‘It’s gonna take... time.’ Charlotte Art League tries to rebuild trust, move past turmoil

After a tempestuous several months of leadership and financial crises, the Charlotte Art League is optimistic that the worst is over.

It reopened recently in a reduced space in NoDa, signaling a relaunch of its work. How successful this latest iteration of the city’s oldest nonprofit art gallery will be remains to be seen.

The group’s internal turmoil garnered unwanted attention in March as the league faced potential eviction and an uncertain future after its entire board quit, putting its leader in the hot seat.

Charlotte Art League has since hired a new leader, elected new board members and is working on remedying its financial woes. And, the new leadership is trying to identify what went wrong to ensure its future.

“We stopped the financial bleeding and right-sized the organization in a way that is manageable and able to grow,” executive director Kate McAllister told The Charlotte Observer during a recent tour of the league’s downsized space.

McAllister was hired in April to lead the art league, a month after the new, six-member board was elected.

In May, the league negotiated a new lease for a smaller footprint with building owner Flywheel Group because the art group owed more than $200,000 in back rent.

“We just had a little too much of this property for our purposes,” she said.

Th 59-year-old gallery re-opened July 12 with 35 pieces by 19 artists lining the long hallway behind Charlotte’s only arthouse cinema, Independent Picture House at 4237 Raleigh St . The exhibit has the not-so-subtle name “(re)birth.”

The art league’s troubles surface

Signs of the league’s internal problems began bubbling to the surface last fall.

A Nov. 14 letter to then executive director Jim Dukes from property manager Trinity Partners said the art league owed $200,994 in back rent, the Observer previously reported.

In December, despite the board developing a repayment plan and reviewing its lease, all 13 members and at least two staff members resigned. Several former board members previously told the Observer that former executive director Jim Dukes had failed to tell them about the art league’s financial concerns.

At the time, Dukes denied “allegations and statements” by the former board members in a statement to the Observer. He did not address specific issues or reply to requests for comment.

Former art league board members like Shani Mojica-Chessen said the league was out of its depth with too much space and venue rental business.

It’s vital for the art league to “stay connected to the mission. It’s all about the artists and the members,” said Mojica-Chessen, league board president from 2021 to 2022.

By April, Dukes resigned. McAllister, who had been operations director from 2019 to 2022, replaced him leading the 59-year-old art group. The league has one other full-time staff member.

“New leadership is going to make a difference,” Mojica-Chessen said. “I think they will do well under Kate’s leadership, I trust Kate and always have.”

Three former board members who had quit declined to comment about the latest changes to the Observer. Several other ex-members did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Stabilization starts with the space

In 2022, the art league had moved from its longtime South End space to NoDa under Duke’s direction.

The main 4,639-square-foot downstairs gallery on Raleigh Street included artist spaces for studios and wall display spaces.

An upstairs area, called the digital arts accelerator, was used for conferences, podcasting, and video and photographer shoots. The art league also managed the large, venue rental space in the back of the building.

“It was an incredible amount of space that CAL could not afford and was not sustainable,” said new art league board president Bo Caudill.

In May, the league and landlord agreed to a new five-year lease with 40% less space, a debt payment plan and reduced monthly rent.

The league’s space now includes the entire back hall, now the gallery, and upstairs area over the cinema, now an “incubator” where artists can rent space and take classes.

The gallery hall is split between a monthly rotating exhibit and artist rented studio and wall exhibit space. There’s room for 29 artists compared to 54 in the former space, McAllister said.

In the upstairs space are several studio and rental cubicles, a classroom, printing room and conference room. There’s also a co-working area .

Changes to ‘rebuild trust’

But its space isn’t the only change the art league said it is making to increase transparency and focus on artists.

“The reason people join CAL is they want to be plugged into the art scene, to collaborate with other artists,” Caudill said. “It’s gonna take a little time to rebuild that trust.”

Among the operational changes are:

▪ Have the treasurer attend monthly finance committee meetings and report to the board.

▪ Create subcommittees with league members and at least one board member.

▪ Form partnerships with businesses and organizations in different neighborhoods to display members’ works.

▪ Offer more art business classes such as copyright, intellectual property laws and grant writing.

The art league also is focusing on growing its membership, which once peaked at 300 but has dwindled since the pandemic to about 100.

“We hope that the growth here builds more excitement for art and coming into this space,” said art league member Vivian Coleman , who was setting up her paintings this month in the new gallery. “I feel like we are only moving forward in a really positive way.

“It’s great to see it coming back to life in its new home.”

The gallery is once again open to the public from 1 to 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays.

‘Let them know we are here’

At its NoDa home, the black block letters for Charlotte Art League no longer hang over the front right doors of the stark white building. The league’s new entrance is around the corner, on the left side of the building. It’s unmarked for now but for a sidewalk sign.

“It’s been a longtime joke that Charlotte Art League is the best-kept secret in Charlotte, and I’m kind of done with that joke,” McAllister said.

Caudill, an attorney who has lived in Charlotte for 15 years, first heard about the art league in March as it faced financial difficulties and impending eviction.

That’s what concerns McAllister most, reaching the community.

“Just letting people know that we are here, we are stabilizing and that we have space available for artists to come and work,” she said. “The leadership has completely changed, and we are doing everything that we can to further art and artists in Charlotte.”

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