Author: North Carolina Arts Council
The Pitt County Arts Council got its start in 2000 as the Emerge Gallery, which was founded as a community art center and a learning lab for students at nearby East Carolina University. In 2009, the N.C. Arts Council asked the team at Emerge Gallery to take on the role as the official Pitt County Arts Council, as the county had been without a local arts agency for two decades.
Pitt County Arts Council’s signature, and most impactful, project in its 25-year history is the Emerald Loop, a trolley/bus tour of downtown Greenville. Pitt County Arts Council manages this ambitious five-year public-private partnership between the City of Greenville, Pitt County, East Carolina University and local businesses, with support from the N.C. Arts Council and other federal and state organizations. The “Loop” connects Greenville’s existing and envisioned cultural and historic sites, intersects with the city’s 8 miles of greenway trails, and encourages pedestrian traffic. Visitors travel by trolley/bus to local business and community locations and are immersed in the area’s history as expressed in artistic and cultural offerings such as murals, sculpture, lighting displays, colorful pavement and crosswalk designs, and social spaces.
Holly Garriott, executive director of the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge, was one of the founders of the Emerge Gallery. In an interview with Glimpse magazine about the Emerald Loop, Garriott said, “Our goal is to transform Greenville through the arts—aesthetically, and also economically. That’s what’s so exciting for this city and for eastern North Carolina. This project will bring vitality, activity, community, and people who’ll go to our businesses, restaurants, and other institutions.”
One example of the project’s public art installations is a trolley/bus stop shelter at Town Common that honors an African American community, known as the Shore Drive Neighborhood, that once flourished in this area. “Urban renewal” displaced Shore Drive’s residents in the 1970s. The Pitt County Arts Council collaborated with several local artists, the African American Cultural Trail, and the City of Greenville to bring this remembrance marker to life. Local artist Rakia Jackson created a mural for the shelter. A speaker system plays spiritual songs by the Glorifying Vine Sisters.
Under Garriott’s leadership, Pitt County Arts Council has also created several successful community outreach programs for underserved members of the community.
One of these programs, Art is Good Medicine, provides art supplies and art therapy to people dealing with cancer treatments.
Another program, the Youth Public Art Project, provides at-risk youth with a creative and collaborative outlet for their emotions and energy. The Youth Public Art Program receives support from the N.C. Arts Council, and is part of our Traditional Arts Program for Students (TAPS) network. Students in the program learn from local artists, gaining skills not only in painting, design, or traditional crafts, but also in creative problem solving.
The Youth Public Art Project recently expanded to include a musical component. Artists who perform in Pitt County Arts Council’s African American Music series work with the students on weekends, teaching them music making and songwriting. This program expansion receives funding from Keys for Kids, a nonprofit project started by the musician Ben Folds and managed by the North Carolina Arts Foundation.
The Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge is helping to change communities and lives in eastern North Carolina through the transformative power of the arts. Learn more at www.pittcountyarts.org.