In front of the Bynum General Store, Austin and Sarah McCombie sing about taking risks and giving your heart fully to new passions, even though it feels scary.
“Like an unburned candle, you’re a piece of art,” the song begins, as Sarah’s banjo plays the Americana melody. “It’s time to light the flame, and let it melt your heart.”
The song goes on to explore the excitement of immersing in the unknown, and all that’s left behind in the process.
The duo, better known as Chatham Rabbits, performed their song “Hinges” in the place they got their start for the 3rd annual Big Night In for the Arts, a fundraiser for the arts across the Triangle.
The fundraiser, presented by WRAL, was born during the COVID-19 pandemic as a collaborative effort with the four county arts councils of the Triangle — Chatham, Durham, Orange and Wake. It aims to help local artists struggling with the lasting impacts of the pandemic.
Alongside Chatham Rabbits, the event will feature performances from Grammy-nominated country musician Rissi Palmer, Tony Award-winning Beth Leavel, Appalachian-Venezuelan fusion duo Larry & Joe, stick artist Patrick Dougherty, and spoken word poet and current Piedmont Laureate Dasan Ahanu.
The event is also an ode to local art, and the ways support from the community can allow art to flourish. In that way, it makes “Hinges” the perfect song for the occasion.
“When we decided to take the plunge I just remember the Chatham community being so incredibly encouraging,” Sarah McCombie said. “No one thought we were crazy because it’s such a strong arts community.”
She said the support from the community has been more than just vocal. When gigs were canceled and the Rabbits’ main income seemed wiped away, Chatham Arts Council stepped up. They helped the duo get through the hardships of the pandemic with grant funding. They used that funding to buy solar panels for their tour van and run an off-grid sound system.
“During COVID we played 194 different neighborhood concerts just in the summer of 2020,” McCombie said. “And they (Chatham Arts Council) were the ones who made that financially possible by supporting us when we really needed it.”
A large component of Big Night In is a spotlight on arts education. The broadcast features interviews with student artists at schools across the Triangle. This year, students from Bennett School and Jordan-Matthews High School were interviewed by WRAL about their involvement in theatrical performances through JMArts.
Cheryl Chamblee, artistic director of Chatham Arts Council, said sitting in on interviews with students was a highlight of helping organize this event.
“Chathamites, and particularly young Chathamites, speak so beautifully about the power of the arts,” Chamblee said. “I’m really excited for that to broadcast to folks across our region.”
Money raised from the fundraiser will be used to help uplift full-time artists and promote arts education in schools.
Chatham Arts Council has previously used some of the funding from the event to build its Chatham Artists-in-Schools Initiative, which brings artists to schools to foster a personal connection to academic lessons for students through artistic immersion.
Chamblee said the initiative and other arts education programs are important for fostering community and the promotion of social and emotional wellness.
Policies like lockdowns and mask mandates have largely gone by the wayside and events like concerts have once again become commonplace. But that doesn’t mean artists aren’t still hurting.
“If you haven’t worked, or worked substantially less, for two years — we’re still not whole,” Chamblee said. “Not even close.”
Issues artists faced during the pandemic weren’t pandemic-specific, Chamblee said. Rather, they were exacerbated by an extreme situation.
McCombie said she still sees attendance below pre-pandemic levels. There are also fewer advanced sale tickets, which affects the venues artists can play and the draw they may have in a given area. Those recovery pains are part of why she said it’s important to support the arts now.
“We feel really passionate about employing other artists,” McCombie said. “When you support the arts — and when you support anyone who is trying to make a living in the arts — your dollar goes so far.”
While the arts industry is recovering from the impacts of the pandemic, Big Night In serves as an opportunity to tell the story of the arts, showcase their impact and raise money for arts programming throughout the region. To date, the fundraiser has raised $615,000 for Triangle arts programs.
Last year’s event alone raised more than $250,000 and when this year’s event airs on March 9, fundraiser organizers will look to top that total.
“We came together because of the pandemic to do this, but we should still keep doing this,” Chamblee said. “Artists don’t see county lines, so we should work together to support the artists and audiences in our midst.”
McCombie said she was reminded, as she and her husband recorded “Hinges” at Bynum Front Porch, of the power of local art. The duo moved away from Bynum three years ago, but that didn’t stop former neighbors from waving and honking in congratulations as they witnessed what will air on WRAL next Thursday.
“The location is just so Chatham,” she said. “It’s so recognizable for the people that live here, and I’m happy we can provide a callback to where we’re from in our performance.”
Chamblee said watching the recording of the performance was “beautiful and uplifting.”
While the other participating areas — Durham, Orange and Wake — may be more populated and urbanized than Chatham, Chamblee and McCombie said Chatham’s unique arts scene makes it stand out from the pack.
“Chatham has been making a name for itself in the arts for a number of years,” Chamblee said. “I don’t have the numbers on this, but we must have one of the highest rates of artists per capita anywhere.”
The art that stems from Chatham has often been passed down for generations. The milling communities of the past shared their traditions of quiltmaking and banjo picking with their children, and those art forms still thrive in the county today. Those traditions have also been reshaped and adapted with the rise of the Latino population in the county.
“It’s this really beautiful cross-section of deep southern cotton mills, farming and agriculture, and mixing that with the heritage and culture of people from El Salvador, Guatemala, Venezuela, etc.,” McCombie said. “That’s something unique to Chatham in my experience.”
Each participating arts scene has unique offerings for Big Night In. Chamblee and McCombie each said making the event happen was a collaborative effort that they were proud to showcase.
“Each of us brings a multitude of things to the table,” Chamblee said of her peers at the other arts councils. “We’ve been planning this since the summer and I think all that work will be reflected on-screen.”
This year’s event also includes a Triangle-wide watch party. In addition to the WRAL broadcast, Big Night In sponsors will be invited to The Mayton in Downtown Cary, with tickets starting at $75. The event will air via livestream or on WRAL at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 9. Donations made for the event can be split across all four counties or given to one arts council. For more information visit bignightin.org.
Reporter Ben Rappaport can be reached at brappaport@chathamnr.com or on Twitter @b_rappaport