Thursday night, an acclaimed vocal group will take the stage. Friday morning, those in the holiday spirit can create their own ceramic Christmas trees. Saturday night, multiple bands and solo artists will perform a concert to raise money for Ocracoke artists hit hard by Hurricane Dorian. Sunday afternoon, movie lovers can watch the Broadway version of the classic film “Driving Miss Daisy” on the big screen. All of those days, any visitor can view the many works entered into the 55^th-annual Fine Arts Show by the area’s many talented artists.

This is just four days of Arts of the Pamlico’s offerings at the Turnage Theatre in downtown Washington. In the coming months, there are many more: children’s theater; acting, voice, screenplay-writing, costuming workshops; Christmas concerts by local orchestras, choral societies and famed beach-music band The Embers; classic movies; Christmas movies; after-school arts programs for children, improv performances — all against a backdrop of art.

What began five decades ago as the Beaufort County Arts Council has become a center for visual, performing, cinematic and literary arts in Arts of the Pamlico. It has grown in space, making the historic Turnage Theatre its home on West Main Street. It has grown in programs introducing children to visual and performing arts, in an effort to spark creativity and create the next generation of artists and art lovers. It has grown in exhibits, where artists’ imaginations are challenged to create new art.

The arts have simply grown in Washington, adding to the vibrancy of a historic, waterfront town. The arts and Arts of the Pamlico have grown to connect art with culture and culture with the community.

In North Carolina, the nonprofit arts and culture industry generates $2.12 billion in direct economic activity in North Carolina, supporting almost 72,000 full-time equivalent jobs and generating $201.5 million in revenue for local governments and the state of North Carolina, according to a North Carolina Arts Council study created in 2015.

Arts of the Pamlico and the many galleries that have opened downtown in Washington, Bath and Belhaven are not only doing their part to creating a thriving arts community, they’re boosting the local economy in the process.

Support your local artists, because they support you.