“The vision is a community arts hub – visual, performing arts, hyper-local. We anticipate that this 4237 community arts hub will be that now and for at least the next 15, 20, 30 years and maybe forever …” – Tony Kuhn, Flywheel Group, LLC

 

Something interesting is taking place off E. Sugar Creek Rd. — the creation of an arts cluster intended to be the foundation of a new development. It blends cultural organizations and businesses with future retail, office and residential space along the light rail ling just north of NoDa. This interaction of business and creativity was the perfect chance for The Biscuit and The Charlotte Ledger to team up and explore the possibilities.

The Charlotte Art League — which is already housed in this area — is working with developers from Flywheel Group, LLC,  to establish this new arts hub. In June, they expect to move across the street into a shared facility with The Independent Picture House, OSO Skate Park and AerialCLT.

In today’s batch of the Biscuit CLT Podcast, Tim Miner (The Biscuit) and Tony Mecia (The Charlotte Ledger) chat with Jim Dukes of Charlotte Art League and Tony Kuhn of Flywheel Group. They discuss partnership and community placemaking, They also explore the challenges medium-sized art institutions and individual creatives have faced recently in affordable, long-term space, and how developers can step up to meet those needs.

This podcast was cooked up in partnership with