The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County has welcomed two new additions to its staff over the past several months and is informing the public of the strategic roles each of these individuals is now playing on their team.

On Jul. 17, 2023, the Arts Council hired Kashia Knight to fill a brand-new position of Grants Assistant for the organization. Knight is a U.S. Army Veteran who also has four prior years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. As both a Veteran and a child of a military service member herself, she is already well acquainted with military-centric cities like Fayetteville.

Knight now assists Michael Houck, Director of Grants & Allocations, and Sarah Busman, Arts Education Manager, in their management of the Arts Council’s many grants and allocations programs and the Artists In Schools (AIS) program.

“I love the arts, because I’m a consummate artist myself; I love helping folks find the funding they need for their own artistic passions,” Knight stated in a press release.

Knight is already an ambassador for the Arts Council’s Grants Department. “The funding is here. All [artists] have to do is believe in themselves and apply, and we will guide them every step of the way to see that their vision is actualized,” explained Knight in a press release.

On Jan. 8, 2024, Miles McKeller-Smith joined the Arts Council’s team as its Director of Public Relations. McKeller-Smith is an alumnus of Jack Britt High School who went on to obtain his Bachelor of Arts in Communications, specializing in media, from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. He then furthered his education by obtaining a Master of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem.

McKeller-Smith’s professional experience includes radio and television content strategy. Eventually, he began to move into media production, working on feature and short films and running a magazine for creatives.

After moving back to Fayetteville, McKeller-Smith worked for the Cumberland County Schools before applying for his current position at the Arts Council, where he now supervises April Mata, Creative Manager, and marketing contractors.

“With my background in communications and media production, I’m excited to be here, in this position, and to have the opportunity to tell the story of the Arts Council,” expressed McKeller-Smith in a press release.

“From the Grants Department to the exhibitions we curate to our Artists In Schools program, we have really good opportunities to educate the public and stakeholders even more on what a great resource the Arts Council is to the community, and in my new role, I want to focus on more ways the Arts Council can partner with the community, supporting and working with the artists who are already here,” McKeller-Smith concluded in a press release.