ASC leader resigns amid ongoing COVID challenges to arts and science sector
Jeep Bryant is resigning as head of the Arts & Science Council, one of Charlotte’s most prominent cultural organizations, the ASC announced Wednesday.
In a news release from the council, neither Bryant nor other council leaders explained why he is resigning effective Jan. 29. His hiring was announced in June 2019.
Bryant took over at an especially fraught period for local arts groups.
Just several months into the job, Bryant saw Mecklenburg County voters reject a sales tax referendum that would have put $22.5 million into the ASC’s coffers for local arts groups. The agency cut several jobs soon after.
When the pandemic hit, the city’s arts and culture scene was already hurting from a decades-long decline in funding, the Observer previously reported.
The coronavirus forced shutdowns and massive economic turmoil in the arts community and the rest of the economy. The arts sector is still trying to figure how to recover.
For instance, shortly before Bryant’s departure was announced, six Charlotte museums said they were closing immediately for three weeks in the wake of a new Mecklenburg County directive urging people to stay home to help curb the spread of COVID-19.
Bryant said he would help the council however needed in the months ahead.
In its news release, the ASC said Bryant led the council “through the most challenging period in its 63-year history.” Bryant, for example, led 40 emergency meetings of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s cultural organizations from March to December, the statement said.
“We cannot understate how much Jeep has done and has meant to ASC and more importantly, the cultural sector,” ASC board chair Susan Patterson said in the news release.
The ASC board expects to decide on an interim president next week. “A new strategic visioning process for the organization has just begun and will continue,” according to the ASC statement.
Staff writer Adam Bell contributed
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 3:52 PM.