CHArt receives National Endowment for the Arts grant for Hurricane Helene memorial
A proposal by architecture professors Emily Makas, Ming-Chun Lee and Marc Manack, submitted through the Center for Community, Heritage and the Arts, has received a 2026 Grants for Arts Projects award from the National Endowment for the Arts. One of just two awards to North Carolina in the Design & Our Town category, the $30,000 grant will support the project “Resilient Rebuilding Post-Helene in Western North Carolina’s Hickory Nut Gorge.”
The project incorporates faculty research and student work from four different courses in the School of Architecture and responds to the devastation from Hurricane Helene in the Chimney Rock area of North Carolina. The centerpiece of the project will be the design and installation of a temporary public memorial in Chimney Rock Village in September to commemorate the second anniversary of the devastating storm and flooding.
Not long after the hurricane hit in September 2024, Makas, Lee and Manack connected with disaster relief efforts and public officials in Rutherford County. Their engagement included “community site visits, coursework completed over several semesters and historical, ecological and GIS-based research,” said Makas. Last August, students and faculty traveled to Chimney Rock to present their ideas for rebuilding and revitalizing the village, which was almost completely destroyed by flooding.
Recently, Manack and a student team from this summer’s graduate studio returned to Chimney Rock Village. At a July 1 community picnic celebrating the July 4 holiday and the 35th anniversary of the village, they presented displays showcasing different designs for the temporary memorial (see below).
“We received feedback from about 50 community members and have enough information now to move forward with the design and construction of the memorial,” Manack said.
At the anniversary event in September, an outdoor exhibition will accompany the temporary memorial, developed primarily by graduate research assistant Georgia Burgess, who is pursuing the dual M.A. in Public History and M.S. in Architecture with a concentration in Critical Heritage Studies.
In addition, Makas said, the team “will compile the pilot design projects and other work our teams have completed into a community-informed design manual that synthesizes research, mapping, and proposals for public spaces and future development.” While the manual’s case study will be specific to Chimney Rock, it will be “something that other mountain communities could benefit from, too.”
By Meg Whalen