STANLY COUNTY, N.C. — As Stanly County Arts Council celebrates 50 years, the group said it's focused on bringing more awareness and investments to the arts in the years to come.

“We share humanity through the arts. It’s not an extra, it’s an essential,” Carmella Hedrick, the lead director of the concert band, said.

The Stanly County Arts Council provides funding for groups like the county band and chorale through the North Carolina Arts Council.

Since 1978, more than $855,000 has been invested locally into over 65 different organizations, according to the council.

Arts Council Executive Director Renee VanHorn said the 50th year will be focused on educating the community about what the council does and arts’ impact.

The nonprofit arts industry generates $166.3 billion in economic activity annually, according to America for the Arts.

Besides economic impact, VanHorn added the arts improve quality of life and mental health. It’s an outlet she wants to ensure students across the county continue to be exposed to as school art programs struggle with little funding. 

“The main reason is to keep the interest alive and also for those students to realize if there is something they are not receiving through the school district itself that there are other entities they can be involved with,” VanHorn said.

She added the arts community took a funding hit in 2008 during the recession and again during the pandemic, but things are again bouncing back.

“We have slowly grown, but we’re not back to where it was in its heyday before 2008,” VanHorn said.

According to Arts North Carolina, the arts and culture industry generated more than $2.2 billion in economic activity in the state in 2022.