Justin Dionne, Executive Director, Cain Center for the Arts
In an interview with Invest:, Justin Dionne, executive director of Cain Center for the Arts, discussed significant milestones since its opening, including rapid growth, staff expansion, its first resident company agreement, and the development of new educational and community programs.
What have been the key milestones and achievements for the center since it opened?
We’ve only been open for about a year and a half, so our biggest milestone was truly opening the new center in January 2023. This followed nearly six years of development work, fundraising, design, community building, and business building. In this first year and a half, we’ve grown significantly for a nonprofit arts and cultural organization, even though we still consider ourselves a startup in some ways. Recently, we’ve hired three new full-time staff members, indicating our growth and scaling efforts. The first year was about learning operations and getting things right, despite the inevitable challenges of opening a new venue.
Over the past 12 months, we’ve added capacity and announced our first-ever resident company agreement with Davidson Community Players. This local theater company now has a multiyear rental agreement with us for their shows and educational programs. We continue to present roughly 50 or more performances a year. We’re also expanding our facilities. We’re under contract for new properties a block down the street to expand our education and ceramics programs. This involves renovating historic houses in downtown Cornelius. Additionally, our community impact programs, such as free music lessons for kids and affordable ticket programs, continue to grow.
How do you view the landscape of arts and culture in the Lake Norman region, and how is Cain Center positioning itself?
The arts and cultural scene in the Lake Norman area, which we define as North Mecklenburg, South Iredell, East Lincoln, and West Cabarrus counties, is experiencing significant growth. This 25-mile diameter region centered on downtown Cornelius includes cities like Mooresville, Denver, Concord, Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville. There’s a lot of fantastic growth here, with many families and businesses moving in. Infrastructure is developing, creating vibrant downtown areas. Our mission includes being an economic development driver for downtown Cornelius, and it’s exciting to see new projects and construction coming up.
Our role is to serve the community. As the community grows, we must grow to meet its needs. From an arts and cultural standpoint, we’re not bringing arts and culture to an area that had none, but we are injecting more capacity, options, and opportunities. For instance, Davidson Community Players, a 50-year-old community theater, now performs three to four shows a year in our 400-seat venue, allowing it to grow its audience. We also host a local church every Sunday, providing the organization with a space to grow. Our goal is to position Cain Center as a leader in the arts and culture sector. We aim to earn the community’s trust, so when people think of cultural activities in the Lake Norman region, they think of us first. We want to be the go-to place for cultural events and initiatives.
What are the challenges for the center and the broader arts and culture sector, and what strategies do you have in place to navigate them?
There’s often a disconnect between arts and culture inside Charlotte and outside of it. While we, as cultural leaders, communicate and support each other, there’s a broader issue of awareness and advocacy. We work hard to advocate for public funding. Established organizations in Charlotte, like the Charlotte Ballet and the Symphony, are well-known and have a long history. In contrast, people are less aware of the arts and culture options available in the Lake Norman area. Our challenge is to raise awareness and ensure that funding sources and corporate sponsors recognize the value the arts have in our community. We do have fantastic corporate sponsors, but being new, we are still working to establish our brand recognition so that the community knows who we are and the value we bring to our region.
How is the center fostering community engagement?
We have a comprehensive community impact program with core pillars developed in our year and a half of operation. One key program is our community music lesson initiative, which is part of our broader approach to community engagement. While we don’t build houses or feed the hungry, we connect with other nonprofit organizations to offer artistic experiences. For example, we partner with Health and Human Services nonprofits to bring art to the people they serve. We work with various local organizations, such as the Ada Jenkins Center, the Smithville Community Coalition, and the Neighborhood CARE Center, providing programs like free music lessons for kids. We’ve also collaborated with Hinds Feet Farm, a nonprofit that helps people with traumatic brain injuries. We hosted an art exhibit in our main gallery featuring work created by their residents, which was a powerful community experience.
This year, we’re planning an extensive exhibit focusing on the Indigenous peoples of North and South Carolina. It will include art, cultural pieces, and performances, beginning with the Charlotte premiere of a documentary about the history of Indigenous people in the region. We strive to create real, meaningful experiences for our community, offering summer camp scholarships and affordable tickets through our partner organizations. Our goal is to provide genuine representation and community engagement through the arts.
What is the long-term vision for the center over the next three to five years?
Our board and organization approved our 2030 strategic plan in June. This plan doesn’t mean we’re done in 2030; it’s just a framework for the next phase. Every year, we reevaluate to see if we need to make adjustments. By 2030, our goal is to double our impact. If 20,000 people come through our doors this year, we want 40,000 by 2030. If we’re serving 100 families with scholarships and access to shows, we aim to reach at least 200 by then. There are many strategies and core competencies we’ll focus on to achieve this vision, but the overarching goal is growth in response to our community’s needs. We aim to be seen as the cultural catalyst north of I-485. When people think of arts and culture in this region, we want Cain Center to be the first thing that comes to mind. Whether it’s connecting artists to the public, presenting their work, or supporting them with professional development, we want to be the go-to resource.
In the spring of 2025, we plan to launch this artist professional development program, with offerings like featuring a talk from a local lawyer about contracts to help up-and-coming artists protect themselves legally. This initiative is part of our mission to support the flourishing arts scene in Charlotte and Lake Norman, which is currently experiencing a renaissance. We also started an arts and business breakfast last year, which we’ll continue this year. This event aims to connect artists and businesses, highlighting that the arts are a vital part of the business community and that arts and business are at their most powerful when they work together.
