Arts & Culture

With over 25 museums, it’s clear that here in the Triangle we appreciate art. While NCMA may be our most notable museum, there is much more for art lovers. View the largest collection of outsider art in North Carolina at the Gregg Museum of Art & Design at NC State, as well as more than 35,000 objects in its permanent collection. Contemporary your thing? CAM Raleigh is a non-collecting museum featuring bold, non-traditional exhibits by living artists. Nasher Museum of Art at Duke also features contemporary art, housed in a building designed by renowned architect, Rafael Viñoly.

Explore the region’s rich history, from its agricultural roots to pivotal events of the American Revolution to the prominent people who helped shape the area. Visit Duke Homestead, the home, factories and farm where Washington Duke first grew and processed tobacco, paving the way for North Carolina to become the heart of an international tobacco empire. Explore Historic Stagville, once a 30,000 acre plantation with over 900 enslaved people that today is a state historic site in Durham County, dedicated to researching and teaching about the lives of the enslaved people on the plantation. Tour Bennett Place, where surrender papers for Southern armies in the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida were signed in April 1865.

Raleigh is home to many African American heritage sites and historical attractions that celebrate and commemorate African American culture. Here, you’ll not only find the South’s oldest black university, but also the birthplace of one of the most important organizations of the civil rights movement and other cultural markers of African American excellence, determination, struggle and pride—all which have shaped N.C.’s capital city.

Durham has a strong history of diversity and entrepreneurial prowess. Durham’s West Parrish Street became known as Black Wall Street a hub of black-owned business that blossomed during the early 1900s.

Did you know that Durham is home to one of the top theaters in the country, with 500,000 guests per year at its 200+ performances? DPAC, as it’s familiarly known, hosts Broadway productions, high-profile concert and comedy events, family shows, and the American Dance Festival. In Raleigh, Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts boasts four separate performing arts venues, hosting everything from concerts to receptions and more. Looking for a more intimate experience? Catch a show at Raleigh Little Theatre, then stroll the adjacent Raleigh Rose Garden and experience its 1,200 roses of 60 different varieties.

The Triangle has earned its reputation as a great place to raise a family for a reason! There are so many great ways for children to explore, learn, and grow. Whether exploring the amazing indoor and outdoor interactive exhibits at the Museum of Life + Science or learning through play at Marbles Kids Museum and Kidzu Children’s Museum, kids will have a blast. Other not-to-be-missed museums with children’s programming, include Museum of Natural Sciences, NCMA, City of Raleigh Museum, and Morehead Planetarium.