To further enhance the arts in Polk County by helping the process of local arts organizations receiving state arts grants, Tryon Fine Arts Center is seeking to become a North Carolina Arts Council Designated County Partner.

For the last decade, Tryon Fine Arts Center has been a provisional partner with the North Carolina Arts Council, said Andy Millard, a board director for TFAC.

The council is a division of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, a state agency that distributes grassroots grants to arts organizations throughout the state to help give citizens access to high quality arts experiences.

“A vibrant arts community helps draw business to an area because of the improved quality of life available for the workforce there,” said Polk County Manager Marche Pittman.

Polk County is one of only a handful of counties without a permanent or designated N.C. Arts Council Partner, Millard said. Instead, the state has approached TFAC every year as a provisional partner to distribute Grassroots grants in Polk County.

At the suggestion of the N.C. Arts Council, TFAC was encouraged to apply to become a Designated County Partner. The state is expected to make its decision in June.

Prior to officially seeking to become a N.C. Arts Council Designated County Partner, the TFAC board of directors met with representatives from other arts organizations in Polk County, Millard said.

“As we talked about it and the opportunities down the road for the arts in general in Polk County, every single organization we spoke with said we needed to do this,” he said.

The Polk County Board of Commissioners also recently voted to approve TFAC’s decision to apply to become the N.C. Arts Council Designated Partner for Polk County, a designation that will require no local county government funding.

“One of the things that makes Polk County special, and has for a long time, is that we have a lot of artists and performers and a rich tradition of a variety of arts,” Millard said.

Located at 34 Melrose Ave., Tryon Fine Arts Center’s mission is to serve as the creative driving force for performances, exhibits, arts education and community partnerships in the Foothills. Visit tryonarts.org or call (828) 859-8322 to learn more about TFAC.

– Submitted by PolkNC.Info