NCCU College of Arts and Science’s Community Engagement
In 2013, The Hayti-NCCU Cultural Arts Partnership fostered a
reciprocal relationship where the College of Arts & Sciences arts
students in Theater/Dance, Art and Music participate individually and
in groups to volunteer in arts events, concerts, lectures, and
workshops, at Hayti Heritage Center, a NCCU neighboring communitybased organization. Executive Director, Angela Lee, of Hayti
welcomed students to participate in arts administrative roles in
concert and event production during the season.
Hayti has over a dozen anchor programs for which the NCCU College
of Arts and Science students volunteer in community engagement
initiatives developed by the organization. These anchor programs
include the Lydia Moore Merrick Gallery Exhibitions, Bull Durham Blues
Festival, Heritage Arts for Youth Residency Programs, Concert Series,
Kwanzaa Celebration, Raise-a-Reader Book Fair, Hayti Heritage Film
Festival, and the Jambalaya Soul Slam.
Inspired by the new opportunities opened as a result of The HaytiNCCU Cultural Arts Partnership, students in the NCCU Department of
Music created a student-led group, 1801, to volunteer to support the
Concert Series and arts events.
The students comprising the student group 1801 include graduates
and undergraduates who met as members of the Department of
Music, and who plan to pursue careers in the arts as performers and
arts entrepreneurs. They are: Dupresha Townsend, Autumn Rainey,
Maurice Myers, Marvin Thorne, Samantha Williams, and Courtney
Bailey.
1801 has served Hayti Heritage Center by working as backstage and
front-of-house sound production, ushers, and hosts for their Concert
Series. At a recent concert held at Hayti featuring NCCU alum
saxophonist Marcus Anderson (who is a director of the horn section
and member of the band for world renowned pop artist, Prince), 1801
organized other student musicians to provide pre-concert music in the
lobby of Hayti. Many in the audience commented on the
“exceptionally talented” young singers, and remarked being “very
impressed of the level of professionalism and poise” of the young
performers.
The Hayti-NCCU Cultural Arts Partnership provided two visual arts
students in the Department of Art, Quintin Neal and Raheem Pounds,
with the opportunity to showcase their collections of art in a
collaborative donation of a month-long art exhibit in Hayti’s Lydia
Moore Merrick Gallery. The impact for the students was the
experience to plan and produce an art exhibit of professional status in
a nationally recognized art gallery. Hayti Executive Director, Angela
Lee commented how pleased she was with “both the students’ ability
to organize and present their artwork, and provide marketing and
social media support to engage the community” during the exhibit. In
most instances, Hayti would have to do this planning and leg-work for
their art exhibitions. Because of the success of this student-led
engagement, Hayti is now amenable to welcoming more student-led
art exhibits with NCCU students.
These community engagement projects are significant because they
facilitate new audience development for both organizations in the
partnership, and provide NCCU students with career development
platforms. Many Hayti constituents, for whatever reason, had never
been to cultural events at NCCU and, in turn, some audiences loyal to
NCCU have not frequented Hayti Heritage Center.
http://hayti.org
https://www.reverbnation.com/marcusanderson
See attached PDF poster