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Wortham Center for the Performing Arts

Wortham Center Marks One-Year Hurricane Helene Milestone with Season-Opening Concert by Soweto Gospel Choir

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One year after Hurricane Helene impacted Asheville, Wortham Center for the Performing Arts opens its 2025/26 Season with a performance designed to reflect the resilience, joy, and hope of the Western North Carolina community. On Saturday, September 27 at 7 pm, three-time Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir will take the stage with PEACE—a jubilant evening of soaring harmonies, infectious rhythms, and messages of healing.

“Soweto Gospel Choir is known worldwide for its inspirational and celebratory music,” said Rae Geoffrey, managing director of the Wortham Center. “As our new season coincides with the one-year milestone of Helene, we wanted to honor it with a program that reflects the strength, hope, and spirit of our community.”

Soweto Gospel Choir members in colorful attire, singing outdoors with a yellow train behind them.
Photo by Gas Photographic

Learn more about Soweto Gospel Choir’s event at worthamarts.org. 

Wortham Center, Helene and ARTS RISING! 

The aftermath of Hurricane Helene forced Wortham to close for 36 days, canceling 87 events and impacting 5,000+ patrons, 312 artists, and 23 companies. Amid this adversity, Wortham partnered with the Asheville Fire Department to serve as a storage and distribution site—transforming stages usually filled with artists to stages filled with emergency supplies. For weeks, Wortham staff and volunteers showed up each day to make this effort possible, serving along Asheville’s dedicated first responders. 

As part of its recovery effort, Wortham launched ARTS RISING!, a community-wide initiative to foster community healing and uplift Asheville through the arts.  

The program includes: 

  • Deeply discounted $15 tickets to select performances 
  • Reduced-price or pay-what-you-can classes 
  • Pop-up lobby galleries spotlighting River Arts District artists 
  • Community-driven events designed to bring Asheville back together through music, dance, theatre and visual arts 

“ARTS RISING! is rooted in community building,” Geoffrey explained. “We created this initiative knowing that, through experiencing live music, dance, theatre and simply being together, we all find strength and hope. The arts have a unique power to heal communities—and Wortham is committed to increasing access to the arts as Asheville continues to rebuild.” ARTS RISING! initiatives continue today. For more information, or to donate to this ongoing program, visit worthamarts.org/arts-rising. 

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