Super fascinating interview with UNC-Charlotte grad student Morgan Hammer on Charlotte’s arts scene conducted by Mary Newsom of plancharlotte.org (yes, really). A highlight:
I think about New York, there are some raw areas and a lot of rich people live in other areas, but there’s a lot of connectivity. In Charlotte it’s not all that easy to get around.
That’s something that’s clear. Outside of the clusters in and around uptown, the galleries here are all spread out. Charlotte has experienced much suburbanized development. Maybe the diffusion of galleries prevents the development of a true, local arts district, but they’re spread out for a reason. There aren’t enough affordable spaces for artists to colonize due to the rapid development around uptown, and there aren’t enough remaining “authentic spaces” near the necessary client base. Plus we don’t really have strong public transportation or other urban amenities found in the big-time arts districts.
So what we need is a big chunk of derelict industrial area next to Eastover – which of course we don’t have?
What is industrial is being quickly swept away. One area that may attract artists is the west side – Freedom Drive and that area. A few artists I spoke to said they’ve tried it there, but it’s still so dangerous and too disconnected. It might start to happen there in the next five years or so.
A couple of points: I’m not sure that gallery locations matter as much as they once did, as the Internet has also changed how art is marketed. And I don’t buy the transportation excuse for a second — NoDa rose despite (or because of) its location. Claiming it is too remote now, as Hammer suggest, is, without more, a not particularly logical conclusion.
