ArtSpace 2025 Multiyear Grantee
A visual arts center in downtown Raleigh is celebrating its 40th anniversary by expanding its reach and evolving alongside North Carolina’s shifting population. One annual ArtSpace program solicits art from across the state. “Artists from rural areas submit, we hire a rural jury, and all of the artists come with their families to the opening night,” says Development Manager Nathalie Ray.
“To be able to show their work in the capital, blocks away from the governor’s mansion is a big deal.”
Unlike many visual arts organizations, ArtSpace owns its building, with studios for more than 30 artists, exhibition space and classes for all ages and abilities. It also has a robust bilingual community outreach program and a first-of-its kind artist-inresidence program specifically for HBCU students.
“We have the most four-year HBCUs in the country here in North Carolina, so where better to do this than in the capital?” notes Carly Jones, President.
A recent partnership is providing artist housing, enabling an artist from Hurricane Helene-affected western NC to live alongside the HBCU artist-inresidence, in addition to a free studio for the year and a professional exhibition in one of the galleries. Carly says, “We’re committed to creating space and opportunities for artists who have been pushed to the margins.”
Photo by Sanjé James
Message from Joe Lucas, Chair of the Board
I am honored to continue a legacy of family engagement with the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. Mary D.B.T. Semans, my grandmother and daughter of Mary Duke Biddle, was the driving force of the foundation for more than 50 years. It is such a privilege to follow her example of philanthropic service. I appreciate the opportunity this annual message provides to reflect on the past year and consider the future.
We spent several years planning for and building a new grant framework, which launched in 2024, focusing on organizational capacity building and emphasizing tenets of trust-based philanthropy: larger multiyear operating support grants, reduced reliance on written applications and reporting, and greater in-person engagement with nonprofit partners. We also established a one-year grant program as a way to get to know organizations new to MDBF and create a pathway toward multiyear grant eligibility.
In 2025, we added a second cohort of multiyear grantees, built relationships with new one-year grantees, and began incorporating what we’re learning into our philosophy and practices. A key takeaway is the value of being engaged in conversation with our nonprofit partners, which allows us as grantmakers to better understand their goals, challenges, and opportunities. In response to changing funding priorities and practices at the federal, state, and local levels, we made one-time grants to assist nonprofits in adapting to these changes. We expect to continue this practice in 2026. We also continue to support the broader nonprofit sector through a few specific grants and through collaborations with other funders.
A key takeaway is the value of being engaged in conversation with our nonprofit partners, which allows us as grantmakers to better understand their goals, challenges, and opportunities.
Above from left: George Biddle, Trustee, E’Vonne Coleman, Trustee, Joe Lucas, Chair, Jacqueline Looney, Secretary, Yomi Adigun, Treasurer, Ben Jones, Trustee, Mimi O’Brien, Executive Director, Russell Bryan, Vice Chair, and Kathleen Collier, Program Associate. Photo by Natalia Weedy.
Duke University is an important part of my family’s history, and Mary Duke Biddle directed that half of the foundation’s grants be awarded to the university. The arts at Duke have long been a focus for these grants, and the foundation continues this practice. As we enter 2026, we are also increasingly working with the university to bring its considerable expertise in the arts and K-12 student education into the Durham community.
Nonprofits of all types, including philanthropic foundations, are strongest when they have an active and experienced board. The Biddle Foundation benefits from a group of smart, caring, and knowledgeable board members who relish the opportunity to engage with nonprofits in meaningful ways. I am indebted to each of our board members.
We said farewell to my cousin, Ben Jones, at the end of 2025 as his board term ended. Ben’s thoughtful leadership guided us as we transformed our grantmaking approach.
Left: Duke Community Affairs pairs
Duke student tutors with Durham K-12 students. Below: Nasher Museum of Art engages youth of all ages through robust arts education programming.
In January 2026, we welcomed Beth Hubbard, granddaughter of Mary Duke Biddle, onto the board. Beth grew up in Durham and, while she makes Los Angeles her home now, she has retained a strong connection to Durham and Duke. We thank the MDBF staff—Mimi O’Brien, Kathleen Collier, and Kathy Harrison—who guide our efforts and embody the principles of approachability, transparency, and clarity.
Finally, all of us at the Biddle Foundation thank the nonprofits—the staff, boards, and volunteers— who do the work every day to help people in the Triangle area live better lives. It is our privilege to help you achieve your missions.
With gratitude, Joe Lucas
by Andrea
Chatham County Arts Council 2025 Multiyear Grantee
Do you remember the formulas you learned in geometry? Some students in Chatham County will never forget them because they danced them. “We bring professional teaching artists into each school,” explains Executive Director Cheryl Chamblee.
“They work with students and teachers to boost core curricula through the arts, like choreography that represents a geometry formula. “Sometimes I say to grown-ups, ‘How many of you remember the formula for the area of a triangle?’ Few people raise their hands. But those kids will remember the formula to the area of a triangle when they are our age, because it’s in their body. They moved it, they danced it.”
Thanks to the Chatham County Arts Council, Chatham is the first county in North Carolina to have teaching artists-in-residence at every school in the district. This approach not only helps students across subjects, it provides much-needed connection in a county with only one mental health professional for every 600 or so residents. “Art is not a luxury in education. The arts save lives.”
In addition to working in schools, the Arts Council fosters artists across a largely rural county with booming urban pockets. “It’s been said ‘There’s an artist down every gravel road in Chatham County,’ Chamblee says. “It’s not as visible as it is felt in the fabric of the county. We love partnering with all different folks to make that art more visible and more out loud.”
Photo
Akin
Gaspard&Dancers 2025 Multiyear Grantee
The term “contemporary dance” encompasses myriad forms of movement. “It’s like ice cream,” says Gaspard Louis, Founder and Artistic Director of Gaspard&Dancers. “You get to pick the flavor you like—vanilla or chocolate or strawberry. That’s modern dance. There are so many different techniques and styles.”
Gaspard’s unique ice cream recipe draws from his background in a troupe called All Nations that performed traditional dances from around the world, followed by Pilobolus, known for acrobatic
dancers who lift each other in delicate balances and holds. Sprinkle in some ballet, classical technique, and improvisation, and you have the Gaspard Technique.
In addition to teaching the Gaspard Technique in the studio and offering free performances to the community, Gaspard visits Durham public schools to get young people exploring creative movement. “Grade three is the sweet spot. Even at that age, they understand the process of give or take, follow and lead. You can see how they make decisions.”
Photo by Robin Gallant
Grantmaking Overview
MDBF awards most of our grants through four funding areas: Duke University, the Arts, Student Academic Success, and Arts Education. Our geographic focus is Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake Counties in NC.
Mrs. Biddle directed that at least half of grant funds be given to Duke University, which we do through an annual proposal process. For decades, the main focus for these awards has been the Arts, particularly those areas that directly engage Durham and regional students, adults, and families. In more recent years, we have also supported preK-12 tutoring programs in Durham offered by Duke Community Affairs.
In 2025, we made a second round of awards through a grant framework focused on capacity building. Those nonprofits are profiled throughout this report.
We also made a number of one-year grants in our key funding areas, as described under Additional Grants, primarily in response to changes in federal, state, and municipal funding. We continued support to five arts organizations with which Mrs. Biddle’s family has historical relationships and to three churches she attended. We also support a few broader nonprofit sector interests. We thought it would be interesting to look also at our grantmaking by our funding interests—the Arts, Student Academic Success, Arts Education, and Other. Most of our Duke grants are for the Arts and Arts Education (the Nasher Museum of Art, Duke Performances, Arts and Health at Duke, the Duke Gardens, and five Arts departments within Trinity College). Combined, the Arts are MDBF’s largest grant focus, as depicted below.
2025 GRANTS PAID TOTAL
$1,693,000
TheGifted Arts 2025 Multiyear Grantee
“Our mantra here is ‘your voice matters,’” says TheGifted Arts Co-founder and Executive Director Nicholé Morgan.
America’s mental health crisis disproportionately harms children from low-wealth families. Art is one powerful antidote, helping kids manage stress, process emotions, express themselves and build social connections. “What really sets children from low-wealth neighborhoods apart from their counterparts is the ’opportunity gap’— what they’re doing when they’re not in school,” she explains. To make culturally responsive arts education accessible to all Raleigh kids, TheGifted Arts offers a high-quality curriculum tailored to specific needs, supporting everyone from beginners to advanced students and increasing
Black and brown representation in the arts. TheGifted Arts offers in-studio instruction and travels to schools across Wake county to eliminate transportation or financial barriers.
Morgan draws from her own experiences growing up in the foster care system, where she discovered the power of art. “In third and fourth grade I started my little hand at poetry and conveying my emotions. Sometimes it was rage. It wasn’t all warm and fuzzy, but that was my outlet, that was my tool.” Morgan wants children in challenging circumstances to feel they have a voice. “I firmly believe when you place young people in environments of safety, care and intentional coaching, their potential is infinite.”
Capacity Building for Long-Term Sustainability Grants
In 2024, MDBF implemented a new grant approach intended to help nonprofits working in the Arts, Arts Education, and Student Academic Success build organizational capacity and effectiveness in ways that lead to long-term sustainability. Our grants provide flexible funding that supports organizations’ ability to undertake this work. Key considerations in our funding decisions are:
• Operating goals and strategies aimed at building and strengthening organizational capacity
• Why now: why is this the particular time to focus on this goal (aka the pivotal moment)
• Feasibility of the implementation strategies
• Anticipated impact
Biddle offers two grant programs each year. Multiyear grants paid over three years are available to organizations that MDBF has supported in the previous five years. One-year grants provide a pathway to reconnect with nonprofits or to get to know those new to us.
Multiyear Grants Total Paid $440,000
Photo by Todd McPhail Photography
Paperhand Puppet Project 2025 Multiyear Grantee
Puppetry is not just for children. As the folks pulling the strings at Paperhand Puppet Project say, “Puppetry stretches the empathy muscle.” The team creates every kind of puppet you can imagine— hand, shadow, lantern, flat—along with supersized characters up to 60 feet tall, bringing to life everything from ancient wisdom to puppeteers’ own family stories. Paperhand connects with the community through apprenticeships, volunteer days and providing summer jobs for local artists. Schools and community centers invite them to teach puppet-making, and students take home the art they’ve created.
The main event is Paperhand’s annual production, which draws more than 16,000 people to the open-air Forest Theatre in Chapel Hill each August and September. The puppets and props are spectacular, though the advocacy within the story is the real focus. “Our shows are about healing, empathy and taking care of the planet,” says Marketing and Communications Director Kristen Havlik. “This year, we’ve started advocating for our immigrant neighbors. Puppetry can be a form of protest, a form of love, and a form of community.”
Multiyear Grants
Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Carolina, Siler City
El Vínculo Hispano, Siler City
Orgullo LatinX Pride
One-Year Grants in 2025
These grants are made possible through an estate gift to MDBF from the Jenny Lillian Semans Koortbojian Trust.
Top: Theatre Raleigh presents “Waitress: The Musical.”
Photo by Jennifer Robertson Photography.
Bottom: Students work on projects at Bull City Woodshop.
Boys & Girls Club of Central Carolina (Siler City) 2025 Multiyear Grantee
Situated between the Triangle and the Triad, Siler City is poised for significant growth and the Boys & Girls Club of Central Carolina is helping the community rise to meet it. Students arrive from Chatham County schools by bus every afternoon to engage in programming ranging from academics to dance to life skills. “They’re going to find something they enjoy every day,” says CEO Dr. Fallon Brewington. “We make sure they do their homework, and we make sure they eat a meal, which allows their parents to work.” The program is affordable: $52 per school year, and $250 for the whole summer.
The Club recently acquired an 11,000 squarefoot building that will house a state-of-the-art workforce development center. It will prepare
teenagers for 21st-century careers in the industries that dominate this part of the state: construction, manufacturing, nursing and biowork. The Club is able to provide this training thanks to partnerships with Chatham County Schools, nearby Central Carolina Community College, and local workforce development offices.
Leading the Club is a full-circle experience for Dr. Brewington: “Knowing what this foundation did for me and our family; we’ve lived it,” she explains. “My daughter is a former Youth of the Year.” Now her daughter is a senior at N.C. A&T University, studying biomedical engineering. “Once you’re in the Boys and Girls Club movement, you stay in some form or fashion. We call it a ‘movement’ because we are moving kids along their path.”
Additional Grants $260,000
One-Time Grants
In 2025, MDBF made one-time grants to assist nonprofits adapt to changes in federal/state/ municipal funding, to support new nonprofit executives, and to respond to natural disasters. This funding came from a combination of a Boardapproved increased spending rate and funds available as we build our multiyear grant cohorts. These grants were initiated by the foundation.
ADAPTING TO FUNDING CHANGES
Boys & Girls Clubs of Durham and $10,000 Orange Counties, Durham
Durham Public Schools Foundation, .............. $10,000 Durham
Hillsborough Arts Council, Hillsborough $15,000
NorthStar Church of the Arts, Durham $15,000
Triangle Community Foundation, RTP, $10,000 Responsive Grant Program
Wake Forest Community Youth $10,000 Orchestra, Wake Forest
Subtotal ..................................................................... $70,000
Top: Interfaith Food Shuttle Farm grows produce that is distributed through their network. Bottom: NorthStar Church of the Arts presents exhibitions, concerts, and other arts programming.
LEADERSHIP TRANSITION
Durham Arts Guild, Durham $10,000
NorthStar Church of the Arts, Durham $10,000
Subtotal $20,000
DISASTER RELIEF AND FOOD INSECURITY
Chatham Outreach Alliance, Pittsboro
Emanuel Food Pantry, Durham
$15,000
$10,000
Interfaith Food Shuttle, Raleigh $10,000
North Carolina Community Foundation, ...... $25,000 Raleigh, Hurricane Helene Recovery
Orange County Arts Commission, ................... $10,000 Hillsborough,Tropical Storm Chantal Recovery
Paperhand Puppet Project, Triangle, $10,000 Tropical Storm Chantal Recovery
Subtotal ..................................................................... $80,000
OTHER
Grants support the nonprofit community in North Carolina and respond to specific opportunities that align with MDBF’s grantmaking interests.
Arts Accessibility workshops
$5,000 (Triangle ArtWorks)
Bull City Forward, Durham ....................................$5,000 (Triangle Community Foundation)
Center for Inquiry-Based Learning, $7,500 Durham
Community Music School, Raleigh $10,000
Durham Public Schools Foundation, $25,000 Durham
North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, ..............$5,000 Raleigh
Orange County Arts Commission, $2,000 UpRoar public art festival
Pauli Murray Center for History ..........................$1,000 and Social Justice, Durham
St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, .................... $25,000 Durham
Switch Theatre Company, Durham $4,500
Subtotal $90,000
Triangle ArtWorks 2025 Multiyear Grantee
Think about your last visit to a gallery or museum. You probably recall sculptures and paintings of various subjects in a range of media. Have you ever considered the easel? It’s never the star of the show, but without it, there would be nothing holding up the art itself.
That’s Triangle ArtWorks. Founded in 2010, it provides training, resources and networking so artists can build careers from their passions at little to no cost. “At that time, there was a lot of talk about how important the arts community was to the Triangle economy,” says Founder and Executive Director Beth Yerxa. “There wasn’t a lot of attention, support or money for the arts community, so we created this organization to serve artists like other Triangle sectors, like medical or real estate or biotech. What do they need to thrive as businesses?”
By partnering with local universities, workforce development offices and experts, Triangle ArtWorks teaches topics like choosing a business structure, how to negotiate a contract, pricing and marketing art, employment law for arts organizations, and more. The organization hosts a job board, fosters entrepreneurship and hosts an accelerator for small arts nonprofits.
All this from a founder who doesn’t even consider herself an artist. “Back when I was practicing law, the State Bar had networking events where I could find my people and best practices,” says Yerxa. “They were out there all the time saying how awesome lawyers were. That’s the sort of work we’re doing for the art sector in the Triangle.”
World Relief Durham Refugee and Immigrant Youth Services Program
2025 Multiyear Grantee
Immigrant and refugee-serving organizations are facing more challenges than ever. Public funding cuts, attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and anti-immigrant sentiment are forcing these groups to do much more with far less. “This is as bad as it’s gotten that I’ve seen, and I’ve been doing this for 19 years,” says World Relief Durham Executive Director Adam Clark. “In this context, all of the local support has meant even more: local officials, churches, universities—all kinds of folks are coming out in different ways to support our work.”
Students in the Durham County school system speak more than 70 languages. Most remaining public funding to support immigrants and refugees is available only to adults. To address the disparity, World Relief Durham launched a Refugee and Immigrant Youth Services Program that has become a model for the rest of the country. It provides tutoring, after-school programs, in-school support, cultural integration and skills-building, and academic pathways for post-secondary opportunities.
The program also invites the public to respond to this difficult chapter in history by donating, volunteering, tutoring and mentoring. “This is a season we need to be telling our story to our community twice as loudly as we ever have before.”
Mary Duke Biddle developed an appreciation of philanthropy from her father, Benjamin N. Duke, who was the guiding hand behind many of the Duke family’s charitable activities in Durham and the state.
Her daughter, Mary D.B.T. Semans and her husband Dr. James H. Semans, during their 50 years on MDBF’s board, extended the family’s philanthropic tradition, in particular championing several organizations through personal involvement as well as financial support. MDBF honors this legacy by providing regular support to a few specific nonprofits that carry those relationships forward.
Mrs. Biddle attended three churches during her lifetime, and the foundation continues to provide annual support in her honor.
Durham Fellows, The Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle.
American Dance Festival, Durham $20,000
Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle, $20,000 Durham
Durham Arts Council, Durham,........................ $25,000 Emerging Artists Program
Hayti Heritage Center, Durham ....................... $20,000
University of North Carolina School .............. $70,000 of the Arts, Winston-Salem
Christ Church United Methodist, $5,000 New York, NY
Duke Memorial United Methodist ................... $5,000 Church, Durham
Irvington Presbyterian, Irvington, NY $5,000
Total $170,000
Top: University of North Carolina School of the Arts presents “Ballymore,” an Opera in Two Parts. Bottom: The Trisha Brown Dance Company performs at American Dance Festival. Photo by Ben McKeown.
Grants to Duke University
Per Mrs. Biddle’s directive, the MDBF awards half of its funding to Duke University.
The foundation has long supported the arts at Duke and scholarships in the School of Medicine. From 2022-2025, MDBF also supported Leap2School, a preK education program, and K-8 tutoring efforts directed by Duke Community Affairs.
$773,000
Top: “Mr. Nobody Against Putin” was screened at the 2025 Full Frame Festival. Bottom: Duke Gardens opened its new Visitors Center in Spring 2026. Photo by Lori Sullivan. Right: Duke Arts Presents at American Tobacco Campus is a free concert series each fall. Photo by Jared Lazarus.
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Our History
M ary Lillian Duke Biddle (1887-1960) was born in Durham, NC, the daughter of Benjamin and Sarah Duke. She graduated from Trinity College, later named Duke University in honor of her grandfather, Washington Duke. Mrs. Biddle developed an appreciation for the importance of philanthropy from her father, who was the guiding hand behind many of the Duke family’s charitable activities. Duke University, in particular, flourished in its early days thanks to the financial backing of her grandfather, father, and Uncle James B. Duke, who were successful entrepreneurs as well as philanthropists.
In September 1956, she established The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation. Mrs. Biddle directed that at least onehalf of the foundation’s grants be made to Duke University and identified three churches as institutions important to her. Otherwise, she was intentionally broad in her directions to future trustees on how and where to distribute grants.
Mrs. Biddle valued the input and wisdom of her friends and trusted advisors, and, from the beginning, the foundation’s Board of Trustees has included family and non-family members. The foundation continues her practice of actively engaging members of the community to serve as trustees. Currently, the board is comprised of three family and four non-family members.
Portrait of Mary Lillian Duke Biddle from the Duke Archives. All photos provided courtesy of their respective organizations.