CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The city of Charlotte adopted a new Arts and Culture Plan this month. It aims to ensure funding opportunities and growth for the arts industry, but it doesn’t list specific financial needs yet.
The first priority in the plan is to, "ensure sustainable and reliable funding for arts and culture in Charlotte-Mecklenburg through public-private planning, collaboration, and commitment."
While it's an important goal, one city council member told WCNC Charlotte he expected the plan to identify those funding sources and how much money was needed from each entity.
Charlotte leaders have said the arts are drastically underfunded and organizations have been suffering since before the pandemic. This new plan aims to fix that, but council member Ed Driggs said it missed the mark.
"There are many details just missing. It’s not really a plan," Driggs said to WCNC Charlotte. "It's sort of a statement of goals and priorities."
Arts and culture are vital for making any city a place people want to live and visit. Public art, performances, and exhibits are more than fun things to do. The artists and organizations behind them boost the economy.
"That not only includes jobs," explained Charlotte's arts and culture officer Priya Sircar. "It includes spending that happens by these organizations to produce and share their work, but also it’s the impact of when people are going to see a performance or exhibition and are also eating out at the local restaurant."
A study by Americans for the Arts and the Arts & Science Council found arts and culture nonprofits in Mecklenburg County generated more than $450 million in 2022.
However, Sircar said just a few years ago, the arts were suffering from a lack of funding.
"We look at those dollar amounts and they had really dropped precipitously over the previous 10 to 12 years," Sircar said.
That’s why the arts and culture plan was created: To ensure artists and organizations have public and private funding opportunities and can thrive long-term.
"It's a 10-year vision and detailed path toward a stable sector-- a sustainable, not just stable, but sustainable sector over the next 10 years," Sircar added.
The Charlotte City Council accepted the plan in November but two members voted against it, including Driggs.
Sircar admitted to WCNC Charlotte that many details, including financial needs, still need to be figured out. Driggs argued the plan was meant to iron that information out, but it instead kicks the can down the road.
"It's just unfortunate that that allocation process didn't get included in this plan," Driggs said. "Because our goal with the plan was basically for the city to state certain priorities, make certain financial commitments, and then let the arts community decide what the best allocation of the money was."
Several details, including funding needs, will now be worked out by the city’s Arts and Culture Advisory Board and during the budget process.
Sircar said she’s hoping for at least $12 million annually from all revenue sources, which includes the city, county, and private partners.