Questions Surround Light Factory Crowdsourcing Campaign to Honor Late Artist

A recent Facebook post from Charlotte artist Sharon Dowell has raised questions about what happened to thousands of dollars in funding that was raised three years ago to launch a photography mentorship program in honor of late artist Deborah Triplett. 

Charlotte photography studio The Light Factory raised more than $6,500 through a GoFundMe campaign to launch the Deborah Triplett Flower Power Photo Experience (DTFPPE), described at the time as “an enrichment experience for emerging female photographers that includes female mentorship and training, access to The Light Factory resources and facilities, enrollment in The Light Factory classes and workshops, that will lead to a gallery exhibition.” 

With years having passed and the person who created the GoFundMe no longer in the picture at The Light Factory, donors are asking for answers about where the money has gone. 

Queen City Nerve spoke with Kay Tuttle, who was the executive director of The Light Factory at the time of the fundraiser and whose name is attached to the campaign’s web page. Tuttle said she would still like to spearhead the project but no longer has access to the funding that was raised.

Her successor Titus Brooks Heagins insisted he had no knowledge of the funding upon taking the position and no knowledge of its whereabouts now, nor any plans for the program. 

Meanwhile, photographer Corine Olarte, the first mentee chosen to go through the DTFPPE program in September 2023, has spoken out about her experience with The Light Factory following that announcement, a time she said was defined by delays, broken promises and eventually a cut with the organization. 

Donors are calling for The Light Factory to either return the funding or relaunch DTFPPE as a way to account for the thousands of dollars that remain unaccounted for. 

Heagins has promised to investigate where the remaining pool of money has gone and potentially return it to donors if it can be found.  

A botched launch for the Deborah Triplett Flower Power Photo Experience

Deborah Triplett was a Charlotte photographer and creative who founded Yard Art Day in Plaza Midwood and served as a friend and ardent supporter of artists throughout the city. In February 2023, she passed away at 73 years old after a years-long battle with lung cancer. 

Citing Triplett’s influence on her in her early years as an artist, Sharon Dowell unveiled a mural paying respect to the late photographer in 2024. Dowell’s mural depicts Triplett on the side of a large rental building on Commonwealth Avenue in the heart of the Plaza Midwood neighborhood. 

Read more: Sharon Dowell Unveils New Mural Honoring Deborah Triplett (2024)

On April 1, Dowell was the first to speak up about the lack of action around the Deborah Triplett Flower Power Photo Experience, a campaign she donated to in 2023. She described being stonewalled in her efforts to get answers from The Light Factory since then. 

“Several fellow donors have also expressed disappointment and confusion about how these funds have been managed,” Dowell wrote on Facebook, “particularly given that they were raised in honor of Deborah, a dear friend and valued member of not just only the arts community, but Charlotte and beyond … This situation isn’t consistent with the intent behind the fundraising effort or the respect owed to her legacy.” 

The following day, Charlotte photographer Corine Olarte took to social media to recount her own experience as the first beneficiary of the DTFPPE program. 

Citing Dowell’s April 1 post as inspiring her to “be a little braver,” Olarte laid out her experience, beginning with The Light Factory’s public announcement of Olarte as the first “winner” of the DTFPPE in October 2023, followed by constant delays and mixed messaging over the span of 18 months. 

That all led to the indefinite postponement of an exhibit that was promised to Olarte as the culmination of the program. 

Olarte recalls her experience at The Light Factory

Though organized by a number of Triplett’s friends and loved ones, the 2023 GoFundMe campaign that raised the money to launch DTFPPE was officially created by “Kay Tuttle for The Light Factory,” according to the website.

Tuttle worked as executive director of The Light Factory from March 2015 to June 2024, when Titus Brooks Heagins took over the position. 

Heagins had been working under Tuttle at The Light Factory, leading workshops for emerging photographers, as he describes in an open letter he wrote to supporters following his appointment to the executive director role. 

Olarte said that, when she started with DTFPPE in November 2023, she was informed the program would be combined with Heagins’ mentorship program. 

She said she raised concerns with The Light Factory in February 2024 about the deviation from the original DTFPPE description, which promised a female mentor. The following month, she said she was separated from Heagins’ program and assigned a woman mentor. 

During that span, she said her exhibit was pushed back a total of four times, from its original slot in summer 2024 to April 2025. Finally, Olarte said she was informed that her exhibition would be postponed indefinitely due to renovations at the Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Center where The Light Factory is located. 

Then, in March 2025, The Light Factory announced a new exhibition that would run from March 31-May 9, which Olarte took to conflict with claims that her exhibition had been postponed due to construction in the space.  

Olarte said she had been promised a $1,000 stipend in addition to the $500 allotment that both she and her new mentor had received in March 2024. The second stipend was meant to cover the cost of film stock, developing, lenses and other materials that were needed in January 2025 in order to complete her project by April 2025, Olarte said. 

Upon learning of the new exhibit at The Light Factory in March 2025, Olarte sent a release and settlement letter to Heagins asking for the rights to exhibit her work elsewhere and for the $1,000 stipend she had been promised. 

Heagins responded that he had no intention of signing the contract, claiming Olarte had failed to fulfill requests for a synopsis of her planned exhibit and sample images, requests Olarte insisted she fulfilled in an email thread in February 2025. 

In her social media post, Olarte explained that, since May 2025, she has “exhausted many avenues to find a resolution” to the issue, claiming to still be owed the $1,000 stipend she was promised.

“I never got to meet Deborah Triplett, but I deeply respect her legacy,” Olarte wrote. “She is fondly remembered by many of her loved ones and by the Charlotte creative community … My aim has always been to support a meaningful memorial, especially because the grief is ongoing.” 

The Light Factory responds

Queen City Nerve spoke with Heagins for this story, inquiring about Olarte’s version of events and where the remaining money from the GoFundMe is today. He denied much of Olarte’s version of events and insisted he had no knowledge of the Deborah Triplett Flower Power Photo Experience until he received an email from Olarte shortly after becoming executive director. 

Queen City Nerve reviewed an email thread that showed Heagins introducing himself to Olarte as the new executive director of The Light Factory on Feb. 4, 2025, and inquiring about the exhibit. 

He asked for “more information about the content, visual message, and expected duration of the show” and repeatedly cited uncertainty around construction at VAPA Center as a reason he couldn’t make any commitments regarding the exhibit. 

On Feb. 6, Olarte informed him she would “pause all work related to the exhibition, including visual content preparation and marketing efforts, until I receive further notice on space availability and the distribution of the $1,000 stipend as reimbursement for costs I’ve already incurred.” 

Heagins responded nearly two months later on March 26, citing continued construction and reiterating his request for photos. About a week later, Olarte asked for a release and settlement, which Heagins refused. 

Heagins told Queen City Nerve that, when he did receive the images, he was not impressed.  

“Let’s just say they weren’t the type of images that I was hoping that The Light Factory would be exhibiting, that The Light Factory would be interested in doing,” he said. 

He said he discussed the situation with The Light Factory’s Board of Directors and decided that, with no contract committing the organization to exhibiting Olarte’s work, they would not consider themselves obligated to do so. He refused to pay the previously promised $1,000 stipend, as there was no longer any exhibit to connect to it.  

Heagins remains adamant that he knows nothing about any funds that may be left over from the DTFPPE GoFundMe. 

“We have no knowledge of how the funds were raised. We have no knowledge of where the funds are,” he said. “We have no knowledge of what may be left of the funds, and were those funds paid out to whom and for what purposes? Not at all. Absolutely not at all.” 

Multiple times during our conversation, Heagins threatened legal action against those who were speaking against The Light Factory on social media, stating that “what is out there is bordering on libel.” 

“This whole thing makes it seem as if The Light Factory has taken some money and the money has disappeared,” Heagins said. “I have no information about the money. No one from The Light Factory or previous administration at The Light Factory has said to me, ‘This is where these funds are.’” 

In his final statement to Queen City Nerve, sent in an email responding to follow-up inquiries on April 10, Heagins wrote, “First, we have engaged an attorney about these matters to address the incorrect statements made publicly about TLF and its staff. Second, our accountant is searching for deposits and withdrawals related to the mentioned GOFund Me monies. When, and if those funds are found in our account, TLF is willing to return them to an official of the [DTFPPE].” 

Hope to continue on in Deborah Tripplet’s name

In response to Sharon Dowell’s April 1 Facebook post, Kay Tuttle expressed her interest in spearheading a relaunch of the Deborah Triplett Flower Power Photo Experience while acknowledging that she no longer has involvement with The Light Factory nor any knowledge of the whereabouts of the project’s funding. 

In a conversation with Queen City Nerve, Tuttle explained her vision, which involved honoring Triplett with a social site for friends and families to post photos and remembrances while simultaneously curating a group exhibit comprising work from a number of women photographers as a tribute to Triplett. 

Tuttle had hoped to launch this project under The Light Factory name, but updated us on April 8 that Heagins had refused to do so, saying that the organization was “uncomfortable with the idea of a program ostensibly run under the auspices of TLF, but not implemented or carried out by TLF staff.” 

Read more: Removal of Late Artist’s Mural at Optimist Hall Sparks Outcry

“I still plan to project manage the new project,” Tuttle wrote to Queen City Nerve after receiving that update, “but we will have to rename it.” 

Olarte, who has asked to be a part of any planning meetings for such a project, said she has received lukewarm responses to such requests, though that was when it was still believed that the project would be carried out in partnership with The Light Factory.

She said she remains cautiously optimistic about seeing it move forward. 

“I’m hoping that there’s a resolution soon, just because [Deborah Triplett’s loved ones] do not deserve to have any additional stressors in relation to this,” she said. “It would be great for them to be able to have more positive stories related to the very much loved and the very much inspirational Deborah Triplett versus having to hear about an organization that isn’t really fulfilling a GoFundMe campaign that was raised in her name.”