Harvey B. Gantt Center CEO David Taylor to retire

HARVEY B. GANTT CENTER

David Taylor, who initially took the job as Harvey B. Gantt Center president as a short-term career move, will retire on Dec. 31 after 14 years in the position.

David Taylor, who intended to lead the Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture on a short-term basis, is retiring after 14 years.

 
Taylor, who plans to step down as president and CEO on Dec. 31, has been the public face of the institution starting as board chair from 2004–06 and interim executive director when it was the Afro-American Cultural Center. Taylor represented the Gantt in the public/private partnership that funded the Levine Center for the Arts and in the selection of Freelon Group Architects to build its 46,500 square foot campus. When Gantt Center’s board recruited him in 2009 to take over as president, he did so with the intention of serving for a short term.   

“When I joined the Gantt in 2009, I was so proud to see that the vision of the Uptown Charlotte location had become a reality,” he said in a statement. “My plan was to lead the organization for three years, however, the many amazing opportunities opening up for the Gantt through the years kept me here.  I realized that there would never be ‘a right time’ to retire, but with plans firmly in place for the Gantt’s yearlong 50th anniversary celebration, and beyond, I am confident that the institution will thrive and I can embark on my next chapter.”   

As CEO, Taylor grew the Gantt Center’s budget from $790,000 to $4 million and led the Vibrance endowment campaign that raked in $1 million gifts from Bank of America, Duke Energy, Knight Foundation, retired BofA CEO Hugh McColl and Carolina Panthers founder Jerry Richardson.  

The Gantt also made strides in programming, highlighting the works of well-known masters like Charlotte-born Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Henry Ossawa Turner while bringing in contemporary artists such as Radcliffe Bailey, Jonathan Green, Sam Gilliam and Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons. The center also launched the Gantt Symposium that brought in scholars and cultural giants like Common, Henry Louis Gates, Hill Harper, Iyanla Vanzant, and Cornel West.   

The Gantt also launched its Initiative for Equity + Innovation in response to the 2016 Keith Scott shooting, which includes the Gantt Teacher Institute that has helped more than 500 area educators build more equitable classrooms.

"It is with mixed emotions that we bid farewell to David," Gantt Center board chair Jim Dunn said in a statement. "The Gantt has seen transformational growth under his leadership and our institution will continue to positively impact the lives of people in our region because of the strong foundation he built.

“He is leaving us well positioned to continue to ensure that the African American experience is shared and valued.  We are deeply grateful for his commitment to the arts and to the community."

Taylor also championed the Gantt’s role as a showcase space for emerging artists. The center hosted Visual Vanguard, a biennial exhibition for Carolinas artists in 2021 and my Presence is Presence earlier this year.  Local visual artists, notably muralists Georgi Nakima and Abel Jackson got the opportunities to show their work.

He also worked to integrate digital arts into the Gantt’s curriculum by transforming the arts classroom into Mecca of Digital Arts, a digital arts studio that expanded the center’s reach.  

“I believe the arts can be the bridge that narrows the cultural divide that exists among us,” Taylor said.  

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