# @chapelboronews on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DExeuwlOUMX
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/25990992-chapelboronews-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/0bd35537cc.jpg
- **Posted:** 2025-01-13T16:51:35.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Chapelboro.com (@chapelboronews) — https://gondola.cc/chapelboronews

## Caption

Story by emmaa.cooke
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From visual artists, writers, graphic designers, and those employed by creative organizations, Orange County Arts Commission Director Katie Murray described creative people as the heart and soul of a community. So when they cannot be in it, she said the loss is profound.

And Orange County is currently a challenging space for artists to affordably both live and create, she told 97.9 The Hill last month.

“I’m sure we all know people who have left because they can’t afford [it],” she said during the ‘Supporting The Arts’ panel of Forum On The Hill. “I know one guy that moved to Chicago because it was cheaper for him to live there than it was in Carrboro, which is just nutty.”

Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership Executive Director Jeri Lynn Schulke said rent is one of the biggest challenges for local artists. While higher rent prices can show a thriving, desirable community, it is hard for arts organizations and emerging artists to open a gallery at the price Chapel Hill can demand, she explained.

“Where to create art, where to showcase art, where to present art, where do we have those spaces? They are fewer and fewer,” she explained. “So [to have] artist studios, people are having to fashion their kitchen to paint their paintings or they’re doing it in their homes.”

If the artists cannot live here at all, nothing else arts-related really matters, Murray said. She described affordable housing as a critical issue in the community and one elected officials are constantly discussing. And the conversation impacts artists “100 percent,” she added.

Full story on Chapelboro.com
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#chapelhill #chapelhillartist #orangecountync #enoartsmill #forumonthehill

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## Tags

forumonthehill, orangecountync, chapelhill, chapelhillartist, enoartsmill

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