Charlotte’s Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture is seeing more patrons after an initial slump in attendance due to COVID-19. Plus, the center recently got a $1 million grant. All of that helped the Gantt prevent layoffs and survive the pandemic.
Check out these incredible celebrations during Black History Month and beyond to learn more about the outstanding contributions and legacies of African and African-American people throughout history.
In 2021, just when things were looking up on the pandemic front, new COVID-19 variants showed up. While the region is pulling itself out of the pandemic, slowly but surely, Charlotte's cultural institutions are still coping with the upheaval of the virus. WFAE asked some movers and shakers in the Queen City arts and culture scene for their thoughts on 2022.
Another fatal police shooting occurred last weekend. Another fatal shooting involving a white officer and a Black man. Jason Walker was shot and killed in Fayetteville by an off-duty Cumberland County sheriff’s deputy.Walker’s family is mourning while searching for answers. That includes Walker’s cousin, Charlotte artist de’Angleo Dia. He’s been involved in protests in Charlotte for other shooting deaths. He never dreamed he would be dealing with a police shooting from this perspective.
Joni Deutsch is happy to call Charlotte home as WFAE's manager for on-demand content and audience engagement, where she's led the first Charlotte Podcast Festival and helped produce such podcasts as FAQ City, SouthBound, Inside Politics, Work It and the Apple Podcast chart-topping series She Says. In addition to being an NPR Music contributor, Joni is also the creator and host of WFAE’s Charlotte music podcast Amplifier.