Our partnership with McColl Center provides an opportunity for the gallery’s mission and vision to live and breathe beyond gallery walls. Through the John O. Calmore Creative Activism Artist Residency, SECLT and McColl draw artists from around the world to Charlotte, North Carolina, where they engage with the community and share their experience and creativity; it also serves as a platform to launch artists beyond the Southeast. The Calmore Residency embraces the philosophy of the citizen-artist: creators actively engaged with their communities through the lens of contemporary art. This residency supports civic-minded artists who ambitiously tackle current social issues with an aim to educate, enlighten and encourage dialogue.  The residency aims to emphasize the manner in which art and artists can serve as catalysts for social action, problem-solving, and relationship building. The John O. Calmore Creative Activism Artist Residency is a part of the January – March residency cohort at McColl. The yearly open call is coordinated through McColl Center.

About John O. Calmore: John O. Calmore was a brilliant member of the first wave of modern African American students to attend Stanford University (1967) and Harvard Law School (1971), where he studied alongside future civil rights leaders, scholars, and many of the most important social justice voices of our time. Calmore practiced for years as a legal aid lawyer, then embarked on a distinguished academic career, culminating in a distinguished professorship at University of North Carolina School of Law at Chapel Hill.  He drew on a profound first-hand knowledge of the worlds of poverty law, racial injustice, and social policy to frame a unique view of critical race theory and to develop a social justice lawyering method, which informed both his teaching and his many works of scholarship.  That method trained aspiring lawyers to think beyond the courtroom and the halls of government, and to use their privilege and access to educate and challenge culturally dominant systems in unexpected and creative ways. SE CLT Gallery owner and Creative Director Sonya Pfeiffer studied with Professor Calmore from 2004-2007 at UNC School of Law at Chapel Hill. His mentorship was the driving force behind her award- winning documentary, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Social Justice. This residency honors Professor Calmore’s legacy and manifests his mission to educate beyond institutional walls.