The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation believes in the importance of inclusion, diversity and equality. The ZSR Foundation created the inclusive public art initiative in order to build conversations within North Carolina communities about our common history.
The ZSR Foundation awarded 10 grantees with awards as much as $50,000 to create projects or installations that depict:
- Contributions or achievements of a North Carolina person or group, especially women and people of color, whose story in a particular part of the state has not been or is not often told;
- Ways in which the racial and ethnic diversity of our communities makes our communities better; and/or
- Ways in which cultural differences strengthen our communities.
Eastern Carolina Christian College and Seminary (ECCS) and other community organizations have partnered together with local Enfield, NC artist, Napoleon Hill to honor this history. The proposed artwork, themed “Closing the Circle,” will tell this important, yet under told story through eight chronological mural panels and two bronze plaques mounted on two semi-circular brick walls. The art will be located in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Park, an active community space in Roanoke Rapids.
