Spoleto Festival USA asks community to share memorabilia ahead of 50th Anniversary Festival
August 18, 2026
What was the first Spoleto performance you ever saw? Do you still have the ticket? A photograph? A program tucked away in a drawer? Maybe a VHS recording, a Festival T-shirt, or a story about an artist you met decades ago? As Spoleto Festival USA prepares to celebrate its 50th Anniversary Festival in 2027, the Festival is asking the people who have lived its history to help tell it.
Today, Spoleto launches Spoleto Stories, a community-wide campaign inviting audiences, artists, volunteers, staff, donors, and the broader Charleston community to share the photographs, recordings, programs, memorabilia, and personal memories that capture five decades of Spoleto in Charleston.
Every ticket, photograph, program, costume, and memory is part of the Festival’s history. Spoleto Stories gives our community an opportunity to help preserve those personal connections and share the stories that have made this Festival such a meaningful part of Charleston.
The Festival is looking for both the expected and the unexpected. Community members do not need to have a rare or historically significant artifact to participate. A ticket stub from a first performance, a family photograph, a treasured program, or a story about an unforgettable artist can be just as meaningful as a poster, costume, or other historic item.
Spoleto is seeking:
- Printed materials: Programs, posters, brochures, ticket stubs, maps, invitations, membership materials, and other Festival ephemera
- Photographs: Audience experiences, family traditions, street scenes, volunteers, artists, and behind-the-scenes moments
- Video & audio: Home movies, VHS recordings, interviews, cassette recordings, and Festival broadcasts
- Memorabilia: T-shirts, pins, buttons, staff badges, artist gifts, and other Festival keepsakes
- Unique items: Costumes, set pieces, artwork, correspondence, scrapbooks, and press clippings
- Memories: Stories about performances, artists, traditions, volunteering, and the moments that made Spoleto meaningful
Digital materials, including photographs, videos, recordings, documents, and scanned memorabilia, can also be emailed to [email protected]. Contributors are asked to include their name, a brief description of the material, and the approximate date or Festival season.
For physical materials, Spoleto will host ongoing community archive drop-off hours at its offices at 14 George Street on the first and last Thursday of each month, from 12:00–4:00 p.m., beginning Thursday, August 27, 2026. Festival staff will be available to receive materials, answer questions, and document submissions. Drop-off hours will not be held on Thursday, November 26, or Thursday, December 31, 2026.
For more information, visit https://spoletousa.org/
SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA
Spoleto Festival USA was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to create an American counterpart to the annual Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, which he had founded in 1958. Spoleto Festival USA is internationally recognized as America’s premier performing arts festival. For 17 days and nights each spring, Spoleto Festival USA fills Charleston’s historic theaters, churches, and outdoor spaces with performances in opera; theater; dance; and contemporary, chamber, symphonic, choral, and jazz music. With General Director & CEO Mena Mark Hanna at its helm, the 2027 season takes place from May 28 to June 13 in various locations throughout Charleston. Spoleto Festival USA is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization.
