On any given day, you can pull up your favorite streaming app, search for the ever timeless Ms. Lauryn Hill, press play on Lost Ones and listen as she kicks off one of the most surgical verses of all time:
“It’s funny how money change a situation…”
lAURYN hILL
Take that one bar, fast forward 23 years and it still speaks to the miseducation between Charlotte’s city leaders and its larger arts community. After years of trials, hard lessons and growth, the Black and brown artists of Charlotte have made some incredible strides regarding visibility, accessibility and opportunity. However, that hasn’t come without decisions that raised questions about the future.
Enter Charlotte’s first ever Arts and Culture Officer, Priya Sircar. A dancer and filmmaker herself, Priya also has an impressive resume with over 20 years of proven work in arts investments and philanthropy. With Charlotte reaching yet another crossroads, Priya is primed to serve as a real-world liaison between city government and its artist citizens.
THE BLOCK had the opportunity to catch up with Priya exactly one week before her official debut in the Queen City and get a small glimpse into what drives the woman now seated in a specially-created chair, between the right-brain culture creators and the left-brain policy makers.
With parents originally from India, Priya was born in Toronto, raised in Texas and is starting her new career in Charlotte by way of New York and Miami. Formerly serving as the director of arts for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in Miami, Priya isn’t exactly green to ‘The Four,’ as she has been quietly building connections through the Knight’s field office in downtown Charlotte on North Tryon.
“I was able to come to Charlotte several times and work with artists and organizations over the past few years. My first trip to Charlotte was actually back in early 2019 over at a brewery, I think, by Camp North End. We had a meet and greet, and we thought we’d be lucky if we got 30-35 people out on a Monday. But lo and behold, nearly 75 artists came out, and they spent over four hours with us!” Priya told THE BLOCK.
Intimate mixers like that would prove to pique Priya’s interest into what more the city could possibly offer to its creative community.
“That experience always stuck with me. It was such a vibrant group of people. A diverse group of people in terms of race, ethnicity, background and artistic discipline,” Priya continued. “So fast forward a little bit, that prompted us to develop a new funding mechanism that was new for Knight called Celebrate Charlotte Arts. This was specifically a way to support what we observed and where we felt we could make an impact in the Charlotte arts community.”
That initial program led to Priya engaging with other Charlotte events like BOOM, amongst others, and ultimately sealed the deal.
“I became really passionate about [Charlotte’s arts culture]. When this position became available, I was absolutely interested. My background includes cultural planning, and that is one of the main mandates I have in this role. In my past life, I’ve been a consultant in arts and culture, where I focused on organizational strategy and community cultural planning,” Priya declared.
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Art is inherently the antithesis of government. How does one structure creativity? Perhaps the city is starting to realize that you can’t allow your arts and culture-driving neighborhoods to be willingly gentrified, name a street Picasso Court and pretend like nothing happened.
One of Priya’s primary tasks will be overseeing citywide cultural planning. An objective slated to align objectives between the 704’s (and 980, I guess) creatives, arts organizations, community members, corporate and nonprofit partners and elected officials. Because of Charlotte’s horrid past of systematically erasing BIPOC culture and voices, THE BLOCK asked Priya what the Black and brown creatives in Charlotte can expect for the future:
“What I hope to do with cultural planning directly relates to my personal connection to the arts. I have been lucky to have opportunities when I was growing up to learn the arts and be involved in lots of things; and unfortunately, a lot of folks don’t have that same access—and here lately, that’s been less and less.
A lot of kids don’t have the exposure that I had and then, because of the many other things that I’ve been fortunate to be able to do, I am passionate about making sure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to try new things and get that exposure,” Priya affirmed.
Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture is something that artists have to do quite often. Governments frequently have trouble trying to do that. Fortunately, with Priya, the city of Charlotte is gaining an official who understands the tango between the micro and the macro.
“When I first began my career it was in fundraising for a non-profit in public health. It was a really great training ground for me in a lot of ways. One of the things I became clued into was taking a step back and looking at the larger picture of all the different kinds of things that affect systems.
“So then, I became interested in policies that affect conditions that we are operating under and then advocacy for those policies. Questions like ‘Who makes the decisions?’ or ‘Who does the planning?’” Priya expounded.
That’s exactly the type of thinking the city needs.
As the future plays out and Priya settles into her role, she will be head liaison for Charlotte’s new Arts and Culture Advisory Board. This soon-to-be 18-member board will be divided as three selected by the Charlotte mayor, six by Charlotte City Council and the remaining nine by the private sector.
While she has the track record proving she is more than capable of succeeding in this role, the task isn’t going to be any easier without the city granting Priya the tools she needs. The main tools being our voices. Our history, our current experiences and our goals. Like the second bar of Ms. Lauryn’s verse goes, “Miscommunication leads to complication.”
… and we’ve had enough losses.
It’s time to win one for a change.
Connect with Priya on LinkedIn or follow her on Instagram.
For more information on the Arts & Culture Advisory Board visit here.
