- [Narrator] Once upon a time, there lived a brilliant architect who dreamt of a world that uplifted culture, arts, and intellect.

An advocate for social justice and equity, he pursued a north star so bright to illuminate black genius in its transformative might.

He knew the power of creativity, to uplift and to heal, to pave a spiritual path, to transform and review.

His legacy lives on beyond his time on this earth.

For with his family, he acquired an old church.

Restoring the space with imagination and heart, transforming it into a beacon, a north star for Durham art.

[gentle music] - NorthStar Church of the Arts is a nonprofit.

What we're really trying to do is center the voices of artists of color, uplift queer artists of color, making sure that they have a space to highlight their work that is innovative, safe, and welcoming.

- This is a place of open wide acceptance, creativity, and joy.

Using the arts as a way to elevate the human spirit and to bring up our community together.

- NorthStar is not that church.

NorthStar has really redefined and enlarged and expanded, not in any way devoid it, but just expanded on that meaning.

- This is a church where we celebrate and center poetry, where we dance and sing and make art and make music.

We use these tools to bring people together so that we can see each other in our wholeness.

- We welcome everybody.

This is not a place where we are gonna allow denominations to divide us.

We're gonna allow art to connect us.

- Phil and Nina Freelon, I like to think of them as Durham icons.

Phil Freelon was an incredible architect and his wife Nnenna Freelon is a six time Grammy nominated jazz singer.

♪ Our love will last beyond July ♪ ♪ Oh July, yeah, ♪ ♪ July ♪ - The building was built in 1930.

It was originally designed as a house of worship for the deaf and the hearing impaired here in Durham.

The church was originally called Ephpha, be opened.

Ephpha, be opened, and that's what NorthStar is, a place where you can be opened as you are, not needing to transform, not needing to be something different, but to just be open that human spirit.

[gentle music] - I think it was 2015, my parents made an offer on the building., That was prior to my dad's diagnosis of ALS.

He was diagnosed in 2016, just a few months shy of the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which by all accounts is a crown achievement of any architect's career to open a building of that magnitude on the National Mall that has such significance to black people and black culture and American people and American culture.

So when the church came back on the market in 2017 after he was diagnosed with ALS, there was a different perspective.

- We knew that he had a prognosis of three to five years, so we bought this place on faith.

Legacy is one way to continually engage and remember what a person meant when they walked the earth.

Phil was about uplifting the human spirit through the built environment.

I mean, he would say that over and over and over again.

His firm, the Freelon Group, specialized in places of memory, places of history, public projects.

You can walk around Durham, you could do a feel-free long architectural walk and point out the many buildings that he had an imprint on.

He changed Durham, he really did.

- My dad's legacy is a lot of things, and NorthStar is an important part of that legacy.

So many of the things that he cared about, he cared about art, he cared about visual art, he cared about music, he cared about community, he cared about giving back, he cared about black people.

These are all things that you see in abundance when you walk into NorthStar.

[upbeat jazz music] - [Nneena] We do just about everything.

Dance performances, lectures, artist talks and panels, screenings, tons of concerts, visual art exhibitions, wellness markets.

There is a connection to art and spirituality and healing.

We're trying to provide that in addition to that community that you get from traditional religion.

We hold something called Sunday Service, which does sound like church I think to a lot of people, and it might feel like church to some people.

But every third Sunday of the month, we have an opportunity for people to come together in a similar way that you would at church with community, fellowship, snacks, tea.

And we usually have an artist in the community who wants to talk about what is inspiring them right now or what work they're creating right now.

- If there's anywhere in the world where Harriet Tubman's dreams can be fulfilled most visibly, most palpably, most collectively, it is right here.

- We are coming from an art-centered theology.

Creativity is that thing that ties us to the great, I don't care what you call it, Buddha, God, Jehovah, I don't care what you call it.

I don't care if you don't call it anything, atheists, you too, come on in.

- I think Durham is like the city where you can have a NorthStar and call it a church and you don't have Baptist and Methodist and Episcopals running up in going like "You ain't no church."

It has defined itself on its own terms and on the terms of people who may not have been accepted or readily invited or felt comfortable in a traditional faith-based space.

[gentle music] I think about the Underground Railroad and I think about sanctuary and people fleeing and not necessarily fleeing from a bounty hunter, but maybe just fleeing from trauma.

Fleeing from not being able to show up in your true voice.

Fleeing from not feeling seen in your community.

And NorthStar has provided that foundation.

This historic building is a magical space in our community that is an invitation, an invitation to those of us who may feel othered, who may feel on the fringe as artists as queer black people.

- The North Star in African American folklore is a symbol of freedom because in the Underground Railroad, enslaved Africans who are running away to escape bondage and oppression would look at the North Star and know exactly where to go.

If I follow this star, I'm walking towards freedom away from slavery.

It is a compass that points us in the direction of where we want to go.

What is our map to social justice?

What is our map to arts advocacy, to social emotional intelligence, to creative community?

These are the things that our North Star guides us towards.

- The arts offer an opportunity to express in non-verbal ways, in ways that connect us.

And sometimes we can't hear each other through language, but we can hear each other through art.

And so NorthStar is that we're not asking you to change anything.

We're asking you to come in peace and let the rest take care of itself.

[upbeat music] ♪