We begin with what we know: we are the extraordinary America.

The artists who make up the fabric of NorthStar; the thoughtful creatives, the working-class makers, the freedom dreamers of Durham and beyond. We have always carried a genius this country has borrowed from without permission and profited from without credit. That is not our wound. That is our power.

There is no American song that was not first shaped by hands that were not free. No American rhythm, no American image, no American story that does not trace its roots back to artists who created beauty inside conditions designed to break them. When we talk about independence, we have to be precise. Precise about who built the culture that makes this country worth celebrating. Precise about who is still building it...right now, in spaces like NorthStar.

This week, from June 29 through July 5, we are raising $10,000 to sustain the programming, the stipends, the stages, and the open doors that make NorthStar a home for artists who are changing everything they touch. And on July 4th, we close the campaign the way we do everything; together, in community, with art at the center.

Give because this work is worthy. Give because you are too.

Freedom has always been practiced here.

Home for the Brave is NorthStar's July 4th celebration; a cocktail evening honoring the artists who are the living fabric of this country's culture. The Sunday Service facilitators, the Spotlight Exhibition artists, the Movement Artists, you...the people, who show up, create, and build something extraordinary in Durham every single day.

This is the closing night of our No Independence Without Us campaign. We are gathering to celebrate a week of collective investment in the art, the artists, and the community that make NorthStar what it is. The evening includes live community driven activations woven into a night designed to feel as good as the work we are sustaining.

NorthStar exists because artists deserve a home. Tonight, you get to be part of building it.

Founded by Phil and Nnenna Freelon, NorthStar emerged as a response to the gentrification reshaping Durham, standing as a symbol of creativity and resistance against displacement. Our home is a historic church built in 1930, one of only four in the United States designed specifically for a deaf congregation and the only one in the South. This remarkable legacy of inclusion and accessibility informs our mission to protect and uplift communities that have been pushed to the margins.

No Independence Without Us

A Fundraiser for the Brave

Team Members