Asheville Glass Art School

North Carolina Glass Center maintains a curated gallery that represents over 80 artists and instructors. This is an educational opportunity for the Asheville Region, which attracts over 1 million visitors annually with 33% reporting that they visit for the arts. North Carolina Glass Centers location in the River Arts District, which boasts more than 300 active artists, makes it a top destination for the arts. The gallery is adjacent to the glass blowing studio, which provides active demonstrations days a week, directly educating the public and connecting them with both the material and the artists that use it. Fifty percent of artist made object sales go directly to NCGC artists, providing an economic driver for the artists in our organization. Biographies of all artists are available to the public both in person and on the North Carolina Glass Center website.

North Carolina Glass Center serves active glass artists with the rental of glass studio equipment required for the glass making process. During FY24, NCGC has provided over 3,000 hours of studio rental time for 37 artists to create their work. This access to facilities is crucial to the livelihood of the artists NCGC serves, as the overhead to independently run a glass studio can be an insurmountable obstacle to an emerging artist. . In FY24 we also continued our annual BIPOC residency, inviting an experienced, nationally acclaimed glass artist to participate in a community-based six-week residency . In FY 24 we are gearing up to open a second location in Black Mountain, NC, renovating a building and fundraising capital expenses. The building is set to open March 2025.