Federal grant allows UNCC to continue studying the impact of the arts in Charlotte

UNC Charlotte can continue studying the impact of the arts in Charlotte, thanks to a $29,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“There is a lot of talk about the pandemic ‘revealing’ inequities, injustices, etc.” said Meg Freeman Whalen, director of communications and external relations for UNC Charlotte’s College of Arts + Architecture. But those inequities existed long before a 2014 study ranked Charlotte last among the country’s 50 largest cities in upward mobility.

While Charlotte’s Leading on Opportunity task force was formed in response to the 2014 study, its recommendations did not include the arts “in any meaningful way,” Whalen said.

So she and others at UNCC, and in the Charlotte community, created Arts Impact Charlotte to study the social impact the arts have in Charlotte and to help build a local arts community that can be a model for inclusivity.

“We wanted artists to know they have a crucial role to play,” Whalen said. “At every national convention I’ve attended about the arts, this is always the No. 1 conversation taking place — tapping into artists as creative problem solvers.”

Phase One research

The first phase of Arts Impact Charlotte’s work was a survey of artists and arts organizations funded by the Gambrell Foundation. It revealed that many local arts organizations don’t even have one full-time paid staffer.

“That means they don’t have an infrastructure,” Whalen said. She mentioned Sign of the Times as a vital nonprofit organization without a full-time employee. “They’ve been around for more than 15 years, are doing important work in sharing Black history through music and spoken word, and are still volunteer-led,” she said.

“There are so many other organizations like that,” she said. “They’re operating on a shoestring budget, so their effectiveness is hamstrung.”

Among other findings: One in five of the surveyed arts organizations offer all their programming at no cost – which is difficult to sustain.

Phase Two

The second phase of research was assured in May, when Arts Impact Charlotte received the NEA research grant. The team is led by Vaughn Schmutz, a UNCC sociology professor who also holds a doctorate in arts and culture studies, and is an “amateur musician.”

Other team members include Whalen, architecture professor Ken Lambla and Jane Dalton, an art education professor and practicing artist. Nikkeia Lee, managing director of The Possibility Project-Charlotte, serves as a consultant. Lee’s program uses the performing arts as a vehicle to get teens engaged in their community.

The initial survey demonstrated just how many local groups are using the arts to have a social impact, Schmutz said. “We’ll see where the findings lead us,” he said, “but one thing we hope to do is provide artists and arts groups resources to assess their social impact.”

When you can demonstrate effectiveness, donors and grant-making groups are more likely to invest in your nonprofit.

The research team begins the second phase this summer and will continue through August 2021. One goal is to elevate the arts in Charlotte to a place where “the public and corporate sectors recognize the role arts can play” in lifting people out of poverty, Whalen said.

Helped by the survey

Natalie Allen is a lawyer who combined her vocation and her passion for the arts when she founded The Arts Empowerment Project. It’s a nonprofit that connects children in the Mecklenburg County juvenile justice system to arts opportunities. She’s the group’s CEO.

At-risk children who participate in the arts discover an outlet to express themselves and a path to healing, Allen said.

She and her team know how to navigate the court system. They work with the Department of Social Services, the Department of Juvenile Justice, and Guardian Ad Litem to identify children who are likely to get the most out of an arts experience.

Only kids referred by a judge or social worker are accepted. Then, TAEP vets participants and matches them with an arts group that aligns with their interests, such as Charlotte Ballet, Blumenthal Performing Arts, Children’s Theatre, CPCC Culinary Arts and more.

Allen got plugged into UNCC when she was seeking a way to evaluate the effectiveness of TAEP’s programs. She took the arts survey last year and was relieved to find there were others like her — people who want to use the arts as a vehicle for upward mobility and want a way to measure their impact.

It was her banker husband, Hugh Allen, who first impressed on her the importance of demonstrating results.

The research that emerges from Arts Impact Charlotte will go a long way toward helping her and other groups do just that.

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This story was originally published June 17, 2020 at 2:10 PM.