The Arts Council announces $100,000 in state grants to organizations and artists

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County announced $100,000 in state grants.

The grants were awards through two regional funding programs: the Grassroots Arts Program grants and the Artist Support Grants.

For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the Arts Council received $128,000 in requests and awarded $75,000 to 29 art organizations.

The Arts Council also awarded 27 artists a total of $25,039.31 after receiving 66 applications for a total of $60,469.31 for their Region 6 Artist Support Grant program.

To celebrate the recipients, the Arts Council will host their annual Jingle and Mingle reception on December 11th at 6 p.m. at the DREAMS Center for Arts Education.

Here is a full list of recipients for the Grassroots Arts Program Grants:

• Alban Elved Dance Company – $3000 – Sarus Festival for Site-Specific & Experimental Art
• Bellamy Mansion Museum – $1000 – Exhibitions by Helen Barnett & Milton Gore /Jim Horton
• Black Arts Alliance, Inc. – $5000 – 23rd North Carolina Black Film Festival
• Boys and Girls Club of SENC – $5000 – Club Creations Art Immersion Program
• Cape Fear Chorale – $500 – Annual Fall Concert
• Cape Fear Cultural Assoc. of India – $1500 – Passage to India
• Cape Fear Swing Dance – $2500 – Live music at six monthly dances
• Carolina Beach Mural Project – $5000 – Mural on the Katie B. Hines Center
• Cinema Sisters International – $5000 – 10th Annual Uptilt Film Fest
• Friend of Public Radio WHQR – $2500 – Cinematique of Wilmington Film Series at Jengo’s
• Harrington Repertory Theatre – $3000 – Production of “Orion’s Choice”
• Island Arts Council – $750 – Clay Art for Therapy for Cancer Patients workshops
• Mouth of Babes Theatre – $2500 – Scotopia 2026, A New Works Theatre Festival
• Narrative Arts – $2500 – Coastal Connections: Coastal Youth Media project
• NC Jazz Festival – $5000 – NC Jazz Festival Youth Workshops
• Opera Wilmington – $2500 – Costumes and set for “Don Giovanni”
• Performance Club Theatre Co – $2500 – Summer Stock Youth Productions
• Pleasure Island Chamber – $1500 – Carolina Beach Kite Festival’s Art of the Wind
• Port City Music Festival – $1250 – 18th Annual Port City Music Festival 2026
• Port City Playwrights – $1000 – Production of “Ten Minute Miscellany 2026”
• Port City Rock Jam – $1250 – Supports arts festival produced by local band RuKus
• Techmoja Dance/Theatre – $1500 – Sweet Sixteen season
• Thalian Association – $5000 – Venue rentals for five Youth Theatre productions
• Thalian Hall – $5000 – Presentation of Ailey II, the Next Generation of Dance
• Turning the Wheel Productions – $2500 – Body-based creative expression and play
• UNCW – $1500 – Annual Writer’s Week produced by UNCW’s Creative Writing Dept.
• Wilmington Jewish Film Fest – $1500 – 12th Festival and Summer Series
• Wilmington Symphonic Winds – $2500 – 2025-2026 season of three concerts
• Wilmington Virtuosi Brass – $750 – Two concerts (UNCW and St. Thomas Hall)

Here is the full list of recipients of the Artist Support Grants:

• Hannah Abrams -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Literary, Purchase of laptop
• Wafa Alsleem -$ 750 – New Hanover – Visual, Supplies for home studio
• Breanna Burge -$ 1000 – Brunswick – Visual, Produce gallery block, metal and acrylic prints of existing collections
• Christine Capen -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Visual, Attend workshop at John C. Campbell Folk School
• Jared Michael Cline -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Music, Studio album recording of original music with live musicians
• Kady Devaun -$ 1000 – Brunswick – Visual, Purchase pottery wheel
• Brenden Emmerson -$ 750 – Brunswick – Visual, Upgrade equipment, buy materials for travel to venues, and marketing
• James Farley -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Visual, Purchase of tintype equipment
• Carol Gardner -$ 892.56 – Brunswick – Visual, Supplies for Sculpture and Functional Pottery
• Mandi Gillespie -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Visual, Sourcing rare wood for pyrography collection, travel, website, and marketing
• Meagan Golden -$ 750 – New Hanover – Film, Submission fees for 19 film festivals
• Kevin Green -$ 750 – New Hanover – Dance, Studio rental
• Katelyn Guthrie -$ 750 – New Hanover  – Visual, Two-week winter residency at the Penland School of Craft
• Lemuel Heida -$ 1000 – Brunswick – Visual, Hand-fabricating a kinetic light sculpture to exhibit a stop-motion film
• Timothy Koehler & Alex Goodell -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Music, Soul-R-Fusion to attend Southeast Regional Folk Alliance
• Sean Meade -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Music, Record debut jazz album featuring Echromatics, a band of local musicians
• Stephen Merriam -$ 1000 – Brunswick – Visual, Professional-grade carving tools and supplies to create three large-scale sculptures
• Megan Peterson -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Film, Install electricity for home studio
• Sherry Pfeifle -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Visual, Coaching program to transition into a boutique-style portrait photography business
• Heather Purdin -$ 996.75 – New Hanover – Visual, Tools and enameling materials to expand metalsmithing practice
• Kaylie Saidin -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Literary, Purchase computer
• Michael Sherrod -$ 900 – New Hanover – Visual, Purchase of professional-grade camera
• Andre Silva -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Film, Film festival submission fees
• Shannon Silva -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Film, Purchase of iPad, Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard
• Cedric Turner-Kopa -$ 750 – New Hanover – Literary, Self-publishing costs, ISBN registration, coaching sessions, and web hosting
• Jesslyn Wilson -$ 750 – New Hanover – Theater, Theater rent, materials for set design, costume, props
• Joshua Woodard -$ 1000 – New Hanover – Music, Purchase drum set and marketing