New board will decide how Charlotte spends its money on the arts. Here’s who’s on it.
The city of Charlotte’s first Arts and Culture Advisory Board is complete and will meet for the first time next month.
On Wednesday, the city and Foundation For The Carolinas announced the 18 members appointed to serve on the board.
“Over the next three years, the board’s work will transform our cultural landscape and have a profound impact on our entire community,” foundation president and CEO Michael Marsicano said in a statement from the city.
Marsicano called the new advisory board “one of the most diverse grantmaking boards ever assembled in Charlotte.”
The date for the first meeting next month has not yet been set, but it will be live-streamed, city spokesman Cory Burkarth said.
In August, Priya Sircar was named as the city’s Arts and Culture officer to work with the board and develop a comprehensive arts and culture plan. She recently worked at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, which included overseeing arts strategies in Charlotte.
Sircar and the board will decide how the remaining $4.4 million in the 2022 fiscal budget will be used, and $12 million in the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, according to the city news release.
Sircar’s job is partly to set up the city’s new board. Charlotte is using public funding, matched by private sector donations, for its annual arts allocation.
Changes to arts funding
In January, Mayor Vi Lyles created an ad-hoc committee of City Council members tasked with developing an inclusive, sustainable funding policy for arts and culture.
In February, the committee met to decide how to refocus arts and culture resources to raise Charlotte’s profile as a destination city and to address equitable access, upending a decades-long model of relying on the Arts & Science Council as the pass-through funding agency.
The approach drew concerns from individuals and organizations who felt excluded from Charlotte’s planning process.
The foundation led the fundraising to reach $18 million in private donations to be matched by $18 million from the city over three years for the arts, for a total of $36 million.
Uniting the city’s arts, cultural, education and business sectors will help shape an inclusive and thriving future in Charlotte, Sircar said in the release.
How the board works
The 18-member advisory board will serve three-year terms with half of the members appointed by the private sector and the other half by the city of Charlotte.
From the private sector, the Foundation For The Carolinas chooses eight and the Arts & Science Council appoints one. All nine are approved by the foundation’s board.
From the public sector, the mayor appoints three members and the City Council appoints six. The mayor also chooses the chair. Lyles chose Cyndee Patterson, president of Lee Institute/The Duke Mansion.
Who’s on the board
Appointed by Charlotte City Council:
▪ Carla Aaron-Lopez, artist and arts educator
▪ Aisha Dew, artist and community activist
▪ Tim Miner, Charlotte is Creative
▪ Shefalee Patel, artist and community volunteer
▪ Kevin Patterson, arts and community board member
▪ Nick Tosco, musician and attorney at Poyner Spruill LLP
Appointed by Lyles:
▪ Irisol Gonzalez, artist and muralist
▪ Lex Kimbrough, filmmaker at Brave Boy Media
▪ Corey Mitchell, arts educator and founder of Theatre Gap Initiative
Appointed by Foundation For The Carolinas:
▪ Cyndee Patterson, Lee Institute/The Duke Mansion
▪ Sandra Fernandes, Wells Fargo
▪ Su Ping Lu, Honeywell
▪ Anna Spangler Nelson, Spangler Companies Inc.
▪ Grace Nystrum, Bank of America
▪ Marisa Thalberg, Lowe’s
▪ Charles Thomas, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
▪ April Whitlock, LendingTree
Appointed by the Arts & Science Council:
▪ Philip Thomas, civic leader
This story was originally published November 24, 2021 at 1:08 PM.