The United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County has recently awarded seed funding in the amount of a $2,000 grant to the Fuquay-Varina Arts Council. The funding will help the relatively new nonprofit arts agency support its plans for a Festival of Dance in early 2010, as well as plans for “Spring into Arts,” an outdoor music and art exhibition festival in spring 2010.

The Fuquay-Varina Arts Council is “an effort to give a platform for both the expression of the talents that are a part of our citizenry and a venue for enriching our citizenry by coordinating performances and exhibits from groups and individuals from across wake County, North Carolina and the world.” We have worked toward fulfilling our purpose of assuring an enhanced quality of life for the citizens of Fuquay-Varina,” says David Morris, president of the Fuquay-Varina Arts Council.

Seed funding from United Arts is intended to support emerging arts organizations that have begun to produce arts programming. The purpose of the funding is to help organizations develop their capacity for producing or presenting arts programs. The United Arts Council’s mission is to build better communities through support and advocacy of the arts. This year alone United Arts will support more than 700 public music, dance and theatre performances and art exhibitions and more than 6000 classes/workshops in arts for youth outside of school settings in Wake County, NC, as well as 140,000 hours of arts programming in 130 Wake schools. For more information, go to www.unitedarts.org.