Your support fuels opportunities for artists to grow in their creative practice as artists and entrepreneurs. Between the Artists Support Grant, art exhibitions, and events like First Friday Art Crawl, Buskers Fest, and Boonerang, we offered more than 600 artists opportunities to apply for grants to improve their practice, showcase or sell their work in 2024.

Thanks to your support, more than 500 students were able to engage creative learning within the last year. Each year, WAC provides quality arts education and experiences to all populations. Your support also enables us to open our doors to hundreds of people each week for creative social groups, open studio, nonprofit and medium focused meetings.

Your support enables WAC to advocate on behalf of creative nonprofits, businesses, and individual creatives to nurture the health of the creative sector in Watauga County and the High Country region. We helped secure $120k critical funding to sustain our local arts community when it mattered most after Hurricane Helene.

With more than $250,000 secured for public art since 2022, your impact has allowed us to work with local leaders to meet community needs with creative approach. The Art in the Outdoors initiative has improved the sense of community pride and belonging. It has created a tool for education of our history, culture, and lands.