WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A brand new locally-produced compilation album aims to get racism out of Wilmington.
The album is called GROW, and was produced thanks to about $15,000 worth of donated time and materials.
It features North Carolina artists and bands, but the record is about much more than music.
“GROW stands for ‘Get Racism Out of Wilmington’, or it could be ‘Get Racism Out of the World,'” said Art in Bloom Gallery owner Amy Grant.
The album is the brainchild of Fort Lowell Records owner James Tritten.
“It is a collection of musical artists, visual artists, and literary artists that all stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter,” Tritten said.
Tritten says he was inspired by the killing of George Floyd, and wanted to use his platform to make a difference in the Wilmington community.
“I turned to my wife immediately and said we have to make this project happen,” he said.
Tritten reached out to his contacts in the business and never expected the response he got.
“Every single one of our manufacturing partners, they all donated everything, 100 percent,” he said. “Whether it was the materials, whether it was their time.”
This means 100 percent of proceeds from album sales will go directly to the New Hanover County NAACP.
Inside you’ll also get artwork and a copy of a Wilmington newspaper from 1895, thanks to sponsors like Dreams of Wilmington, the Third Person Project, and Art in Bloom Gallery.
“At Dreams of Wilmington, three of the students 12-14 years old Drake, Dylan, and Jamie did this graphic maze,” Grant said.
Other sponsors include New Hanover County Government and Gravity Records, which is helping to distribute the album.
“I feel like so many people are so focused on other things right now and the whole Black Lives Matter thing is kind of off their radar or it’s fallen off their feed,” said Gravity Records owner Matt Keen. “This isn’t going away.”
With 1,000 albums for sale at $30 a piece, that’s as much as $30,000 for the local NAACP to further their mission for equality.
“It’s very important that I don’t want people to see this as a Fort Lowell thing, my thing, it’s not my thing,” Tritten said. “I merely had the voice of being able to create this, but part of creating it was really empowering people in the community.”
The record can be purchased at several local businesses like Gravity Records and Art in Bloom Gallery. You can also listen online on Spotify, and that revenue will also go to the local NAACP.
Click here for more information about the New Hanover County NAACP.
Click here for more about the album.
