Chapman Cultural Center presents first-ever President’s Choice Youth Art Month Awards
May 4, 2022For the first time ever, Chapman Cultural Center presented participants of the annual Spartanburg County Youth Art Month Exhibit “President’s Choice” awards to celebrate their work. Out of 400 plus…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: education, on-the-move, the-arts
Cotton Pickin’ Memories
April 27, 2022
By Tom Poland My jaunts around the South take me past old haunts, a cotton gin now and then. I’ve seen gins in Salters, Bishopville, and other rural places.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
Chapman Cultural Center awards $539,400 in grants to local arts and cultural organizations
April 27, 2022
Chapman Cultural Center is pleased to announce we’ve awarded $539,400 in General Operating Support (GOS) Grants to 11 arts and cultural organizations for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. The funds are…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts
Greenville Theatre is celebrating 96 years of success with an original revue concert weekend, Celebrate 96!
April 25, 2022
This incredible show will feature some of the best talent in the Upstate area singing songs from past Greenville Theatre productions as well as Broadway songs never heard before on…
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Please join us for Greenville Theatre’s re-dedication ribbon cutting ceremony
April 25, 2022
Greenville Theatre is thrilled to be celebrating 96 years serving our community through necessary art and storytelling. We invite you to join us for a “re-dedication” ribbon cutting on May 3,…
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Miss Emily’s Oak
April 20, 2022
By Tom Poland She planted the oak some sixty-eight years ago. Miss Emily was around twenty-six then. The years passed, the tree grew, and today it’s a setting Normal…
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Masters Memories
April 11, 2022
By Tom Poland There comes a memory from long ago when Georgia had yet to win 1980 and 2021 national champions. No worries, Georgia was and is an annual…
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Greenville Center for Creative Arts announces new Chief Executive Officer
April 5, 2022
Jess Burgess has been named Chief Executive Officer of Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) following an extensive local and national search. Burgess brings 15 years of experience in nonprofit…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts
Greenville Theatre is excited to continue celebrating season 96 with one of the funniest comedies ever written, A Flea in Her Ear!
April 4, 2022
This hilarious show has mistaken identities, a spinning hotel bed, a doppelganger, a jealous Spaniard, and a foreigner no one can understand which make this a pell-mell story that will…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Wild Horses
March 24, 2022
By Tom Poland When I hear some determined soul say “wild horses couldn’t pull me away” thoughts race through my mind. First, I think of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. You’d…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
Special reception, exhibit openings feature art of Fran Gardner
March 22, 2022
From never-before-seen compositions to works spanning over two decades, the artwork of USC Lancaster Distinguished Professor Emerita of Art and Art History Fran Gardner will be on display at USCL’s…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: education, on-the-move, the-arts
The Best Drink Of Water
March 16, 2022
By Tom Poland Seems to me, as the old folks would say, an aluminum dipper delivered the best drink of water. You’d sink that dipper into a wooden bucket. And…
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Read The Fine Print
March 10, 2022
By Tom Poland Note: For Non-Offended Eyes Only Some say we are what we eat and that what we eat these days is killing us. Down in Australia, some…
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Greenville student repeats as S.C. Poetry Out Loud champ
March 9, 2022
Upstate students sweep honors A Greenville high school student is now two-for-two against her statewide Poetry Out Loud peers after repeating as South Carolina champion over the weekend in the…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Four South Carolina Cultural Districts earn recertification
March 8, 2022
Congaree Vista, Lancaster, Rock Hill and Spartanburg Downtown The first four South Carolina Cultural Districts designated in 2015 after the program’s launch earned recertification based on FY2020 data gathered by…
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Winter In Wambaw Bay
March 3, 2022
By Tom Poland The orchestra is quiet, as winter holds the conductor’s baton. Still, a song comes to mind. “California Dreamin” where much is brown and gray—every shade of…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, the-arts
Artist Minute – Chris Kelly, Photographer
February 23, 2022
The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: entrepreneurship, podcast, the-arts
The Emperor’s Hem
February 23, 2022
By Tom Poland In the late 1990s, a time that seems ancient, I touched the emperor’s hem. That is I corresponded with a writer whose words revealed a style…
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55 images that awakened civil rights change on display at Upcountry History Museum
February 21, 2022Being in the right place at the right time often means the difference between ordinary and extraordinary. Witness to History: Selma Photography of Stephen Somerstein is a perfect example of…
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Noble Ruin of the South
February 17, 2022
By Tom Poland When man abandoned it, the traffic diverted west, and the forest began to claim it. Today, sycamores, cedars, and oaks console it, and wind and water…
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Miss Lucy, Childhood Legend
February 10, 2022
By Tom Poland “Perhaps you recall a person from childhood whom everyone kept their distance from. Enjoy this glimpse of small-town life in the 1960s.” Small towns have that one…
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2022 Southeastern Film & Photo Conference begins Feb. 24
February 7, 2022
The Southeastern Film & Photo Conference is coming to Charleston, February 24–26 Photographers, YouTubers, filmmakers, TikTokers and students will want to attend this three-day conference. Hosted by ASMP South Carolina,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
In nostalgic nod to Saturday morning cartoons, Bugs Bunny and friends arrive at Upcountry History Museum
February 7, 2022
On Saturday morning, February 12, 2022, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner, and Tweety Bird won’t just be cartoons on your television screen, they and fellow Looney Tunes and Merrie…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: entertainment, media, non-profit, on-the-move, social-scene, technology, the-arts
Bitters, A History In Life And Literature
February 2, 2022
By Tom Poland Among the dusty bottles and vase stand three alcoholic potions. I bought the matador-like bottle in Madrid when I traveled by train through hard, brown Spain. Next…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, the-arts
Upstate students reach S.C. Poetry Out Loud finals
February 1, 2022
State finals to be held virtually March 5 From among statewide submissions, judges selected eight finalists who now have a chance to represent South Carolina this spring in the national…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
City of Women exhibition opens at GCCA on March 4 to spotlight the impact of women in Greenville
January 31, 2022
City of Women, an initiative that aims to advance the role of women in our community and businesses, will launch in Greenville with a juried exhibition at Greenville Center for…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Crow Tastes Pretty Good In Snow
January 27, 2022
By Tom Poland My last column criticized I-20 as a barrier to snow in the classic South. “Winter after winter, radar reveals blue, pink, and white blotches rolling north…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
The Great Dividing Line
January 21, 2022
By Tom Poland Yet another dud weather storm forecast teaches me something. When the next Ice Age arrives, its frozen sheet will grind to a halt where I-20 crosses…
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Remembering Smokehouses
January 20, 2022
By Tom Poland I wrote about old hand-dug wells not long ago. Many old wells had a companion nearby, smokehouses. I’ve written about these farm icons before, but a…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
Artist Minute – Aimee Wise, Visual Artist
January 20, 2022
The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: podcast, the-arts
Chapman Cultural Center announces its newest President & CEO
January 19, 2022
After an extensive search, Chapman Cultural Center is pleased to announce the hiring of Dan Mayer as its next President and CEO. He will lead the organization beginning February 10th,…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: headlines, non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts
The Old Hand-Dug Well
January 12, 2022
By Tom Poland Driving a country road, I passed an old well house. It didn’t look like a wishing well. It looked rustic, more like a shed, a practical…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, the-arts
Greenville Center for Creative Arts elects new board members
January 6, 2022
GCCA Elects New Members to Its Board of Directors Greenville Center for Creative Arts (GCCA) announced seven new members elected to its board of directors. Earle Furman, GCCA Founder and…
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The Allure of Barbed Wire & Cedar
January 6, 2022
By Tom Poland Out in the country skinny metal fence posts rule pasturelands nowadays. I seldom see old cedar-barbed wire fences, but when I do they unleash a flood…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
No Gas, No Batteries, No Electricity Required
December 16, 2021
By Tom Poland All it requires is a steady hand. It doesn’t disturb the peace on Saturday mornings. So quiet is it, I doubt it’d suffer banning in ever-vigilant…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
Mayfair Art Studios secures earmarked funding for debt retirement
December 13, 2021
Chapman Cultural Center is pleased to announce that Mayfair Art Studios, a division of Chapman Cultural Center, has received $225,000 in earmarked funds from the State Legislature. Located in the…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
S.C. Arts Commission selects five for Emerging Artist Grant
December 9, 2021
Up to $1,500 grant includes mentorship, more A ceramicist, a dancer, a painter and fiber and installation artists make up the five #SCartists receiving South Carolina Arts Commission Emerging Artist…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
A Vanishing Coastal Icon
December 8, 2021
By Tom Poland Photographers love to shoot them at sunrise. Riding a glittering golden sea, shrimp boats strike a classic silhouette with that orb of fire rising behind them.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
That Legendary Everlasting Plant, Rabbit Tobacco
November 30, 2021
By Tom Poland She smoked it as a kid. Said she smoked grapevines too but it was Pseudognaphalium obtusifolium, one of the everlastings, she talked about most. She and…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, the-arts
Erika DeRoberts launches Cherry Lane Art
November 30, 2021
Former Real Estate Executive Turned Creative Releases First Collection Erika DeRoberts announced the formal launch of her new fine art business, Cherry Lane Art, in November of 2021. A resident…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Grandmom’s Fabulous Fried Pies
November 17, 2021
By Tom Poland She dried sliced apple, peaches, and pears on a slanted wooden table facing the sun. Nails prevented the fruit from sliding to the ground. Once it…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: life, on-the-move, the-arts
Greenville Theatre welcomes you back this holiday season with the premiere of Elf: The Musical!
November 15, 2021
The modern-day classic holiday movie is coming to life on Greenville Theatre’s stage! Join Buddy the Elf on his journey from the North Pole to New York City in search…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Upcountry History Museum receives SC Humanities Grant
November 15, 2021
The Upcountry History Museum-Furman University, a Smithsonian Affiliate, announced that it has been awarded a $13,500.00 Growth Grant from South Carolina Humanities. Funding for the Growth Grants has been provided…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: non-profit, on-the-move, the-arts
Artist Minute – Matt Dingledine, Jazz Guitarist
November 14, 2021
The Who’s on the Move, UpstateBizSC, Artist Minute is a quick, two-minute interview in support of the undeniable impact that the arts and local artists have on our communities. One…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: podcast, the-arts
Cocktails! Conversation! Comedy! The Savannah Sipping Society plays November 5-14 at the Spartanburg Little Theatre
November 8, 2021
Spartanburg Little Theatre continues to celebrate its 75th anniversary season with the delightful Southern comedy The Savannah Sipping Society. Performances are November 5, 6, 12, and 13 at 8 pm, and November 7…
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Alchemy Comedy announces eighth annual New South Comedy Festival 11/4-11/13
November 8, 2021
Returning to an in-person event this year, Alchemy Comedy, Greenville’s own improv theater will be hosting the 8th annual New South Comedy Festival. New South Comedy Festival will feature stand-up, improv,…
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Spartanburg Philharmonic announces nine finalists in search for 10th Music Director
November 8, 2021
The Spartanburg Philharmonic announces the selection of nine finalists for the organization’s 10th Music Director. In selecting the finalists, Search Committee Chair and Board President-Elect Karen Parrott stated, “we were…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, the-arts
Elusive Butterfly Of Fall
November 4, 2021
By Tom Poland December 1965, that’s when a catchy tune debuted. Bob Lind’s “Elusive Butterfly” used a butterfly as a metaphor for love. Some of you survivors of these…
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Upcountry History Museum ushers in the holidays with Norman Rockwell
November 4, 2021
Join the Upcountry History Museum-Furman University, a Smithsonian Affiliate, as it ushers in the holiday season with Norman Rockwell’s Home for the Holidays exhibition and four of Rockwell’s full-sized original…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: chamber, entertainment, on-the-move, the-arts
Free admission for veterans, active-duty military to UHM exhibit, program
November 3, 2021
As the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans comes to the forefront this month, the Upcountry History Museum-Furman University, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is honored to be one of only…
Read MorePosted in: upstatebizsc Category: education, military, on-the-move, the-arts
