Alamance Arts names Chris Williams as new executive director

Alamance Arts has picked Chris Williams to lead an organization that reaches far beyond downtown Graham, naming the Greensboro resident as its new executive director after what the board described as an exhaustive statewide search. Williams will begin June 1 and takes over an agency that curates five art galleries across Alamance County, rotates exhibits every 8 to 12 weeks, and shapes much of the county’s public arts calendar.

The appointment lands at a practical moment for residents who encounter Alamance Arts in different ways. For some, that means a stop at the White House on South Main Street in Graham or a visit to the Mebane Arts and Community Center. For others, it is a free weekly craft kit, a community arts and cultural calendar, a school program, or a public art installation in Burlington, Mebane, Graham or Glen Raven. Williams will inherit all of that at once: an operation that is part gallery host, part event producer, part advocate for artists and part local cultural broker.

Williams brings more than 30 years of experience in nonprofit organizations and local government roles. A native of Athens, Georgia, he holds degrees in music education and American civilization, with folklore as part of his graduate background. Alamance Arts described him as a veteran arts administrator, educator and community-builder whose career has included work as a performer, music educator, folklorist, scholar, exhibit curator and event producer.

For Alamance County, the job is not just about keeping the lights on in a single building. Alamance Arts says its mission is to shape the county’s cultural identity through programming, education, facilities, advocacy, promotion and funding. The organization also says it has supported the arts for 70 years, tracing its roots to November 1956 as the Alamance County Arts Council. It later moved into the Captain James and Emma Holt White House in Graham in 1998 after an extensive renovation.

That history gives Williams a platform with deep local roots and a wide reach. Alamance Arts manages exhibit spaces in downtown Graham and at the Mebane Arts and Community Center, while its public art footprint extends to places where many residents live, work and shop every day. The organization says 11 bronze mice are installed around downtown Graham as part of the Arty scavenger hunt, a reminder that its programming is designed not just for established arts patrons but for families, students and casual passersby as well.

The new executive director will step into a network that also includes partnerships with groups such as Premier World Discovery for group travel programs, along with support from organizations and local sponsors including LabCorp, Carolina Biological, Burlington Downtown Corporation, the New Leaf Society and the cities of Burlington and Mebane. Williams arrives with the task of keeping that support steady while broadening the audience that sees Alamance Arts as part of everyday life in the county.