Terms of Use

1. Who we are and accepting these terms

ncartsdirectory.com (the "Site") is operated by Arts Directories LLC, a Delaware limited liability company doing business as NC Arts Directory ("we," "us," "our").

The Ray Arts Foundation is a separate nonprofit organization. It collects and publishes open data about the arts in North Carolina. We use that public data on the same terms as anyone else, and we host and promote the Foundation's content. The Foundation does not operate this Site and is not a party to these terms.

By using the Site, you agree to these Terms of Use and to our Privacy Policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the Site. If you use the Site for an organization, you confirm you are allowed to accept these terms for it.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, submit content, or join a Space. We ask for your birth date at sign-up and check it. Once set, your birth date can't be changed by you; contact us if it is wrong. Visitors of any age may browse public pages, but the Site is meant for adults. Some events are for adults only; we may ask you to confirm your age before showing ticket links for them.

3. Your account

• Give accurate information (username, name, email, birth date) and keep it current.
• Keep your password private. You are responsible for activity under your account.
• One person per account. Don't share or sell accounts.
• Tell us right away at [email protected] if you think your account has been misused.

Two-step sign-in. Staff accounts must use two-step sign-in with an authenticator app and backup codes. Members can turn it on in their account, using an authenticator app or a code we email to them, and can choose to have a device remembered for 30 days. Keep your backup codes safe.

Profiles. Your profile is private by default. You can choose to make it public. Public profile details can be seen by anyone.

Teams and seats. A listing owner may invite other people to help manage a listing or organization. The owner controls who has a seat and can remove people. Team members act for the owner, and the owner is responsible for what they do on the Site.

4. Listings and events

Where listings come from. Listings and events may be compiled from public sources, including venue and organization websites, public event calendars and feeds, OpenStreetMap, government and public records (for example, IRS nonprofit data), MusicBrainz, and Wikipedia/Wikivoyage. Members may also add or suggest listings. See our Data & Sources page at /methodology/ for the full list and credits.

Review. New listings, claims, edits and events are reviewed before they are published. We may edit, decline, hide or remove any listing or event at any time, for any lawful reason. Closed venues and discontinued events may stay on the Site as historical records, marked "Closed" or "Discontinued."

Claiming a listing. If you represent a venue, organization, business or artist, you may ask to claim its listing. Our staff review each claim and may ask for proof, such as an email at the organization's domain or documents (for example, an IRS determination letter, NC Secretary of State registration or business license; for artists, an official link). Uploaded proof files are seen only by our review team and are deleted 90 days after we decide the claim; we keep a record of the decision for 3 years. Claims are approved at our discretion. You may only claim a listing you are authorized to manage. Questions about a claim go to [email protected].

Corrections and removal. Anyone can use "Suggest a correction" or "Report a problem." If you run a venue or organization and want your listing or imported event calendar removed, contact us and we will act promptly.

No endorsement and no guarantee. Listings, events, hours, prices and descriptions may be out of date or wrong. A listing does not mean we endorse, recommend or have checked the safety of a place, person or event. Always confirm details with the venue or organizer before you go.

5. Use AI to fill in a listing

When you add a listing, you can choose "Use AI." If you do, you give us your website address and authorize us to:

• read a few pages of that website (we check its robots.txt first), including through a third-party web reading service (currently Firecrawl);
• send the text to an AI model provider (currently OpenRouter) to draft a description and fill in form fields.

AI drafts can be wrong. You must review and correct everything before you submit. You are responsible for the final listing. Photos or videos from your website are imported only if you tick the box confirming you own them or have permission to use them. Only use this feature for a website you are authorized to represent.

6. Your content

"Your Content" means anything you submit: listings, events, descriptions, photos, videos, files, posts, replies, comments and messages.

You keep ownership. You grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, transferable and sublicensable license to host, store, copy, display, adapt (for example, resize, crop or format), translate, publish and distribute Your Content in connection with the Site and its promotion, including in emails, feeds and social media. For listings and events, this license continues after you close your account, because listings are part of a public directory. For Space posts and files, the license ends when you delete them or close your account, except for copies in backups for a limited time or as the law requires.

Your promises. You confirm that you own Your Content or have every right needed to post it and to grant this license, that it is accurate to the best of your knowledge, and that it does not violate anyone's rights or any law.

Feedback. If you send us ideas or suggestions, we may use them without owing you anything.

7. Spaces

Spaces are group pages for posts, replies, likes and shared files. Space owners decide who can join, can moderate posts, and can remove members. Members and followers see different things, as the Space's settings show. Space posts are not public web pages, but other members can see, copy or share them, so don't post anything you need to keep secret. We may remove content or close a Space that breaks these terms. Space owners are responsible for running their Space fairly and lawfully.

8. Acceptable use

Do not:

• post anything illegal, defamatory, harassing, hateful, threatening, sexually explicit, or that invades someone's privacy;
• post someone else's personal information without permission;
• infringe copyrights, trademarks or other rights;
• pretend to be another person or organization, or claim a listing you don't represent;
• post spam, fake reviews, fake events, or misleading listings;
• upload malware or try to break into, overload or disrupt the Site;
• get around our security, rate limits or bot checks (including the Cloudflare Turnstile check on sign-up and other forms);
• collect other members' personal information;
• use the Site to send unsolicited messages.

Automated access. Search engines and other well-behaved crawlers may access public pages as our robots.txt allows. This includes AI crawlers: they are welcome on public pages under the same rules. Any automated access must follow robots.txt, identify itself honestly, and keep a reasonable rate. Access that harms the Site's performance, ignores robots.txt, or targets account areas, forms or member data is not allowed. We may block any automated traffic. The underlying open data is available from the Ray Arts Foundation; please use that instead of scraping.

9. Copyright complaints (DMCA)

We respect copyright. If you believe content on the Site infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated agent:

Aaron M. Ray, designated copyright agent
Arts Directories LLC, doing business as NC Arts Directory
Email: [email protected] (subject "Copyright notice")

Your notice must include: (1) your physical or electronic signature; (2) the work you claim is infringed; (3) the material you want removed and where it is on the Site (URL); (4) your contact details; (5) a statement that you believe in good faith the use is not authorized by the owner, its agent or the law; and (6) a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the notice is accurate and you are the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

If your content was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you may send a counter-notice with the details required by 17 U.S.C. § 512(g). We will end the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

10. Emails and feeds

You can sign up for event feeds and other emails. We confirm your email before sending. Every feed email has an unsubscribe link, and you can also manage feeds in your account. We send service emails (for example, sign-in, claim and review notices) even if you are not subscribed to feeds, because they are part of running your account.

11. Ray Arts Index and scores

The Site shows the Ray Arts Index, scores and grades for North Carolina towns and related research. The method is published at /methodology/. Scores are opinions based on available data at a point in time. Missing data may affect a score. They are for general information only. They are not an official rating, a guarantee, or advice for any decision. Please contact us before reusing the scores or grades.

12. Third-party links and tickets

The Site links to other websites, ticket sellers, maps and video services. We don't control them and aren't responsible for them. We don't sell tickets. Any purchase you make on another site is between you and that seller, under their terms.

13. Paid plans (future)

The Site may later offer paid plans, such as enhanced listings or promotions. Those will have their own terms, shown to you before you pay. Nothing is charged today. If a paid plan ends, a listing goes back to the free version; it is not removed for that reason.

14. Our content and data credits

The Site's design, text, logos and software belong to us or our licensors. Data from OpenStreetMap is © OpenStreetMap contributors and available under the Open Database License (ODbL). Some text comes from Wikipedia/Wikivoyage under CC BY-SA. Other sources are credited on the Data & Sources page at /methodology/. You may not copy our design or branding without permission.

15. Disclaimers

THE SITE AND ALL CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE." TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND ACCURACY. We do not promise that the Site will be error-free, secure or always available. We are not responsible for events, venues, organizers, artists or other members, or for what happens at any event or place listed.

16. Limitation of liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT ALLOWED BY LAW, WE AND OUR OWNERS, STAFF AND SUPPLIERS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR FOR LOST PROFITS, DATA OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SITE. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF THE AMOUNT YOU PAID US IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM OR US$100. Some laws don't allow these limits, so they may not fully apply to you.

17. Indemnity

You agree to defend and hold us harmless from claims, losses and costs (including reasonable attorney fees) that come from Your Content, your misuse of the Site, or your breach of these terms or of anyone's rights.

18. Suspension and termination

You can delete your account at any time from Account → Privacy, or by emailing [email protected]. Deletion takes effect after a 14-day waiting period, as described in our Privacy Policy. If you own a Space, you must hand it to another member or delete it before you can delete your account. We may suspend or close an account, or remove content, if we reasonably believe you broke these terms, created risk or legal exposure for us or others, or if required by law. Sections that by their nature should survive (for example, the content license for listings, disclaimers, limits of liability, indemnity and dispute terms) survive termination.

19. Governing law and disputes

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina, without regard to conflict-of-law rules.

Talk to us first. Before filing any claim, please email [email protected] with a description of the problem. We'll try in good faith to resolve it within 60 days.

Courts. If we can't resolve it, either of us may bring a claim in small claims court if it qualifies. Otherwise, claims must be brought in the state or federal courts located in North Carolina, and you and we consent to those courts.

20. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. We'll post the new version here with a new "Last updated" date. For important changes, we'll give notice on the Site or by email. If you keep using the Site after changes take effect, you accept them.

21. General

These terms and our Privacy Policy are the full agreement between you and us about the Site. If a part is found unenforceable, the rest stays in effect. Our not enforcing a term is not a waiver. You may not transfer these terms; we may transfer them with our business.

22. Contact

Arts Directories LLC, doing business as NC Arts Directory
Email: [email protected]
Copyright notices: [email protected]
Listing claims: [email protected]