Public art humanizes Charlotte police stations while connecting precincts to the community.

“Jazzerific” created by Dapper Street Productions founder Nicci Canada and supported by ASC Culture Blocks, succeeded in bringing together East Charlotte residents of all generations through jazz.

Charlotte creative Jason Woodberry used an ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship to establish studio space and travel to Africa, visiting Ghana after learning he had roots to ancestral tribes.

ASC Cultural Vision Grant recipient Nadia Meadows found inspiration amid isolation. Desiring to create during the pandemic, Meadows channeled her personal frustrations into narrative art that highlights a common Black American struggle – hair.

ASC Artist Support Grants support professional and artistic development for emerging and established artists to enhance their skills and abilities to create work or to improve their business operations and capacity to bring their work to new audiences.

An ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship is helping Indrani Nayar-Gall “explore the power behind visual media that transcends language.”

If not for an ASC Creative Renewal Fellowship, Alvin Jacobs, Jr. isn’t sure where he’d be now. But receiving the fellowship changed his plans … and his photography practice.

“Our agency is about togetherness, community and healing,” said Kim Lewis, Promise Resource Network’s (PRN) community outreach coordinator. “It’s about the power of being with others.” And the power of creativity – which is where ASC comes in. “Creativity is at the core of everything we do,” Lewis said.

“Life is not happening to you; it’s happening for you.” I’ve heard bestselling author (and former advice columnist for O Magazine) Martha Beck say that. A quick Google search shows that Tony Robbins has said it, too. Maybe all life coaches and motivational speakers say some version of it.

Signs are everywhere – on interstates, on highways and byways, on restaurants and retail establishments. No trespassing. Wrong way. Masks required. We encounter so many signs in our daily lives that we can start to tune them out. Unless a sign stands out.