As summer winds down, the NCCJC team is reflecting on all the powerful programming we offered over the past few months – including the launch of our third TapRoots Artist cohort at the end of July.

*A beautiful sunset over Lake Logan in western NC during the TapRoot Artist Residency kick-off retreat. in July. (Photo credit: Jenna Webb)*

The TapRoot Artist Residency is a year-long opportunity for artists committed to climate activism and social justice to explore how they can create works of art to catalyze movement building. This year’s cohort includes 12 artists from communities across NC, representing a range of disciplines such as film, sound design, printmaking, and storytelling:

Jametta Davis; Writer, Storyteller, and Public Historian
Angela Harvey; Writer and Filmmaker
Morgan Lowery; Visual Artist
Taylor Marshall; Fiber and Textile Artist
Hannah Mufuka; Musician and Sound Designer
Jen Murphy; Writer and Puppeteer
Hadassah Patterson; Journalist, Filmmaker, and Visual Artist
Allison Rahaman; Visual Artist
Mica Sun; Improv Artist and Stiltwalker
Kenya Templeton; Vocalist and Visual Artist
Jenna Webb; Printmaker
R Stein Wexler; Visual Artist and Curator

Check out NCCJC's Instagram to learn more about each of these amazing artists and to follow their work over the year!

2026-2027 TapRoot Artists Residency Intensive participants. (Back row) NCCJC Cultural Organizing Director, Dasan Ahanu, and Co-Director, Jodi Lasseter; Jametta Davis, Jen Murphy Morgan Lowery, Mica Sun, Hadassh Patterson; NCCJC Lead Organizer, Molefi Ramos; (Front row) R Stein Wexler, Kenya Templeton, Taylor Marshall, Allison Rahaman, Jenna Webb, Hannah Mufaka, and Angela Harvey. . (Photo credit: Kristal Suggs)

The Arts Residency agenda balanced time for exploring key frameworks related to social movements, climate justice, and cultural organizing with ample time for inner resilience practices, deepening relationships, and enjoying the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains.

(Left) NCCJC Director of Community and Civic Engagement, Ms. Kristal Suggs, shares an overview of Resiliency Organizing Hubs; (Center) A Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly on a swamp sunflower. (Right) TapRoot cohort member, Allison Rahaman, journals during one of the self-directed creative sessions.

Sessions covered topics such as:

The World We Want and the World We’ve Got: How do we as artists convey the compelling vision of what’s possible through collective action while also bringing awareness to the causes and intersections of the structural violence we are experiencing?
The frontlines of climate justice in NC: How is environmental racism causing disproportionate impacts to BIPOC communities in NC? What are the climate impacts we’re already experiencing in our state? How are impacted communities organizing against fossil fuel infrastructure, industrial agriculture, forest destruction, coal ash pollution and data centers?
Developing A Radical Voice: What does it mean to exercise your voice for change? What does this mean to artists and arts communities?

Getting Loud for Climate Justice, all year long!

Over the course of the year, TapRoot Residents will create projects around the theme of "Getting Loud for Climate Justice," in response to the trend of climate hushing. We look forward to sharing updates, insights, and reflections from their work in the coming months.

A big thank you to all of the artists who participated in the five day Intensive for sharing your time and talents; to the kind and helpful staff at the Lake Logan Conference Center; and to the NCCJC team members who helped coordinate and facilitate every detail of the gathering!\

If you are interested in learning more about our work – or if you are a climate justice-focused artist who would like to connect with our community, please send us a note.

The Art of Gathering, Learning, and Dreaming

Your vote is your voice: Get Loud!

From Independence to Interdependence