Pictured is a portion of the Emerald Loop lighting at City Hall. GUC earned the Community Partner of the Year Award, in part, for assisting in the Emerald Loop project. Photo Credit: Aaron Hines / City of Greenville
GUC was awarded the Community Partner of the Year Award by the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge Gallery (PCAC). The award was presented during the September 16th Pitt Greenville Chamber of Commerce Power Luncheon.
GUC earned this award for its commitment to supporting the community through the arts, specific to the downtown area and the Emerald Loop Project. The Emerald Loop Project is an urban art trail which includes art murals and lighting. GUC has assisted with the implementation of street murals and the lighting of the Brightspeed Tower and Emerald Express Trolley.
GUC played a large role in helping the PCAC acquire the SmART City Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council which led to the implementation of the Emerald Loop’s downtown street murals and the lighting of the Brightspeed Tower and Emerald Express Trolley. So far, as part of the Emerald Loop Project vision, four structures have been illuminated with green and blue backlighting – including the Brightspeed tower, Pitt County Courthouse, Town Commons bridge, and Greenville City Hall.
Over the years, GUC has consistently supported the work of the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge. Two GUC Commissioners, Dillon Godley and Michael Cowin, serve on the PCAC Board of Directors and Amanda Wall, Controller, serves as its treasurer.
“GUC is a partner that comes alongside to try and meet needs wherever we can to ensure the accessibility of art throughout the Greenville region,” said Amanda.
Holly Garriot, Executive Director of the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge, focused on how the arts are an arm of economic development. She said people gauge where they want to live based on the city’s amenities and aesthetic.
She said art plays an important role in attracting long-term residents and visitors who keep downtown businesses thriving. GUC has played a large role in revitalizing and growing downtown Greenville over the years.
"I’ve talked to leadership at GUC so many times, and they have always listened and figured out how they can support us," Holly said. “I think GUC really instills those traits that we see in the arts of creative thinking, out of the box thinking, and empathy – they care so much about our community.”
Commissioner Godley gave remarks on how the arts create a booming economic environment. "The arts have been at the forefront of how we have been able to reinvigorate, not just Greenville, but Eastern North Carolina,” Commissioner Godley said.
“We need all the partners at the table to make Greenville, and by extension Eastern North Carolina, a success. The arts are critical to that. The arts in many ways inform our aesthetic judgment in such a way that we have a beautiful place to live and a place that is pleasing to the soul and encourages our humanity.”
