McColl family donates $1 million toward the McColl Center’s Momentum Fund

Hugh McColl Jr.’s announcement of his family’s million-dollar gift to the the McColl Center for Art + Innovation’s Momentum Fund was met with whoops and applause at the center’s 20th anniversary gala April 5.

Recalling the 1999 grand opening of the McColl Center in the restored former First Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at North Tryon and 11th streets, McColl said: “I dedicated this building to my mother, who was an artist, who started up in NY until my father came and got her — and then my sister, who was an artist, a musician and a writer. I started out trying to help artists, not realizing what a tremendous help and asset it would be for Charlotte.”

The McColl Center for Art + Innovation is an internationally known residency program that has arguably transformed Charlotte’s arts landscape. It provides residencies to local, regional, national and international artists, who reciprocate by sharing their talent with the community. The works of resident artists are installed on the CATS Lynx Blue Line light rail, hang on Charlotte museum walls and decorate atriums of Uptown buildings.

NationsBank, now Bank of America, bought the property in 1995 as part of a North Tryon Street revitalization effort. McColl, who was chairman and CEO at the time, led the initiative to refurbish the neo-Gothic style church, which transients had burned down to its exterior walls in 1984, according to a 2016 Charlotte Observer article.

The McColl family’s gift offers an opportunity for the center to reconnect with current donors, as well as a chance to renew its relationship with the center’s founder. “For people who have not yet had a relationship with us, this is a pretty extraordinary gift, and my hope is that it will draw attention to the work we are doing here,” said McColl Center President and CEO Alli Celebron-Brown.

McColl told the crowd that he, his wife, Jane, and his children, Hugh McColl III, John McColl and Jane Lockwood, decided their family should lead the effort for the Momentum Fund fundraising initiative. The Momentum Fund aims to raise $2 million in 2019, during the 20th anniversary year.

The Momentum Fund’s program goals are threefold. First, it seeks to continue championing contemporary artists to interact with the community. Second, it wants to spark creative ideas, including open houses and artist workshops. Third, it plans to come up with innovative ways to take the McColl Center forward for the next 20 years.

To date, the McColl Center has hosted more than 400 artists. They represent 25 countries and 39 states, and about 150 artists are regional. Their disciplines span the imagination, from painters to potters, collage artists to poets, embroiderers to performance artists, choreographers to photographers. Two of them, Elizabeth Turk and Joyce J. Scott, have been awarded the MacArthur Fellowship Grant. Three others, John W. Love Jr., Esperanza Cortés and Michael Harrison, are Guggenheim Fellows.

Celebron-Brown envisions the Momentum Fund will work toward sustainability of the organization and help it figure out what the next 20 years will look like.

“We are operating in a world that is really different than when we were founded,” she said. “Charlotte has changed. The demographic has changed. There’s an influx of newcomers, so there are new opportunities for institutions like ours to hold up a mirror and ask what are we doing in this era?” she said.

“The goal is to create a fund that continues the work that we do and gives us an opportunity to expand that work in new and innovative ways,” Vice President of Marketing + Operations Armando Bellmas said.

“We’ve started artist workshops again. People want to be creative; they want to do something besides stare at their phones,” he said. A paper clay making workshop offered by Tom Thoune last year filled so quickly that another was offered two weeks later, and it filled up, as well.

New art groups and galleries have emerged, while the Arts & Science Council fundraising model has changed, which impacts how the region’s arts organizations are funded. “We are looking long term at what consistent revenue streams we can build that we can count on each year,” Celebron-Brown said. “It is a pivotal moment for us to figure out what comes next and where we fit in the Charlotte art community.”

McColl closed his remarks with a simple request. “I want to challenge you to join me in making this $2 million effort,” he said. “I know we can do it — you are halfway there. Give us some help.”

This story is part of an Observer underwriting project with the Thrive Campaign for the Arts, supporting arts journalism in Charlotte.

This story was originally published April 11, 2019 at 2:53 PM.