In 1996, with Marsicano at head of ASC, controversy erupted around a Charlotte Repertory Theatre production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Angels in America.
[3] Local evangelical leaders protested the themes of the play and the onstage nudity,[4] citing public funding via the Arts & Science Council as the core of its argument.
[5] After four of the five commissioners who voted to strip the Arts and Science Council of its resources lost their seats in the next election, funds were restored and increased.
Marsicano has helped raise more than $3.5 billion[1] in philanthropic gifts for cultural, educational and social-economic initiatives in the Mecklenburg County region.
On March 5, 2023, one of his children, Jamie, was arrested at the site of a music festival connected to the Stop Cop City campaign.