UNC Asheville’s epiCenter was the recent recipient of a $7,500 grant from New England Financial (NEF) through their local affiliate Colton Groome & Company. The grant was made to support the creative arts in downtown Asheville.

"We are very excited about this grant," said Tucker Cooke, UNCA art department chair. "It is a good indication that others are seeing the epiCenter’s potential and supporting its vision."

George Groome, president of Colton Groome & Company, secured the grant through NEF, a MetLife affiliate. Groome is the former chair of the UNCA Foundation Board and currently serves on the university’s Board of Trustees.

NEF’s Field Charitable Contribution Fund was established to recognize significant charitable efforts on the part of NEF affiliates, to promote volunteerism, and to respond to requests for charitable contributions from their representatives.

Located on Battery Park Ave., UNCA’s epiCenter is slated to become a center of creative expression and interaction for the community and university. The center will bring to downtown Asheville a collaborative space for art galleries, performance arenas, sculpture studios and special areas for community events and lectures. The epiCenter is in the midst of a $3.4 million fund-raising campaign in order for the UNCA Foundation to purchase and begin renovating the building.

For more information about the epiCenter, call Beverly Modlin, UNCA Vice Chancellor for University Relations, at 828/251-6525.