The McColl center for visual art was named after the former CEO of Bank of America. He retired a few years ago. Actually he retired in 2001, so he probably wasn't involved too much in this current banking mess.
The location of the McColl center was bought by Bank of America after sitting empty for ten years after a fire destroyed most of the building. It used to be a church downtown. The bank bought it with the intention of creating an urban artist's community, according to the center's website.
The community says that it is committed to being a stand out program where artists can come to be artists and create stuff for the community. The center owns condos across the street from the center that they offer to artists who they want to be artists in residence. To me, that sounds like a pretty sweet deal. They also have two cars that the artists can use when they please.
They have an open door policy, where the public can come by to see the exhibitions free of charge. They also encourage the artists to keep their studios open. They even go so far as to ask the artists to open their studios for several saturdays during their residency for an event where the artist answers questions of the public.
This make it a really neat part of Charlotte's art scene.
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