Lizzie Morrison lives in Mount Airy, North Carolina with her husband, Luke, and two daughters, Ella and Sylvie. As an artist and a community development professional, Lizzie is passionate about using art as a tool for truth-telling, generational bridge building, and self-healing.  

Lizzie serves as the Piedmont Triad Region’s Community Economic Development Planner for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. In her role with NC Commerce, she works with communities to inspire placemaking through building asset-based strategic economic development plans, providing technical support, education, and resource identification.

With over a decade of downtown development experience at the local level, she created Mount Airy’s first Arts & Entertainment District, and the Mural & Sculpture Grant Program, resulting in nine permanent murals, sixteen annually painted street murals, several painted crosswalk projects, and dozens of sculptures in the downtown district.

As an artist herself, Lizzie believes in harnessing creative energy in communities to implement catalytic projects that generate civic pride and vision-focused forward momentum. Lizzie received her B.F.A. in Painting from Auburn University. She previously served as the Director of Arts for the Surry Arts Council from 2011 to 2013, and was the Executive Director for Mount Airy Downtown, Inc. from 2013 to 2023.