Wednesday, October 14, 2026
By Maggie Miles | Outer Banks Voice on October 3, 2026
What happens when leaders from the arts and literary communities and the descendants of local indigenous tribes and the Pea Island Life-Saving surfmen get together?
They create All of Us, a collective of 13 organizations and venues hosting multi-disciplinary events from Oct. 3 through Dec. 2 that illuminate the stories and voices of diverse communities in northeastern North Carolina.
The group includes Jessica Sands, Executive Director of Dare Arts, Susan Sawin, owner of Island Bookstore in Duck and former librarian at First Flight High School and local historians and poets Gray Parsons and Joan Collins. They got together 18 months ago to brainstorm about how they could add to the Dare A250 celebrations commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“We were trying to see how the arts could fit in…and we’re also very interested in making sure that we’re hearing from different sections of our community,” said Sands.
“It just became really clear that we could enter the space collectively and provide a broader experience of what it means to be an American and from Dare County,” added Sawin.
The initial idea was a theater production written by Parsons tracing an Americana story from Indigenous people forward—and he wanted to call it “All of Us.” They moved on from that plan when they couldn’t secure enough funding and shifted to several smaller, less expensive events that could involve more local people and communities. But the name stuck, along with the idea that of inclusion.
“When we shelved the play idea, and decided to do a multiplicity of events, we were able to include — geographically, culturally and numerically — a lot more of the county,” said Parsons.
That involved a partnership between a host of organizations—Including the Bryan Cultural Series, the Secotan Alliance, Dare Arts, Theater of Dare, the Unitarian Universalist Church, libraries and others.
The series of events include poetry, dance, visual arts, storytelling, drumming, literature, and film. They kick off on Saturday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Theatre of Dare with the Bryan Cultural Series presenting poetry featuring North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green and some of the state’s exciting young poets from diverse backgrounds.
Another highlight will include Joan Collins’ Beyond Pea Island exhibition, a collection of artworks portraying the life of her father, Lt. Herbert M. Collins, the last surfman at the historic Pea Island Life-Saving Station and his Roanoke Island family. The exhibition will be on display from Nov. 6 through Dec. 19 at Dare Arts and features artwork of her family in the form of watercolor, oil, and charcoal by artists Jasmin Miller, Jas Jeffress and the late John de la Vega.
Collins said Beyond Pea Island will highlight its history and explore her family’s deep roots on Roanoke Island, shown through the artworks and a poetry reading by Collins on Dec. 2.
“The story is coming from me as a descendant … as a researcher, historian, grounded in this history, so there’s an emotional element to it. It’s very real to me,” she said. “I want everyone to think about their own histories … think about ways to preserve their history, think about the stories that are told and not told.”
Gray Parsons, a descendent of the Machapunga and Mattamuskeet tribes, is also leading several the events, including Drums on the Pam-pi-co at the Frisco Native American Museum on Nov. 14. That will be an immersive and interactive drumming, sing-along & storytelling event led by Parsons and his partner Erica Lewis, a Saponi-Occoneechee descendent.
Parsons sees the event as a way for people to learn about Indigenous culture and hear its stories “in a non-threatening, not tense sort of way.”
Following that, he will lead An Evening of Poetry with the Secotan Alliance featuring poems from his book Pampico Blue, as well as poetry from Joan Collins, who traces her roots to the indigenous community, and Adonis Osekre, local historian, author, and cultural interpreter.
“My poetry is rhyming poetry…I want to catch the ear of everybody,” said Parsons. “And I’m about spreading the word. Really, it boils down to the Indigenous Earth Ethic. I’m about saving us, and in order to save us, we have to preserve the earth.”
Sawin, who brought her literary expertise and relationship with Outer Banks authors and poets to help organize the poetry and literary events, is sponsoring a reading from author David Webb on Sunday, Oct. 11 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation Church. He explores the histories and cultures of North Carolina’s Indigenous peoples, tracing their journey from origins to the present-day tribes.
As the president of the Dare County Library Foundation, Sawin is involved in sponsoring a talk on the Freedmen’s Colony, a Civil War refuge where formerly enslaved people founded a community whose traces are still seen today. It will be held at the Kill Devil Hills Library on Nov. 10.
The exhibit, Facing History, displays the work of NC potter Ben A. Watford through a collection of his face jugs, functional pottery, and dragon vases. It opens at Dare Arts on Nov. 6.
The series also incorporates events already established on the Outer Banks, including the Peace Garden’s Environmental Film Festival, which highlights the stories of people in communities impacted by climate change and environmental justice issues.
The organizers see the arts as an exciting way to draw the community to its overlooked history, while promoting empathy and understanding.
“You can’t know what’s going on in the world without walking a mile in somebody else’s shoes, without rubbing elbows…with people and hearing what their experience is like,” said Sawin.
“The power of art cannot be overstated, and so these experiences will be a lot more memorable than if you just listened to a lecture,” Sands added. “I hope people get out from behind their computers and off their phones to learn something about the places and the people who make up our community.”
Visit Dare Arts/All of Us for event links and additional information.
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