Roof work on Reynolds Hall, a dormitory at the former Palmer Memorial Institute. Photo courtesy of Liz Melendez.
The Work to Preserve a Historic Site of Black Excellence in North Carolina

The dormitories at the former Palmer Memorial Institute represent the main physical connection to the site's legacy. But they have long been in disrepair.

North Carolina horror film festival
Horror Movie Lovers, Rejoice: Durham’s Nevermore Festival Returns With All the Creepy You Can Stand

The Nevermore Film Festival, a NC mainstay for horror films, filmmakers, and fans of all things creepy, returns in person at the Carolina Theatre in Downtown Durham, Feb 24-26.

clogging in NC
5 Surprising Facts about North Carolina Clogging and Where to Find it

Clogging has been a part of NC mountain culture for hundreds of years. Viral videos, such as Zeb Ross the Clogger, have reintroduced clogging into the mainstream.

Image via Brian Twitty
This Charlotte-Based Contemporary Dance Company Is Quintessentially North Carolina

“Sometimes dance can feel elitist or stuffy,” says Audrey Baran, founder of Baran Dance. “But you would never think that about North Carolina. So our dances are very real.”

North Carolina-trained opera singer Diana Thompson-Brewer, here performing "Lucia di Lammermoor" in 2019, talked to us about her rise in the state's opera scene and watching that scene become more diverse. (Photo by Camille Hayes)
A North Carolina Opera Star on Making Her Art Form More Diverse 

Since starring in the classic opera “Porgy and Bess,” Dr. Diana Thompson-Brewer has become a mainstay in North Carolina opera. She talks to us about breaking barriers in a conservative, white-dominated art form.

Unspoken Tradition, a western NC bluegrass band, credits the Blue Ridge Music Trail with incubating their careers as well as other traditional bands in the area. (Image via Unspoken Tradition)
The Unbroken Chain: Rediscovering North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Music Trail

“Western NC has really punched above its weight in terms of influencing American music,” says one expert. There’s no better way to explore that influence than the Blue Ridge Music Trail.

Clemmie Lee "Fig" Jones near his home in Pink Hill. An R&B and rock-and-roll drummer, Jones is holding the drumsticks that the early Kinston drummer Willie Moore gave him. (Photograph by Titus Brooks Heagins)
The Rise and Rebirth of North Carolina’s African American Music Trail

An eight-county trail in eastern NC doesn’t just revisit our dark history of segregation. It lifts up Black joy by celebrating the musicians who broke barriers and made remarkable music.