WFAE says BOOM Charlotte Founder Wants to See Local Artists Prioritized Here’s an excerpt:
Published September 19, 2021
WFAE | By Sam Carnes | Queens University News Service
As the city of Charlotte rethinks the way it supports the arts, a grassroots organizer offers a simple point of view.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, BOOM Charlotte moved from a fringe art festival to collaborative projects…
Prioritize Charlotte artists and art created here.
Manoj Kesavan formalized BOOM Charlotte just before the Democratic National Convention in 2012, creating festivals and programs of inclusion, diversity and collaboration among artists and communities. It helps artists work on a scale they cannot accomplish by themselves.
“What you see in a lot of the uptown institutions is that they are a window to the larger art world,” Kesavan said in early September. “We won’t be able to see a big retrospective from abroad if not for the Mint Museum, because it takes millions of dollars to bring something like that. Or ‘Hamilton’ coming to Blumenthal. That’s how we get to experience the big stuff. It’s also unfair to say that they should feature local artists because I don’t think that’s what they’re built for.”
Read more on the WFAE website »