How Will My Money

Be Spent?

The Carolina Arts Network is launching an effort to promote economic development through cultural and heritage tourism. We are revitalizing our long-running outdoor drama, Strike at the Wind!, and also launching the HEART Project, heritage trails and coordinated tour activities that educate and entertain the public. Our heritage program has the potential to draw over 65,000 visitors to Robeson County every summer, with an estimated economic impact of $12.6 million annually.

To accomplish this much-needed revenue in our region, we need to invest funds in developing and marketing our attractions beyond our immediate area. Both Strike at the Wind! and the HEART Project are a critical step to designating the Lumber River Basin as a National Heritage Area, a Congressional designation that provides technical and financial assistance from the National Park Service and other federal agencies.

Our Story

   Strike at the Wind! tells the dramatic story of the Lowry War, one of the most important events in North Carolina history. It opens in 1865, at the end of the Civil War. Henry Berry Lowry, a 17-year old Lumbee Indian boy, is confronted with the unjustified murder of his father and brother at the hands of the Confederate Home Guard. Determined to avenge their deaths and restore freedom to the Indian and African-American communities who had been victims of racial injustice, Henry Berry, along with members of his family and neighboring whites and blacks, wages a seven year “war” against the “Old South.” Along the way, Henry has a family of his own with wife Rhoda Strong and he becomes a kind of Robin Hood to the poor families of Robeson County. But the “Old South” does not die easily—Lowry’s compatriots are jailed and executed and eventually Lowry himself mysteriously disappears in 1872. But the story does not have a sad ending; ultimately, Henry Berry Lowry is victorious in his quest to uphold the rights of poor people. They earn their right to vote, pursue an education, and live without fear. Strike at the Wind! embodies the values of freedom, independence, and equality on which our nation and state were founded.

    The HEART Project seeks to revive interest in our county’s existing and rich cultural assets. We also seek to turn those cultural assets into economic assets. Our three cultural communities have a history of strong conflict, but stories like those told in Strike at the Wind! and seen on the heritage trails reveal that we actually have more in common than one might suppose. We define those commonalities as “HEART: History, Ecology, Arts, Religion—Together.” In Robeson County, we consider all of these aspects of life—knowledge of the past, relationship to place, imagination and creativity, and spirituality—as related to each other and part of the same whole. The heart is the life of the body, as culture is the life of the community. “Together” signifies that these parts of our humanity are unified, and Robeson County citizens are unified as well. Our goal is to create a world where young people look to their elders and to the natural world for self-knowledge, and where they have opportunities to activate that knowledge and sustain themselves financially.

What are our goals?

   Strike at the Wind! and the HEART Project can become the centerpiece of a cultural tourism economic development project that will positively impact thousands of people and generate millions of dollars in revenue for our area. To mount this project, we have three short-term goals. All contribute towards our ultimate goal of job creation for our county and designation as a National Heritage Area.
 
Site and Trail Development=Job Creation. The amphitheater in which Strike at the Wind! is produced has not been substantially renovated since its construction in 1976. We are collaborating with the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center, the organization that manages the property, to renew its spirit and make it an attractive and comfortable place for visitors. Additionally, the HEART Project will pinpoint various sites throughout the county to highlight for heritage trails, including preserving places of ecological significance, refurbishing tobacco barns and other historical places, and providing interpretive and directional signs. These projects create jobs in the short-term, but they also upgrade the infrastructure that is necessary for long-term use, visitation, and additional job creation.

Small Business and Educational Training=Job Creation. Our work will affect the 25,000 people in Robeson County who are underemployed, many of whom are involuntary part-time employees and have marketable, tourism-related skills but scarce access to the tourism market. We will provide opportunities for additional training that intersect with tourists’ demand for authentic, rich experiences. In partnership with other community development organizations, UNC-Pembroke, Robeson Community College, and Harvard University, we will provide training in the arts and culture (including theater, music, graphic design, video, storytelling, and traditional arts and lifeways), in small business development (especially technology, marketing, and fiscal management), and in service industry skills (particularly public speaking, problem-solving, reading, and writing). Additional skills will open up new employment opportunities for our residents and empower small businesses throughout the tourism sector to grow and employ additional workers.
            
Marketing Campaign=Job Creation. Strike at the Wind! and the HEART Project are a critical part of a package that could make Robeson County a destination spot for the increasing number of travelers seeking an educational experience in their vacation or weekend getaway. To capitalize on the interest that already exists in historical attractions, Native American cultures, and outdoor adventure, both projects need a wide-ranging marketing campaign that reaches potential visitors in geographic areas outside southeastern North Carolina through news, advertising, and public service media. Strong marketing increases attendance, which augments revenue for our small businesses. According to the Institute of Outdoor Drama at UNC-Chapel Hill, outdoor drama visitors spend more in the local area than almost any other tourist group—over $70 per day per person. On a single sold-out night for Strike at the Wind!, other local businesses have brought in over $90,000 that day. Over a whole fifteen-performance season, local businesses can earn over $1.3 million from Strike at the Wind! attendees alone.

To make a tax-deductible donation, please write your check to:

Carolina Arts Network, Inc.

PO Box 1350

Pembroke, NC 28372