South Carolina Arts Commission launches The Art of Community: Rural SC

As part of its work with the South Carolina Promise Zone, the South Carolina Arts Commission has launched a new initiative, The Art of Community: Rural S.C. This pilot project advances the Arts Commission’s commitment to rural development through the arts, culture and creative placemaking and is supported by funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

The initiative began in May with the creation of small community teams that will gather July 26 to reimagine their communities through an arts and culture lens. Each team will then build small demonstration projects to grapple with a current community development issue. These projects will focus on how the arts can address local issues that may include economic, community or workforce development, healthcare, education, public safety, housing or capital. The Arts Commission will provide small grants to assist with these projects.

“The Arts Commission is proud to partner with the Promise Zone as it moves its strategic plan forward,” said Ken May, executive director of the South Carolina Arts Commission, one of 40 partners and supporters in a six-county Lowcountry effort to envision new possibilities and create a foundation for more economic vibrancy. The Promise Zone federal designation was awarded last year and provides a new way for people in Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton and Jasper counties to benefit from grants administered by 12 federal agencies through more than 30 programs. Within this overall effort, the South Carolina Arts Commission has developed a new approach to its work in this region. The six counties make up the service area of Susan DuPlessis, Arts Commission program director and arts coordinator for that region for the last nine years.

“Through this initiative, we have created a new framework for building local connections, community engagement and capacity,” DuPlessis said. “It was born out of our participation in the Promise Zone’s strategic planning process in the fall of 2015. In all of the sessions, I heard how arts and culture were important, whether we were talking about healthcare or workforce development. The arts were clearly identified as key to community pride, attachment and new possibilities.”

The Art of Community: Rural S.C. is about engagement at all levels—from local and regional to state and national. Three sets of individuals representing these levels are integral to the goal of working locally to explore what makes communities places people want to live, work and play. The three groups are “mavens” (community connectors), local teams and advisors.

Six mavens have agreed to work closely with the Arts Commission to launch, drive and sustain this new approach. Mavens and the communities they represent are Lottie Lewis, Allendale; Dr. Yvette McDaniel, Denmark (Bamberg County); Evelyn Coker, Blackville (Barnwell County);Gary Brightwell, Walterboro (Colleton County); Audrey Hopkins-Williams, Estill (Hampton County); and Johnny Davis, Jasper County. The mavens will lead their local teams in a series of regional meetings for cross-county learning and community building through creative placemaking.

The Arts Commission has also partnered with Kentucky’s rural Promise Zone to create a cross-cultural exchange between the two states. South Carolina’s mavens will meet June 16-18 with arts, economic and community leaders in Hazard and Whitesburg, Kentucky. “We expect to share about our communities while learning the steps Kentucky’s leaders have taken to use arts and culture in advancing rural communities,” DuPlessis said. Kentucky and South Carolina are home to the only rural Promise Zone regions in the country.

Twenty-three national and state leaders representing expansive thinking in the world of arts, culture and community development have agreed to champion this effort as members of an Advisory Council. The council is co-chaired by two native South Carolinians, Union native Dr. Ann Carmichael, dean of USC Salkehatchie, and Bob Reeder, program director for Rural LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and a Rock Hill native.

“Having these accomplished individuals involved—one a leader in higher education, the other a leader in community development for rural communities—provides new perspectives,” said May. “We are proud to spearhead this effort and look forward to supporting the local teams, learning from them and connecting them to more resources to benefit their communities and the Promise Zone region.”

Advisory Council members:

• Dr. Ann Carmichael, Co-Chair, USC-Salkehatchie, South Carolina
• J. Robert “Bob” Reeder, Co-Chair, Rural LISC, Washington, D.C.
• Savannah Barrett, Art of the Rural, Kentucky
• Javier Torres, ArtPlace America, New York
• Leonardo Vazquez, AICP, The National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, NJ
• Dr. J. Herman Blake, Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission
• Kerri Forrest, Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation,Lowcountry SC and Chicago
• Susie Surkamer, SouthArts, Hilton Head and Atlanta
• Doug Peach, University of Indiana, Ph.D. graduate student, Indiana
• David Smalls, Community Consultant, Walterboro/Columbia
• Carolyn Lackey, Charleston Association of Grant Professionals, Charleston
• Warren Chavous, USC Salkehatchie Leadership, Allendale/Promise Zone
• Andy Brack, Better South, Charleston & Promise Zone Liaison
• Jane Przybysz, McKissick Museum at University of South Carolina
• Brandolyn Pinkston, (Ret.) Consumer Affairs Director, Savannah and Columbia
• Bernie Mazyck, S.C. Association for Community Economic Development
• Sara Johnson, Municipal Association of South Carolina
• Michelle Knight, Lowcountry Council of Governments
• Danny Black, SouthernCarolina Alliance, SC Promise Zone
• Dee Crawford, S.C. Arts Commission Board, McDonald’s Franchisee, Aiken
• Sara June Goldstein, S.C. Arts Commission, Statewide Partnerships
• Ken May, S.C. Arts Commission, Executive Director

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696