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WNC Business

State of Business in WNC - Arts & Entertainment

Oct 06, 2022 04:49PM ● By WNC Business

For 2021, this industry was responsible for 23.4 percent of sales and 34.9 percent of earnings in the WNC Creative Economy Snapshot. The Western North Carolina snapshot includes

the 23 member counties of WNC Arts. Data from 40 core arts industries were gathered using the North American Industry Classification System to estimate industry activity, and the Standard Occupational Classification System was used to identify 41 core arts occupations.

Source: Western Arts Agencies of North Carolina


Buncombe County awarded a $129,788 block grant to the Asheville Area Arts Council to support the arts council’s grant programs and creative economy reporting initiatives. This investment comes on the heels of an arts-sector relief grant program funded by Buncombe County earlier this year with its COVID Recovery Funds. 

Source: Asheville Arts Council


The Artist Support Grant was created in 2020 for local artists, thanks to the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina legislature. The Haywood County Arts Council and regional partners including the Asheville Area Arts Council, Transylvania Community Arts Council, the Tryon Fine Arts Center, the Arts Council of Henderson County, and the Rutherford County Arts Council call upon artists served by their organizations to apply to the Artist Support Grant, which closes on Oct. 30, 2022. Counties served by this regional consortium are Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Polk, Rutherford, and Transylvania, also called region 17. In 2021, Region 17 reviewed 67 applications and awarded over $44,000 in grant funds to 25 individuals.

Source: Arts Council of Henderson County