Chapman Cultural Center Celebrates the Opening of Northside Artlets
March 24, 2017
On April 11th, 2017 from 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm the Chapman Cultural Center along with their partners and the Northside community will celebrate the opening of four Northside Artlets. The celebration will take place on the corner of Brawley and Farley Streets at two of the Artlet locations.
An opening ceremony will begin at 5:15 pm with lots of activities and performances to follow. Join us for hands-on arts and crafts like painting, carving, planting and more. Live music and spoken word poetry along with refreshments will be enjoyed by all.
The Northside Artlets are outlets for art, and serve as public spaces for the creation of art. Designed and built to nurture social, cultural, and physical connections to place, embedding art in daily ritual to evoke community memory, tradition, and meaning. Conceived by the Northside Voyagers during the 2014 master planning process led by Art-Force, the Artlets were designed by Spartanburg Artist, Eli Blasko. The Northside Artlets were built by Blasko, four Apprentices receiving NCCER Certification through Spartanburg Community College, and Northside residents. The Northside Artlets provided workforce training, skills, and jobs for apprentices, renewed focus and access for cultural exchange in the Northside neighborhood, and provided direct collaboration with a professional artist.
Jennifer Evins, President and CEO hopes that “by providing a unique place with free daily access to the residents and visitors of the Northside, these Artlets will help to increase the vibrancy of the neighborhood and attract new residents and businesses to this developing community. The arts are known to make neighborhoods livable and express the unique culture of residents.” Northside has a long history of excellence in the visual and performing arts and is home to Spartanburg’s music legend Pink Anderson, Visual Artist and Educator Winston Wingo and many others.
The Artlets were made possible by a design grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the design, fabrication, and installation. The result is a resident-inspired cultural destination capturing and extending the history and unique identity of the Northside.
