Images courtesy of the artists and Zoe van Buren. Clockwise from top left: Herman Oxendine, Loretta Oxendine, Chester McMillian, Gaurang Doshi, Helen Gibson, and The Glorifying Vines Sisters.
The North Carolina Arts Council is proud to share the six artists/groups who will receive the 2025 North Carolina Heritage Awards for their lifetime contributions to our state’s cultural vitality. The N.C. Heritage Award is our state’s highest honor for traditional artists.
Since 1989, the N.C. Heritage Awards have recognized North Carolinians who have influenced the cultural life of their communities in significant ways, such as teaching or training a significant number of local artists, making seminal recordings or objects, being recognized as the only or one of few practitioners continuing the tradition, or continuing an art form or style that can be traced back along a lineage of artists for generations. The 2025 honorees were all nominated by their communities and selected through a panel process.
The 2025 North Carolina Heritage Awards honorees are: Gaurang Doshi, a North Indian classical musician from Winston-Salem; Helen Gibson, a woodcarver from the Brasstown community in western N.C.; The Glorifying Vines Sisters, a gospel quartet from Farmville; Chester McMillian, a Round Peak guitarist from Mount Airy; and Herman and Loretta Oxendine, Lumbee traditional artisans from Pembroke. Loretta Oxendine sadly passed away on October 6, 2024 and will be honored posthumously.
“This year more than ever, we are reminded of the value of our local traditions and the importance of safeguarding those art forms for future generations,” said Jeff Bell, executive director of the N.C. Arts Council. “This group of artists tells the extraordinary story of our state’s rich cultural heritage.”
“Recipients of the North Carolina Heritage Awards represent the abundance of North Carolina’s cultural life,” said Zoe van Buren, N.C. Arts Council folklife director. “We celebrate the exceptional groups and individuals who dedicate their entire lives not only to a practice but to their communities. Through them, we honor the importance of all North Carolinians.”
The 2025 N.C. Heritage Awards ceremony will take place on June 7, 2025, and will feature performances and demonstrations by each artist. PineCone, the Piedmont Council on Traditional Music, will partner with the N.C. Arts Council to produce the ceremony as part of its Down Home concert series.