S.C. Arts Awards: Kathleen P. Bateson
2019 Recipient Feature Series
As the day nears for the 2019 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is taking 15 days to focus on this year’s recipients: nine receiving the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Awards for the Arts and five receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, which are managed jointly by the South Carolina Arts Commission and McKissick Museum at UofSC. In between the two groups, we’ll run a special feature on S.C. Arts Awards sponsor Colonial Life.
Kathleen P. Bateson
Individual Category
Kathleen P. Bateson is president/CEO and executive producer of the multi-award winning Arts Center of Coastal Carolina – a past recipient of the Verner Award in the organization category. She is past president of the SCAA board. She served as chair and founding co-chair of the Arts & Cultural Council of Hilton Head; is the founding vice-chair of the Wexford Plantation Foundation, heading governance; as well as a founding member of the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry Women in Philanthropy, where she chairs the WIP Advisory Board and is immediate past chair of the grants committee.
As a member of its steering committee, Bateson produced the March 2018 “Gullah Experience” for the Together SC state summit conference. Awards and recognition include the Mayoral Commendation for providing arts and arts education in the Lowcountry in 2019; the Native Island and Business Community Affairs Association Community Service Award in 2008; the Mayor Citizens Honor Award in 2007 and the Gullah Museum’s 2012 inaugural Distinguished Service Award. She is a 2008 graduate of Leadership SC. She was board director of the Hilton Head Chamber of Commerce, serving two terms on executive committee. She was co-chair of the chamber’s Arts & Culture Committee and was co-chair and founding member of the chamber’s May BRAVO Arts & Cultural Festival. She sat on the inaugural Southeast Advisory Council for the S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts, as well as the curriculum task force for College of Charleston’s Arts Management Graduate Program.
Bateson is founder and president of Management for the Arts, a firm specializing in NPO organizational restructure, institutional planning, and strategic positioning. She consulted to Dance USA, identifying trending issues and conducting workshops on “Estate Planning for Artistic Property” and “Managing an Organization Out of Crisis”. Her impressive client list boasts organizations nationwide including the Pew Charitable Trust, Cleveland Foundation and Ohio Arts Council, where she developed the agency’s strategic plan as well as its criteria for consultants, among other projects.
In related activities, she has served as a cultural representative on international delegations to South Africa, China, Japan, and she was affiliated with Mossoviet Theatre as well as the Hong Kong Ballet.
Ms. Bateson is a BFA goldsmith, a professional set designer, and is a certified Pennsylvania visual arts educator.
South Carolina Arts Awards Day is Wednesday, May 1, 2019. The festivities begin at 10 a.m. with a reception that leads up to the awards ceremony at the UofSC Alumni Center (900 Senate St., Columbia). The event is free and open to the public. Following the ceremony, the South Carolina Arts Foundation honors the recipients and the arts community at the S.C. Arts Awards Luncheon and Art Sale. Tickets are $50. Please go here for more information and reservations.
