Prose fellow inducted into State Art Collection
Varallo first honored by new program benefit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Anthony Varallo
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Anthony Varallo, the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Lowcountry-based current prose fellow, is the first fellow to have art inducted into the digital State Art Collection thanks to a new program.
Beginning with this class of fellows, the SCAC is giving recipients of its annual $10,000 fellowships the option to participate in the State Art Collection Recognition Award. Fellows may opt to select one artwork for inclusion in the State Art Collection, which is managed by the SCAC, in perpetuity. This recognition brings artwork by contemporary artists into the State Art Collection as a part of its digital archive; the SCAC will not own or physically house artworks but will present them through a gallery on its website.
Today, the SCAC is excited to debut Varallo’s work Nicotine in the new-look State Art Collection Gallery and share an interview with him on its social media channels (@SCArtsComm). The distinction makes Varallo the first prose artist in the nearly 60-year-old State Art Collection.
Varallo, a resident of Johns Island, was recommended for the award in the prose category. He is professor of English at the College of Charleston, where he teaches in the MFA Program in creative writing. He is a published novelist and recipient of a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pushcart Prize, and 2023 Katherine Ann Porter Prize in Short Fiction. Learn more at AnthonyVarallo.com.
The current class of fellows, for FY27, was announced in late July 2026. Works by additional fellows will be debuted in coming months and into calendar year 2027.
About the South Carolina Arts Commission
The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to expand access to the arts and foster the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina. We envision a South Carolina where the arts are valued and all people benefit from a variety of creative experiences.
A state agency created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the SCAC works to increase public participation in the arts through grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in artist development, arts industry, arts learning, creative placemaking, and folklife and traditional arts. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the SCAC is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts, and other sources. Visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or call 803.734.8696, and follow @SCArtsComm on Facebook, Instagram, and X for #Arts4SC and #SCArtists content.
