HUB Biscuit
SHOUT! Chic Workroom
What’s happening ON the streets is cool.
What’s happening ABOVE the streets is ground-breaking.By now, you know that Charlotte SHOUT! takes over the streets of Uptown Charlotte for 17 days. At Charlotte Is Creative, we’re always excited to take part in SHOUT! It gives hundreds of local artists, performers, creatives, and makers a chance to get involved, get paid, and try their hand at something they’ve never done before… something they can add to their portfolio, resume, and social feeds… something they can get hired to do after SHOUT! And, while we’re excited about the hundreds of events in parks and on the street at SHOUT!, it’s what’s going on ABOVE the streets this year that really has us buzzing. Everything Old is New Again in The Overstreet MallIf you’re a long-time Charlottean or you work Uptown, you know of the Overstreet Mall, a string of retail shops that’s been winding around inside skyscrapers along Tryon and College streets for nearly 50 years. If you’ve not been there before, now’s the time to explore. The COVID-19 pandemic was not kind to the Overstreet Mall. Several retail spaces along its corridors are now vacant. So, the SHOUT! organizing team at Charlotte Center City Partners had a bold idea: create The SHOUT! HUB. That is, invite local creative groups into vacant space to set up pop-up shops during the month of April. Curated by five art collectives, the HUB offers a blend of local art, fashion, and interactive experiences in the 200 S. College Building. And, downstairs at the intersection of 4th and College Streets, CMS has established a gallery of exceptional visual art from CMS art teachers and students alike. And, whether it’s rain or shine during SHOUT!, the HUB is open for business. WHO’S WHO IN THE HUB?Meet the spaces inside the SHOUT! HUB and the creatives who curated them: 
SHOUT! Chic and Fashion Row
Curated by Will White The hallways of the Overstreet Mall in 200 S. College St. are lined with 15 embellished mannequins, each bearing an ornate, original fashion look created by one of 13 Charlotte-based designers. SHOUT! Chic features a streetwear pop-up shop and an eveningwear/separates atelier (workshop) featuring live weekend workshops hosted by the designers themselves. 
TAC Gallery
Curated by Matt Alvis Featuring Charlotte artists with a focus on modern, pop, and non-traditional art forms, every square inch of the TAC Gallery in The Hub is covered in locally-created art and goods for sale. This is the place to find your new favorite Queen City maker. 
Making her way Uptown from her creative kingdom in Concord, Kat Cornelius (A.K.A. TuxedoKat) has established a space where you don’t just look at art, you dive in and make it. Offering sessions designed to inspire, like “Wu Wei: A Workshop in Effortless Action” and the vibrant “Neon Disco Puddle Party,” Kat wants visitors to her space to immerse themselves in colorful expression. 
Credit: Tajmah Allison
Normally, Nine Eighteen Nine Studio Gallery makes its home on North Tryon Street in the VAPA Center (which is also part of SHOUT! in 2024). But, like the Uptown Imaginarium above, curator JoAnne Rogers designed her corner of the HUB to feature a dynamic array of arts events, including exhibits, markets, workshops, and performances. 
At the center of “Symbiosis: Resilience and Renewal in Art” is a beautiful, new work of mandala art painted on the floor of what once was a taco restaurant. During SHOUT!, the space showcases diverse artwork ranging from nature-inspired paintings to sculptures embodying the human spirit’s resilience. 
WHY IS THE HUB IMPORTANT?
Visitors to SHOUT! can watch Charlotte-area creatives at work and buy their work. And, hopefully, the HUB will model how vacant and disused commercial and retail space Uptown and across the city can be given new life by creatives (if the rent is affordable). If this idea takes hold, it could offer thousands of artists places to work, sell, gather and perform. WHY DOES IT EXCITE US?
See the above answer. We love it when people experience local art. We like it more when they can purchase it. And, we’re over the moon when makers and creators are given a chance to demonstrate how they can bring new life to forgotten, underused and underappreciated spaces. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT IT?
This one’s easy: VISIT. Head to the HUB during SHOUT! Show creatives you care that they’re there. Buy their work and commission more work. Find a new favorite maker you can support with words of encouragement and cold hard cash. HOW DO I GET THERE?
There are several ways. One is to head to the SHOUT! Lounge at the corner of E. Fourth and College Streets. Another is to is through Disc Plaza at the intersection of Trade & Tryon Streets. - On the 101 Block of South Tryon Street, look for Essex Bar & Bistro and the giant gold disc (“Il Grande Disco”).
- Walk into the plaza between those two points. Head toward the trees (on your right) and through the front door.
- Once inside, a Walgreens will be in your line of sight. Take a right and head down the corridor with businesses on your right (like Which Wich) and your left (like the Beehive).
- This corridor will take you across a glass bridge over Fourth Street into the 200 S. College building.
Once you pass the white-walled elevator bank on your left, the HUB and all its shops will be right in front of you. 
Last Thursday, Charlotte Is Creative, in partnership with Divine Barrel Brewing and Applesauce Group, unveiled a new 12-foot mural by artist Tiara Mitchell at the 6th installment of The Drop.
The new work, called “Let ‘Em Dance” features the mixed media of paint and wheat paste. In keeping with the mission of Applesauce Group, the work drew inspiration from the “Black Joy” inherent to West Charlotte communities. READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE.
The mural will be on display at Divine Barrel through June, at which point it will be featured on the label of a new beer can distributed across the Carolinas. The Drop is made possible by funding from the North Carolina Arts Council with a Spark the Arts grant. | The Biscuit is proudly sponsored by: |
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