Community Events

Mardi Gras at Durham Central Park

Saturday February 18 2023 | 2-7 pm | FREE | Durham Central Park (501 Foster St Durham 27701)

A first annual family-friendly way to celebrate Mardi Gras on the Saturday before Fat Tuesday.

Held under the Durham Central Park Pavilion in the afternoon, this event welcomes local Krewes and first-timers to a Bull City Mardi Gras celebration with music from Bulltown Strutters and Cajammers.

Kids can make a shoebox float, and adults can decorate their hats or costumes.

Inspired by New Orleans neighborhood festivities that crop up spontaneously in the streets on Mardi Gras Day.

Live music will be performed from 2-6pm featuring the Bulltown Strutters and the Cajammers, and The Glass Jug Beer Lab will be serving craft beer and wine for you to enjoy in the park. Several food trucks will be on-site in case you get hungry from all of the dancing and decorating!

First Fridays (Raleigh)

Recurring 1st Fridays each Month, 6-9 pm | FREE | Downtown Raleigh

First Friday is celebrated on the first Friday of each month throughout Downtown Raleigh to showcase the best of our city’s creative community. Art galleries and studios are open late to host exhibits, artist talks, and creative activities. Retailers and restaurants also get in on the fun with live music, vendor markets, specials/discounts, and more. There’s something for everyone each First Friday.

First Fridays at the Eno Arts Mill

Recurring 1st Fridays each Month, 6-9 pm | FREE | 437 Dimmocks Mill Rd, Hillsborough, NC 27278

The Eno Arts Mill is home to the Eno Mill Gallery, a 1,000 square foot exhibit space that offers our studio artists the opportunity to exhibit their work. Each of our studio artists have a one-month featured exhibit of their work on a rotating basis. New gallery exhibits open the first Friday of each month and feature the opportunity to visit our artist studios and enjoy live music, food trucks and beverages.

Current Exhibit: Coalesce

Ten Orange County visual artists matched with ten Orange County poets, creating new work inspired by each other. Curated by visual artist Max Dowdle and writer Morrow Dowdle.

Opening Reception Friday, January 6 | 6-9PM

4th Annual "Celebrating Culture" Art Exhibit

January 1-29, 2023, 10 am – 5 pm | FREE | 8320 Litchford Rd., Ste. 138, Raleigh, NC 27615

Jason Franklin, a local artist and educator, Katrina Franklin, a business entrepreneur, and Ashley Franklin, an Art and Design graduate from NC A&T University, founded the Triangle Cultural Art Gallery, LLC. Jason, Katrina, Ashley and family members work to provide patrons with a unique in-person cultural experience at the TCA Gallery.

We officially opened the Triangle Cultural Art Gallery on Dec. 8, 2018. We are truly grateful for the blessings and support that we have received from everyone over the past year. We are a diverse gallery that represent artists from near and far. We are proud of the relationships that we have forged with our artists, our customers, and the Triangle community. This exhibit is a celebration our of rich cultural heritage in the Raleigh-Durham area and beyond. Thank you for celebrating this 4th year anniversary with us!

Learn more at www.triangleculturalart.com

Reading Country: Music and Prose: Black Country Music:
Listening for Revolutions

Sunday, Jan 22, 2023 | 3:00 – 4:00pm | $8-10 | North Carolina Museum of History

Join us for a special edition of our author talk series Reading Country: Music and Prose as we welcome Dr. Francesca Royster, author of Black Country Music: Listening for Revolutions. Royster will speak about her new book, which explores how Black musicians have changed the country music landscape and brought light to Black creativity and innovation. Royster’s book can be purchased in the Museum Shop and signed by the author at the event’s conclusion. This program is part of the museum’s new exhibition The Power of Women in Country Music, on view through February 26, 2023. David Menconi will serve as the emcee and host of the program.

Dr. Francesca T. Royster is a professor of English at DePaul University, author of Sounding Like a No-No: Queer Sounds and Eccentric Acts in the Post-Soul Era and Becoming Cleopatra: The Shifting Image of an Icon, and coeditor of “Uncharted Country,” a special issue of the Journal of Popular Music Studies on race and country music.

2019 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate David Menconi is an award-winning journalist and author in Raleigh. He spent 34 years writing for daily newspapers, with 28 of those years at the Raleigh News & Observer. He also has written for The Bluegrass Situation, Spin, Billboard, Rolling Stone, No Depression, the New York Times, and salon.com and has authored several

books. He is editing a new series of music books that will launch in 2023 on University of North Carolina Press with his next book, Doing the Work: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music.

2023 African American Cultural Celebration

Saturday January 28, 2023 | FREE | 10:30 am – 4:30 pm | NC Museum of History

The African American Cultural Celebration is held on the last Saturday of January and serves as the statewide kickoff to Black History Month in North Carolina. For over 20 years, this celebration has brought together African American community members, organizations, authors, artists, musicians, filmmakers, scholars, and more, around a central theme to highlight the contributions that African Americans, past and present, have made to North Carolina’s history and culture. Multiple demonstrations, presentations, and performances reach thousands of people, whether the celebration is held virtually or in person. A virtual Education Day was added in 2022.