Charlotte looks to increase arts spending while changing how it funds arts groups

Charlotte City Council is considering drastically changing the way it funds local arts and culture groups. A plan before the board would have the city fund groups directly rather than send money to the pass-through agency Arts & Science Council.

An ad hoc committee was tasked by Mayor Vi Lyles to develop a policy for arts and culture as an economic strategy for the city.

The current short-term plan is to fund all of the current ASC grant recipients at a similar funding level to what they are now receiving, through the 2022 fiscal year.

But the city also wants to develop a comprehensive arts and culture plan for the future that would disburse money through a newly created city advisory board and an arts and science coordinator, instead of sending it through the ASC.

The budget is expected to be adopted June 14, and the arts funding plan would be one component of that.

City arts funding traditionally has been disbursed through the ASC, which combines local and state government resources with the private sector to fund arts and cultural groups.

“Do we have assurance that (the ASC and the groups it funds) are comfortable with this break from the ASC? It seems like it came out of the blue from nowhere,” councilman Gregg Phipps asked during a council meeting Monday night. He also raised concerns about how this new city approach would impact county contributions to the arts.

ASC took to social media prior to the meeting asking its supporters to reach out to council members saying: “Why build a replicant when ASC is a proven, viable option?”

“There are a host of unknowns about how the city’s proposal may be implemented and its potential ramifications, particularly for individual creatives and organizations that are not in city-owned facilities,” ASC acting president Krista Terrell said in a statement to the Observer Wednesday.

Terrell also said the agency remains committed to cultural equity and making contributions to individuals and organizations of all sizes.

Last week, the ASC released a Cultural Equity report and publicly apologized for funding decisions that led to inequitable support of Black-led and other minority cultural organizations and artists in the region over the years.

Looking for different results

The ad hoc committee is recommending an annual budget increase of 25%, to $4 million, for arts groups. That funding would be contingent on the private sector contributing at least another $4 million, although the city has not made clear what would happen if that additional funding does not arise.

“So, what we’re talking about here is the potential to have $8 million for the arts this year,” said mayor pro tem Julie Eiselt, who chairs the committee. “The long-term goal is to create a reliable, sustainable revenue stream to the arts.”

It’s been at least 15 years since the city has increased money for the arts, she said.

Eiselt said creating the new third-party administrative account would alleviate asking private donors to put $4 million into another organization, like ASC. She said it also would give the city more say in arts funding policies, what is expected in return and how its arts buildings are used.

ASC has seen a steady drop in workplace giving for the past decade, the Observer previously reported and a failed Mecklenburg County sales-tax referendum in 2019 would have substantially boosted funding for the ASC.

Due in large part to Charlotte’s unrestricted investments in the cultural sector, Terrell said, this fiscal year ASC supported 37 arts, science and history organizations, provided workshops and training for artists and professionals, and funded more than 50 cultural projects led by small- and mid-sized organizations and individuals.

“We look forward to working with the city in its exploration of how to best support these organizations, individual creatives and the cultural sector as a whole,” she said.

The new city plan would work similarly to the federal funding for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg CARES for Arts, Culture & Creativity Fund. That fund was matched by city and private funding with each contributing $1 million.

Councilman Ed Driggs said for Charlotte to be more competitive with other cities in economic development and tourism it needs to be intentional about how it invests public money. ASC would still be part of those discussions, he said.

A focus on jobs

About 58,000 people are employed in the arts and culture sector in Charlotte, according to the city.

Councilman Braxton Winston, who has worked in theater and arts industry for 15 years, said it’s hard to grow your career and stay in Charlotte.

He talked about Warner Bros. production of “Delilah” airing on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN cable channel. He said Charlotte is primed to be part of the television and film industry. “It’s just one example of a sector we can continue to grow here,” he said.

The key to the arts and culture plan is using tax dollars to make investments that give more Charlotteans work., Winston added.

“This is about how do we put more roofs over people’s heads and give them the ability to put more food on the table for their families,” Winston said.