Crestdale Community Project

The Light Factory is collaborating with the Arts and Science Council to explore the history and heritage of the Crestdale Community, an older neighborhood in Matthews, North Carolina.  Through community art projects, the program builds bridges within a small neighborhood that is brimming with historical and cultural significance that is virtually unknown.  This project was made possible through a grant from Crossroads Charlotte.

The Crestdale neighborhood is one of the oldest African-American communities in the United States, founded by freed slaves.  Year later, Montagnard Dega refugees who fled from Vietnam also settled in this area.  In more recent years, new Habitat for Humanity housing has been built to support the existing community and new residents.

Associate Director of Education, Jen Crickenberger has been performing photography programs that are free and open to the Crestdale community and at Crestdale Middle School.  This work will be displayed at the Matthews Community Center when completed.  Fiber artist Sunya Folayan is also working with residents to create a piece of work that will preserve the history of the Crestdale community and its people.

The Crestdale Community project was profiled in the Matthews Record.  Click here for the full story.