Building Community

Shakori Hills Community Arts Center (SHCAC) cultivates multi-cultural understanding and peaceful cooperation among the diverse citizenry of Central North Carolina. Building community is the foundation of Shakori Hills Community Arts Center, a place where people can gather and express themselves creatively. SHCAC offers opportunities for folks, young and old, to volunteer and participate in a variety of activities: cleaning up the woods, building structures, making art with children and youth, learning about native plants, learning to play instruments from around the world, learning dances of many cultures and much more. We each are all of these things, and we are all part of this place.

The Shakori Hills Community Garden fulfills the part of our mission about sustainable foods. The project is headed up by volunteer, Cheryl McNeil, an instructor with local Central Carolina Community College’s sustainable agriculture program. Students of CCCC and other Chatham and Orange County residents volunteer throughout the year in the SH garden, giving a total of over 1000 volunteer hours per year.

SHCAC places a major emphasis on collaborating with other area non-profits. We know that in supporting them we are supporting an important core of our community. Some of the non-profits we work closely with are: The Abundance Foundation, Piedmont BioFuels, Pittsboro Center For Natural Medicine, TIC-NC, Chatham County Social Services, Slow Money NC, US Committee for Refugees  & Immigrants, Girl Scout Troop 1031, Family Violence & Rape Crisis Services, Climate Ground Zero, Blues in the Schools, All Breed Animal Rescue, The Hispanic Liaison of Chatham County, Chatham County Together, Grand Trees of Chatham, New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs, Inc., Woods Charter School, The Wild Goose Festival, Bikers for Bikers, Earthshare NC, local college radio stations and more.

SHCAC also supports local, independently owned companies like Larry’s Beans, Universal Printing, Chatham Marketplace, LocoPops, Ninth Street Bakery, Chatham Portables, The Carolina Brewery, Homeland Creamery, and Lindley Mills and small farmers and food crafters like Doug Jones, Blessed Earth Farms, the Eggman and more.

We invite everyone to come and stroll the grounds, take a self-guided nature tour, dig in the dirt, and partake of our garden. Follow the road as it circles through the property and flows through the hills and the woods. Relax under any number of old oaks on the grounds that have been nominated as Grand Trees of Chatham County. Enjoy the wildlife around the pond, and creek, and experience the peace of the rock garden with its Native American medicine wheel and walking labyrinth.

Every year thousands of people are touched in some way by being at Shakori Hills. It is not just a place to go and listen to music, to camp out among the oaks, and to play games and take classes. We remember here that we are part of the earth and the world around us; we take time away from our everyday lives to come and just be … our feet on the ground under ancient trees breathing clear country air.

We at SHCAC work together for the common good, emphasizing a shared cause as our community’s contribution to a peaceful and unified world. SHCAC provides a space for people to interact with each other and the world around us in a positive, community-spirited way where we all learn and grow.