ASC names acting president amid ongoing COVID challenges to arts and science sector
Krista Terrell has been named acting president of the Arts & Science Council, days before current head Jeep Bryant is scheduled to leave the prominent Charlotte cultural organization.
Terrell, an ASC veteran of nearly 19 years, begins her new role immediately, until an interim president is named, council leaders said Tuesday. She has led several key ASC initiatives in the community and has most recently been its vice president of marketing and communications.
“Krista is a respected and known leader in the community and in the cultural sector,” ASC board chair Susan Patterson said in a news release. “Her experience and leadership are needed during this transition.”
On Jan. 13, ASC leaders announced that Bryant is resigning as head of the council on Jan. 29.
Tough times for the arts
In a news release from the council, neither Bryant nor other council leaders explained why he is resigning. His hiring was announced in June 2019.
Bryant led the council “through the most challenging period in its 63-year history,” council leaders said in the news release.
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.
In its news release, the ASC said Bryant, for example, led 40 emergency meetings of Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s cultural organizations from March to December.
“A new strategic visioning process for the organization has just begun and will continue,” according to the ASC statement.
Terrell 1st recipient of Mosaic Award
Terrell is an accredited public relations practitioner who led the ASC’s Culture Feast, where 1,000 people shared a community table dinner in uptown Charlotte, and Connect with Culture Day, which gave more than 11,000 people free access to arts and cultural experiences. She also launched CharlotteCultureGuide.com.
She is from Augusta, Ga., and graduated from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte.
Terrell serves on the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards for the Public Relations Society of America and is the first recipient of the Mosaic Award from the society’s Charlotte chapter.
The award is for “advancing the cause of diversity, equity and inclusion in her work,” according the ASC release.
“ASC’s Board of Directors has every confidence in Krista and her abilities to provide steady leadership for the organization and its team members,” Patterson said in the release. “This move will ensure ASC’s work to support the cultural sector continues to move forward at this critical time as we determine a long-term plan.”