.

I feel like art is healing because that could let out so many emotions that I can't let out in a way out off the stage. If that makes sense, me talking is kind of hard. So whenever I go into theater, it's just like it's I know what to do because maybe I find a character that kind of relates to me and I feel like maybe less alone or. Helping Children feel seen That's what it's about. And artists are really good at helping Children feel seen. we learn to express ourselves and use our imagination so that we can keep our minds healthy. Our minds have got to stay healthy for us to be productive in life. I think there is an emotional language that goes beyond words and the arts provide that emotional language that we need. Sometimes you don't even know you need it until you hear that song, until you see that movie, until you read that book and then you're weeping. and you didn't even know you needed that, but you did, you needed somebody who could say the thing that you couldn't say. The art is just in my opinion, the door to get to the heart and once you can do that anything and anybody can change,

Arts provides opportunity for healing

See how the local arts community helps celebrate different cultures.

The arts have always been a unifier. Art spaces especially are a place that are welcoming and safe for all types of people. I think art for the greater community, it opens dialogue and it allows us to have a conversation with each other that we probably wouldn't have, you know, otherwise we can organize arts events around cultural and so social touch zones and bring people together to again explore those issues and not in just a reflective way in a way that really resonates out into the wider community. Let's build community around and with our artists like, right where you are right now, bring people together in your home, in your neighborhood, through your art center and create a day, create a couple of hours where you are sharing all of the artistic expressions of your community and, and celebrate it.

Arts help unify the community, celebrate cultures

Supporting local arts councils helps local artists in creates a ripple effect of support for the industry across the state. 

Triangle wide. The arts industry creates 30,000 jobs and has economic impact annually of more than $800 million. Despite having lived in Madrid in New York City in the Bay Area, I have found that the arts community, the openness to the arts community and the availability of opportunities in the Raleigh uh dorm area uh far outweigh any other city that I've lived in The opportunity to, to have the people that live in your community, be the benefactors of the purchasing of art. To have them be the ones who play music at your weddings. Your your events, those local dollars turn over so many more times and bring so much more value to that local economy than you would ever have thought when you support arts councils in North Carolina that. and support actual real life artists like ourselves. Um When you're supporting entrepreneurs and self employed artists, you are stretching that dollar so far because those artists in turn are going to support other artists and other creatives and other people that are self employed. And we know this from first hand experience. This is something that you can feel so super good about because your dollar will be stretched so far and help so many people.

Supporting local arts communities creates ripple effect

The Big Night In for the Arts will be live on WRAL on March 9 at 7 p.m.

TikTok famous dancers among Big Night In for the Arts performers 

Big Night In for the Arts returns in March

Mark your calendars for Big Night In for the Arts 2023! Tune in on March 9 and be a part of this annual event that has raised more than $615,000 for arts programming in the Triangle.

OR TO OUR INSTAGRAM. NOT THIS >> ART CHANGES LIVES. WE DO HAVE SOMETHING LIKE THIS ORGANIZATION WHEN I WAS GROWING UP HERE. SO IT THRILLS ME TO COME DOWN HERE AND SEE PLACES LIKE CEDAR, RALEIGH AND AND IN CT. AND I'M SURE THIS SO MANY OTHER ONES THAT WERE NOT HERE. WHAT I'VE BEEN TOURING COMPANIES COME IN AND THAT'S JUST OPPORTUNITIES AS A CHILD TO WITNESS THE MAGIC. THAT IS THEATER TO WITNESS THE MAGIC. THAT IS ART. >> THE NATION'S THESE ARTS COUNCIL THROUGH BIG NIGHT AND CREATES OPPORTUNITIES FOR ARTISTS TO CREATE MORE EXCITING, BEAUTIFUL WORK IN OUR COMMUNITIES. >> BIG NIGHT IN FOR THE ARTS IS YOUR ONE TIME EACH YEAR TO TUNE IN FOR ONE HOUR AND SEE HEADLINERS FROM ALL OVER THE TRIANGLE PERFORMING GRAMMY-NOMINATED COUNTRY MUSICIAN RECEIVE HOMER. >> TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL THEATER ARTIST BETH LEVEL. INDIE FOLK DUO CHATHAM, RABBIT. PIEDMONT LAUREATE AND SPOKEN WORD ARTISTS ON BEHIND YOU. >> INTERNATIONALLY, RENOWNED PUBLIC ARTIST PATRICK DOUGHERTY. TIKTOK SENSATION DANCERS COSTS AND THERE. AND VENEZUELAN APPALACHIAN FOLK MUSIC DUO, LARRY AND JOE. >> WE'VE BEEN ALL ACROSS THIS COUNTRY AND I LOVE. WELL, I YEAH, THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HERE. WE'VE GOT MORE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER. IS THE MOST PLACES DO. AND SO WE'RE LUCKY. WE'RE LUCKY. WE LOVE MAKING MUSIC IN NORTH CAROLINA. AND THANKFULLY THERE'S ALL THESE WONDERFUL PLACES TO DO IT. >> BIG NIGHT IN FOR THE ARTS MARCH NIGHT. 7 O'CLOCK WRAL. BE THERE OR BE SQUARE. THAT'S

Join four Triangle arts councils and WRAL as we celebrate and support the arts community of our region on March 10 on WRAL.

OUT AT THE OUR NEXT DOT COM. &gt;&gt; I THINK WHEN PEOPLE THINK OF THE ARTS, THE EITHER THINK ONE WAY OR THE OTHER, THE THINKING ABOUT PAINTINGS TO THINKING ABOUT POTTERY. THEY'RE THINKING ABOUT THINGS THAT ARE NOT NECESSARILY MUSIC. AND THE BEAUTY OF THE ARTS. IT'S ALL THAT. AND THEN SOME. &gt;&gt; BY SUPPORTING THE ARTS, YOUR ASA DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. WE CAN SEE THEM WORKING IN OUR COMMUNITY CAN BE TAUGHT BY WE CAN SEE THE PERFORMING LIVE IS A CONSTANT INSPIRATION &gt;&gt; BIG MEDIA AND THE ARTS IS A COLLABORATION OF ALL THE ARTS COUNCIL'S IN WAKE DORM, ORANGE AND CHATHAM COUNTIES TO ALLOW FOR OUR WONDERFUL COMMUNITIES TO HEAR THAT TALENT. ANDERSON, MORE ABOUT THE ARTS AND FIND A WAY TO SUPPORT THE ARTS. THIS REGIONAL FUNDRAISING INITIATIVE WILL BOAST A SUPERSTAR LINEUP, INCLUDING MUSICIANS, BEEN PHONES, GRAMMY-NOMINATED JAZZ VOCALIST NEED TO RELY ON FOLK MUSIC BAND. HIS GOLDEN MESSENGER, NORTH CAROLINA, WITH MORE. HUGH JACKMAN, SHELTON, GREEN TAP DANCER, JOB TO REPEAL. POTTER. MARK HULETT. THAT'S A SUPPORT SYSTEM HERE. THAT'S ENCOURAGES US. &gt;&gt; AND SPREADS THE WORD ABOUT WILL THE GOOD THINGS THAT DUSTS AND CRAFTSPEOPLE WHATEVER THE MEDIA DOING IN NORTH CAROLINA. NOW. &gt;&gt; ONE OF THE MAIN THINGS FOR BUT WE INTEND TO DO WITH OUR EU IS TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY UNDERSTAND THAT THEY HAVE A VOICE. THEY HAVE A PURPOSE. AND THEN WE HELP TOO AMPLIFY THAT VOICE AND NURTURE BUT PURPOSE. &gt;&gt; THE FUNDING MAKES IT POSSIBLE. ARTS FOUNDATION HAS GIVEN TO US SO THAT WE CAN GET BACK TO THE COMMUNITY IN A LARGER WAY WITHOUT THEIR FUNDING. THAT WOULD BE NO. SINCE WE ON SIGHT AND VISION PROJECT. THIS IS ONE OF THESE THINGS. WE'RE WE'VE DONE IT. &gt;&gt; NOT JUST ONE YEAR, BUT THIS IS THE SECOND TIME AND THIS SECOND TIME MEANS A LOT BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH PEOPLE THINK WE'RE BEYOND THE PANDEMIC, WE'RE REALLY NOT. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, ALL OF THE ARTS IS STILL AFFECTED THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT MARCH 10 IS TO REINFORCE THAT THE ARTS ARE IMPORTANT AND I LIVES AND NOT ONLY TO SHARE THIS WONDERFUL TALENT. ALL THESE AMAZING PEOPLE THAT YOU'RE GOING TO SEE BUT ALSO SEE HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED. &gt;&gt; I'M JOB A GREAT DEAL FROM PITTSBORO NORTH CAROLINA. PLEASE HELP SUPPORT THE ARTS. DONATE NOW. &gt;&gt; HI, I'M NINA FREE LAWN HERE REPRESENTING THE BULL CITY, DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTS. WHY WATCHING BIG NIGHT IN FOR THE ARTS ON W OUR

Big Night In for the Arts returns for second year

Ben Folds, Jaki Shelton Green lead 'Big Night In for the Arts' lineup

WRAL has teamed up with arts councils from Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake Counties for a live event Thursday to help benefit the arts community devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. 