Writer: Joshua Andino
2 min read December 2022 — Charlotte’s first ever international arts festival (CIAF) was an artistic and economic success. Now, the Queen City can look forward to another CIAF windfall for 2023 and beyond.
Spearheaded by the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and an opportunity to demonstrate Charlotte’s artistic pedigree, the two-and-a-half-week event provided a spotlight for a number of the city’s cultural sites as well as a platform for local and international artists to show their work through a multisite event from Sept. 16 until Oct. 2. For 17 days, Charlotte witnessed performances and exhibitions across the area, from Uptown to Ballantyne’s Backyard, making the event accessible to a wide swath of Charlotte residents and out-of-town visitors.
While the event was the first of its kind, Blumenthal has helped coordinate and lead events throughout Charlotte in the past, including the Charlotte Jazz Festival and Charlotte Shout! The festival included both free and ticketed events. Featured acts included Architects of Air, which ran for the duration of the festival and allowed visitors to walk through color-saturated, labyrinthine tunnels at Ballantyne’s Backyard, as well as Blue Lapis Light at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Government Center, with dancers swinging from the 12-story building and projections mapped across the facade.
In all, the inaugural CIAF included over 200 attractions. For the city, it was a major boon to the arts, culture and tourism sector, which saw thousands of visitors throughout the month patronizing local restaurants and shops, while Blumenthal itself saw sales totaling 1,292 pints of its signature Brush Stroke beer, brewed specifically for the CIAF in conjunction with Heist Brewery. In all, the festival’s acts represented more than 10 countries. Ticketed events saw guests from 266 cities in the Carolinas and 41 states across the country, as well as Washington, D.C. International visitors from the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain and a host of others were in attendance. Tom Gabbard, CEO of the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, said the broad attendance was vindication of what is now Blumenthal’s largest event. “In Charlotte, I’ve never heard as many different languages spoken as I did wandering through the crowds that turned out at Ballantyne’s Backyard to enjoy the big art and free shows there. All this proved that, with CIAF, we’re creating something wonderful for our entire community.”
CIAF is the latest in Blumenthal’s repertoire of events that help make it an over-$50 million economic engine for Charlotte. According to the most recent data available from Arts & Economic Prosperity 5, the 2017 report on the economic impact of Charlotte’s creative engine, the region’s creative industry is a $216-million driver for the area, while the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center alone hosts thousands of events annually between its theaters, classes and meeting rooms, as well as its 16 Resident Companies. Gabbard told Invest: in a statement,”One of our primary goals with presenting CIAF was getting people back to work after devastating layoffs and economic hardship in the local arts community and beyond with COVID-19. In addition to employing local artists for pop-up performances on Levine Avenue of the Arts and the Blumenthal Fellowship Program, with CIAF being, for many, their first time back performing or showing work post-pandemic, Blumenthal invested in the City of Charlotte by employing local stagehands, security officers, booking hotels for visiting artists, and more. We view CIAF as a major success and boost for the local economy across industries.”
The inaugural CIAF hosted 31 ticketed events and 176 free pop-ups across the city, including locations at SouthPark Mall, Levine Avenue of the Arts, Government Center, Romare Bearden Park, Uptown Charlotte and Ballantyne’s Backyard. Between event logistics and management, 319 jobs were created and the estimated economic impact for the city, with $200,000 in payments to local artists to show their work, making a major economic impact in the local community.
The event’s success has led organizers at Blumenthal and local partners to announce a new series of dates for next year’s CIAF, which will take place between Sept. 15 through Oct. 1. Gabbard noted that the success of the CIAF demonstrated the Queen City’s appetite for high quality, annual programming. “The launch of CIAF exceeded our expectations in every way, demonstrating that our region is eager to embrace this big new idea for a high-quality, annual festival celebrating creativity, community, and international cultures.”
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