A Long Range Plan for the Arts in South Carolina,
2011-2020

Monday, March 22

Black Creek Arts Center

Here's what we heard at the Hartsville Canvas forum:

What is one thing that is working in the arts, either in your community, the state or elsewhere?

• Spoleto
• Local community getting together
• Florence – new buildings
• Artists crawl – Hartsville
• Weldon Auditorium in Clarendon County – new facility; county council behind it
• Providing leadership for a lot of people to be involved - Hartsville
• Classes for all ages in Hartsville and Darlington – visual arts
• Black Creek Arts Council – spreading info, coordinating
• S.C. Arts Commission – keeps the arts community informed statewide
• Cooperation – public/private partnerships
• Darlington School District – business in the arts award
• School exhibits outside schools
• Singing in churches is going strong, especially black churches. History and culture of black churches supports learning recitations, poetry
• Funding mechanisms are clear, e.g. from Black Creek Arts Center and Byerly Foundation
• Good collaborations between arts organizations and the various arts discipline organization in Hartsville and Florence
• A number of free events; Coker and Francis Marion
• Technology is helping everyone to be more aware of what’s going on and cross promote
• National historical marker/exhibit – Coker Farms in Hartsville – brings in outside visitors
• Partnership between library and museum
• Community players, high school theatre and music – extra curricular
• Volunteers
  

What is one of the biggest challenges facing the arts?

• Funding – salaries, utilities, programs
• Members don’t have the time or money to commit
• Lack of visibility and communication
• Budget cuts at school district
• How to educate and raise awareness, developing audiences for higher-level work
• Inclusive – cross race barriers
• Finite pool of donors – corporations
• Inclusive  more people to learn/ serve
• How to cultivate younger volunteers 30-50
• Declining funding = fewer opportunities for younger people
• Do people really understand the value of K-12 arts education?
• Change perception; people don’t fully grasp the value that an arts education provides to all other skills; arts are co-curricular, not extra-curricular
• Emphasis on making money vs. well-rounded education; need to change mindset of public education system
• Recognize that the arts can serve underserved and underprivileged populations and improve academic success
• Rural/geography- Cheraw, e.g. doesn’t have a college with music or art departments like Coker or Francis Marion  from which we can utilize faculty and student artists.; it’s challenging to attract artists for events – it costs more to get those artists; hard to get people to come to a rural area
• Sometimes the arts are seen as elite
• Competing with sports for audiences; young people’s ideas of entertainment is different from ours; it’s our job to education the young to create new consumers
• Disabled folks are underserved
• Some children don’t have basic arts supplies in the home

What is a great opportunity for the arts in our state?

• Developing heritage corridor/ Gullah-Geechee corrodor; take advantage of ethnic tourism (fastest growing area of tourism)
• Family reunion market
• Artisans + “trails” model – promotes cities and artists
• Link with historic preservation
• Raise level of arts training – work with university and colleges to train world-class artists
• cultivating arts culture – in home, civic, public arenas
• Recognize/take advantage of home-grown talent
• Promote S.C. as an “arts state” vs. regional approach. We have not set out to be a state with an image/focus.
• advantage of the weather, long season for outdoor events
• Need a “buy local” campaign for the arts
• S.C. Arts Commission and PRT should partner; tap into tourism, put arts into the state tourism plan
• Get the word out more
• Cross the digital divide
• S.C. Arts Commission should toot its own horn more; put S.C. Arts Commission on TV – have its own show?
• Students can study with living artists in schools

What did you like or not like about this forum?

Likes:

• Food
• Everyone had a chance to give input
• Organized
• Facilitator
• Comfortable location

Dislikes

• Questions were too broad
• Need more diverse SCAC staff here
• How was this meeting promoted?