It’s an interesting time to be involved in Charlotte’s arts and culture community.
SHOUT! Now. Share Soon. Celebrate Later.It’s an interesting time to be involved in the arts and culture community in Charlotte.Today starts the second quarter of 2022. (HOW did that happen so fast?) And, it also marks the first day of Charlotte SHOUT!, a 17-day arts festival taking over uptown.* TWO ARTISTIC BOOKENDS
While there are some amazing national and international installations and performers headed here for SHOUT!, organizers created nearly 200 opportunities for local creatives to get involved. That truly excites us. We’re also excited that Blumenthal Performing Arts has announced the creation of the inaugural Charlotte International Arts Festival, another 17-day arts and culture extravaganza headed to the Queen City Sept. 16 to Oct. 2. These are two creative flashpoints – and amazing bookends – for a big year here. We hope you’re excited about both of these, but it’s also what’s happening between them that we hope you don’t miss. DON’T SLEEP ON A BUSY SUMMER
After SHOUT! ends and before the International Arts Festival begins, there will be a wide array of local arts events (like Charlotte BOOM, April 22 and 23, at Camp North End), big and small. But, there’s also the work the City of Charlotte’s Arts & Culture Advisory Board** is doing right now. The group is in the process of determining how Infusion Funds will be distributed in July and will soon select a firm to lead the development of a cultural master plan. Both are significant milestones … and both provide you opportunities to participate. If you’re a cultural arts organization, an arts nonprofit or an independent creative, there will be opportunities for you to apply for funding. Read more about what’s happening on the Board’s web page. And, whether you’re one of the above or a citizen who loves the arts, your voice is truly needed. The cultural arts plan will offer many opportunities for the public to share their thoughts, concerns, ideas, frustrations, hopes and more in open forums. All of this data will guide the master plan. There’s no schedule for these meetings yet. We’ll keep you posted. And, we’ll want to see you and hear you at them. Now is the time to collaborate so we can create for years to come. PLUG IN. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS. COLLABORATE.
This year does, indeed, have two huge arts events to bookend it. We’re confident they’ll be fun … they’ll be amazing … and they’ll help all of us fall deeper in love with Charlotte’s creative community. Show up. Have an incredible time. But it’s those middle chapters and the public forums that are critical to writing the creative legacy of our city. We hope you’ll show up for those, too. We can’t promise they’ll be fun. But, they will, we hope, lay the foundation of a future where there is no doubt that Charlotte is a community of amazing creative prowess. One that sees all people. That is equitable. And, that is built for stability and growth for our creatives and our cultural organizations. All good things, Tim Miner & Matt Olin
Co-Founders of Charlotte Is Creative *Charlotte Is Creative is working with SHOUT! on several projects, most notably our partnership with Upcycle Arts on The Queen’s Greens Putt Putt Course, featuring art made of recycled materials from nine local artists, at Wells Fargo Plaza. **Tim Miner is a City Council-appointed member of the Arts & Culture Board.
Super-sized season2022–2023 PNC Broadway Lights Series and Equitable Bravo Series bring more works to the stage than ever before“Charlotte audiences welcomed Broadway back this past season with open arms. Now, we’re going all out and bringing even more shows for our audiences to enjoy. What all of these shows have in common is the transcendent entertainment of theater. We are so excited for our audiences to experience the best and brightest of Broadway with these spectacular productions.” – Tom Gabbard, Blumenthal President & CEO
Musical and theater fans can rejoice about the 2022-23 season the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center recently announced. Seventeen shows, including current Broadway smashes – SIX and MJ – are part of the PNC Broadway Lights Series, Equitable Bravo Series and Broadway Extras. And subscribers have flexibility to swap out some of their tickets for other shows. Broadway is back – and so is the Blumenthal. And they’re bigger and better than ever! 
PHOTO ABOVE: Abby Mueller (Jane Seymour), Samantha Pauly (Katherine Howard), Adrianna Hicks (Catherine of Aragon), Andrea Macasaet (Anne Boleyn), Brittney Mack (Anna of Cleves), & Anna Uzele (Catherine Parr) in the Broadway production of SIX, a new musical by Toby Marlow & Lucy Moss, co-directed by Lucy Moss & Jamie Armitage, and choreographed by Carrie-Anne Ingrouille. This story was sponsored by Blumenthal Performing Arts.
Opening April 1, 6-9 PM
Camp North End Raceway RACONTEUSE, which means “female storyteller,” is the culmination of Project Protégé’s inaugural 10-week mentorship program for emerging creatives and will feature the work of artists Emily Núñez, Claire Kiester, Abena Atiemo, Mahala Rosen and Jaillin Johnson. They have collaborated to create an immersive show that invites you to step into different worlds and perspectives from a wide array of Charlotteans. Charlotte Is Creative (publisher of The Biscuit) was honored to award protégés with $250 micro-grants to help bring their installations to life. MORE HERE.
Three Local Creatives Receive HUG Micro-Grants in MarchEach month at the gathering of CreativeMornings/Charlotte, Charlotte Is Creative (the nonprofit publisher of The Biscuit) awards HUGS – Helpful Unfettered Gifts – to local creatives and nonprofit organizations. HUGs are $250 micro-grants to help remove an obstacle to a creative project’s success. With the help of sponsors and individual donors, Charlotte Is Creative has awarded nearly 350 HUGs since June 2017. In March, we recognized three creatives: Emily Cloutier
Creative Discipline: Photography
IG: @emilycloutierphotography Cloutier is using her HUG to replace a lens for her six-year-old camera equipment. During COVID-19, Cloutier was the driving force behind front porch portraits. She drove to people’s houses to take a socially distanced family portrait to lift their spirits. Justin Hicks
Creative Discipline: Visual Arts
IG: @jhicks_0113 Hicks has created an interactive, virtual art exhibition dedicated to documenting the stories of former residents of the Black community known as Brooklyn. His HUG will help secure a Web domain and QR code for the virtual elements of the exhibition. Cory Marshman
Creative Discipline: Craft and Fashion
Instagram: @foxandbearceramics Marshman is working to purchase silicone and plaster to produce new molds he can use to create ceramic mugs. The HUG will give him the ability to purchase two gallons of silicone, allowing him to make “mother molds” that expand his design offerings. March HUG grants were made possible by donations from Hot Sake and Kristen Miranda, host of QC Life on WBTV. The HUG Micro-Grant program is sponsored by NoDa Brewing, Google Fiber, the LendingTree Foundation and donations from creative companies and individuals. To donate a HUG or apply for one yourself, visit HUGGrant.com
After weeks of talking about SHOUT! … today, April 1, the 17-day festival finally kicks off. We’re excited about immersive installations that will be up throughout the festival, like the “Impulse,” see-saws; the spinning tops of “Los Trompos;” the swings at “Mi Casa, Your Casa 2.0” and … of course … the “Easter Eggs on Parade” and “Snails” at Romare Bearden Park. Here are four SHOUT! activations we’re particularly keen on hitting this weekend. For a full calendar of events, visit CharlotteSHOUT.com. ART: Screen Print Your Own T-Shirt with MacFly Fresh
Dates: April 1-16 – Various Times
Venue: SHOUT! Launch & ArtPopGallery at 401 S. Tryon St. One of our favorite parts of SHOUT! 2019 was getting to know about the art of screen-printing from the legends at MacFly Fresh Printing Co. (@macflyfresh). They’re back, selling cool merch and teaching you how to screenprint through a series of hands-on events, like B.Y.O.T. (“Bring Your Own Textile”). MORE HERE. MUSIC: The 100th Tosco Music Party
Date: April 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Knight Theater What started as a music circle in John Tosco’s living room in 1988 has become an enduring and beloved Charlotte tradition. For their centennial “Tosco Music Party,” the TMP team is featuring more than a dozen local, regional and national acts sharing a wide variety of musical genres, plus their beloved brand of singalongs throughout the night. TICKETS AND MORE HERE. IDEAS: Family Day At McColl Center
Date: April 2 at Noon
Venue: McColl Center While most of SHOUT!’s installations and events are on S. Tryon Street, we’re headed north on Saturday to the McColl Center to enjoy gallery tours, open artist studios (including HUG grantees Emily Nunez, Irisol Gonzalez, Taylor Lee Nicholson and Lauren Puckett), hands-on activities, workshops, live music and more. MORE HERE. FOOD: Dine SHOUT!
Dates: April 1-17
Venues: Various We’re sure to get peckish while exploring SHOUT! So, it’s a good thing there are plenty of uptown restaurants to choose from and food trucks stationed at the Square and at the intersection of S. Tryon and MLK Blvd. But, we’re also excited to find our new favorite place to gnosh through Dine SHOUT!, special three-course tasting menus for under $40 at participating locations in uptown and South End. MORE HERE. This content was sponsored by Charlotte SHOUT!
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