Charlotte Art League roiled by money issues, eviction risk, entire board quitting

The city’s oldest nonprofit art gallery is in turmoil. It faces eviction because of months of unpaid dues and grapples with the resignation of its entire board, three former board members of the Charlotte Art League told The Charlotte Observer.

The en masse resignation was “an unprecedented situation,” art league executive director Jim Dukes wrote to member artists in a December letter obtained by the Observer.

The board members said they were unaware that the group owed some $200,000 in rent on its NoDa home until the property manager notified them in early November. Since then, the entire 13-member board of directors and at least two staff members resigned from the 59-year-old group, the board members said.

The three board members asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution within the arts community.

“It’s with my deepest regrets that I have arrived at the nadir in my service to the board and Charlotte Art League,” read one resignation letter. “... In the light of the recent developments around our true financial state, it’s unfitting for me to continue in my role.”

The Observer asked Dukes about the eviction risk, the resignations and the financial concerns expressed by board members in their resignation letters.

In an email on Friday, Dukes did not respond to those question. Instead he sent the following:

“I am in receipt of your email containing statements and allegations made against me by the former directors of the Charlotte Art League. As to the statements and allegations that you made available to me through your email, I am issuing a formal denial of these allegations and statements, which are false and defamatory. Otherwise, I do not wish to comment further on an ongoing potential dispute.”

Big building, big money

Founded in 1965, the Charlotte Art League spent decades on Camden Road in South End. In 2022, it found a new home in NoDa in a space near East Sugar Creek Road and the Blue Line light rail extension.

There, the league’s downstairs gallery area can accommodate 54 artists with studios and wall display spaces. The building also houses a digital arts accelerator that provides space for conferences, podcasting and video and photo shoots.

By late last year, the art league owed building owner Flywheel Group more than $200,000, stated a Nov. 14 letter to Dukes from Trinity Partners, the property manager.

“This letter shall serve as official notice that Tenant has not met its financial obligations under the Lease by failing to pay the Landlord... ” the letter states. “As of the date of this letter, Tenant has outstanding financial obligations to the Landlord of $200,993.65 (the past rent due).”

Flywheel officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The Charlotte Art League had $37,200 in net revenue in fiscal year 2019, according to publicly available IRS nonprofit tax documents. It had a net loss of $21,600 the following year. And in fiscal year 2021, the most recent of data available online, it had a gross revenue of $219,300 while finishing in the black with $20,300 net revenue.

Before the mass exodus, the art league’s board developed a repayment plan, documents show. In that document, board members said campaign drives, grants and money from private foundations could raise $100,000 by June 2024.

They also wanted to review the possibility of being released from the building lease, keeping only the studio rental spaces, the repayment plan memo stated.

Less than a month later, the entire board of directors had resigned.

“Unfortunately, since moving into our new space, we have been challenged to meet our financial projections and are needing to make some changes going forward,” Dukes wrote in a Dec. 19 letter to member artists. “As some may have heard, our current board made the decision to resign. This is an unprecedented situation.”

The Charlotte Observer reviewed four of the resignation letters. Three cite Dukes’ unwillingness to share financial information as a reason for their departure.

About Jim Dukes

In June 2020, Dukes became just the league’s second executive director after joining the group the previous fall as its community manager. He succeeded Cindy Connelly, who had led the group since 2004.

Dukes spoke with the Observer then about his desire to make the organization into one of the city’s most diverse and engaged creative studio spaces. At the time, the league had more than 200 emerging and veteran members in a variety of mediums: jewelry, mixed media, paint, photography, sculpture, silks, spoken word and textiles.

When the art league announced in April 2020 that Dukes would be its next leader, the group described him in a news release as “an artist with a passion for bringing the community together.”

The group noted that Dukes had been a civil engineer who had worked in Iraq with a defense contractor, defusing bombs then later as a radiological emergency response team leader. But after sustaining five traumatic brain injuries, Dukes had to re-learn how to walk and talk, the art league stated.

“While the analytical side of my brain slowed somewhat in the aftermath, the creative side flourished,” Dukes stated in the news release.

He had told the Observer he found a love for photography after seeing how veterans used art to heal.

Defending Dukes and the art league

One of the artists in the league defended Dukes and the organization.

“They’ll do everything they can to not close the doors,” said Ida Mae Irby, a league member for about five years. “I feel like they’re being transparent.”

Just two weeks ago, she said, the league told members it was taking steps to relocate and fill its board seats.

Earlier this year, Dukes formed an advisory committee to “assess the state of the Charlotte Art League.”

The committee would review the league’s financial documents and revenue streams, Dukes wrote in a January memo to artists. In the memo, he listed this year’s goals for the art league. They include identifying a new board of directors and hiring new staff.

“In full transparency, the vacancies left by the departures of our team members and abrupt resignation of the Board of Directors leaves CAL in a precarious situation of self-governance,” Dukes wrote.

Irby said she believes Dukes’ vision for a large Raleigh Street venue that could accommodate big events and multiple shows in open space may have been too much for a nonprofit that relies on donations to help stay afloat.

“It’s a beautiful experience for the community, it just hasn’t been consistent,” said Irby, who also helps lead watercolor and figure drawing classes. “It’s what he said it could be, and it could be even more.”

The new venture in the heart of NoDa offered a lot of opportunity for income and growth, she said, but big turnouts just didn’t happen.

“(The league is ) a huge pillar of the community with a wonderful reputation,” Irby said.

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