CULTURE
an artivist at HEART Carly Jones has a unique work balance that finds the sweet spot where art and advocacy become one by NOOR AZEEM
28 | WALTER
Courtesy Carly Jones
C
arly Jones is used to the limelight—she’s versed in the holy trinity of stage performance: opera, musical theater and plays. But when Jones is off the stage, she serves as the Senior Program Director for Artists & Organizations for the North Carolina Arts Council. “They naturally go hand in hand with one another,” Jones says about her “dual career” on and off the stage. With the Arts Council, Jones get grants and fellowships out to artists and organizations who might need them, like rural communities or communities of color. Her career path was inspired partially by her parents: practical public servants, a teacher and a judge. They insisted that Jones attend college rather than trying her luck on Broadway after high school. She got a music scholarship from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and graduated with a double major in Black Music History and Vocal Performance, and a minor in Arts Management (at the suggestion of her father). In college, Jones wanted to be an opera singer and travel the world. She did a stint in Italy, performing on the beach as part of the ensemble of La Bohème. It was the dream life: by the final act, her time on stage would be up, and she’d be “in the ocean, drinking vino and eating grapes, listening to the symphony play the last act of my favorite opera,” says Jones. “And I thought, if this is what being an opera singer is like, I’ll take it!” But her practical side prevailed; she returned to the States to finish college. After graduating in 2009, her arts education came in handy. “I ended up leaning heavily on my grant writing,” says Jones. “It took me time to realize that that’s okay—most performers are doing something on the side to pay the bills.” Now, a decade later, Jones sees those skills as a blessing rather than a fallback. With a full-fledged career in the arts administration world, Jones can still perform, but she doesn’t have to say yes to every role that makes its way to her. She has the financial stability to take on roles that mean something to her and that
