Sumter County Gallery of Art: 2025 S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series
Governor’s Award: Organization Category
As the day nears for the 2025 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is shining the spotlight on this year’s six recipients, introducing them to you in greater detail.
This is the schedule:
- Governor’s Award for the Arts
- April 29: Dr. Gail V. Barnes (Individual Category)
- May 1: Koger Center for the Arts (Government Category)
- May 6: Wade Sellers (Artist Category)
- May 8: Engaging Creative Minds (Arts in Education Category)
- Today: Sumter County Gallery of Art (Organization Categoy)
- Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
- May 15: Caroleen Sanders (Artist Category)
Sumter County Gallery of Art
In February of 1969, during its fourth year in existence, the Sumter Artists Guild decided to establish a local gallery in which they could display their work as well as host exhibits from artists outside the community. After over a year of planning and fundraising, the Sumter Gallery of Art opened its doors on Jan. 5, 1970.
The gallery was first housed in the Old Carnegie Library on Liberty Street, with the school district agreeing to lease the building to the gallery for a fee of $1 per year. The opening exhibit featured works from the South Carolina Arts Commission with assistance provided by this group.
In 1977 the gallery moved to a new location, an antebellum Greek revival style home on North Main Street. The home was built in 1850 by Dr. Anthony White. His grand-daughter, Elizabeth White, became one of Sumter’s most talented artists and went on to gain national and international recognition. Upon her death in 1976, Ms. White requested that her home be made “available to the public in a manner that will promote the arts.” The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, remained the gallery’s home for the next 26 years.
In the mid-1980’s, the Sumter County renovated a portion of the former Edmunds High School to a center for the performing arts, Patriot Hall. At this time it was suggested that the science wing adjacent to Patriot Hall be converted into a new home for the gallery of art.
On Feb. 23, 2003 the Sumter County Gallery of Art opened its doors to the public in the newly-renovated 24,000 square-foot facility at the Sumter County Cultural Center. With three exhibit galleries downstairs and seven classrooms upstairs, the gallery can offer Sumter and surrounding communities the finest in art exhibits and educational opportunities.
Mission
The Sumter County Gallery of Art is a non-profit, community-based institution formed in 1969, with a mission to present and promote diverse visual arts and artists, to increase knowledge, and to provide art education opportunities to Sumter, Clarendon and Lee counties – an extensively rural, region of the state, isolated from the major art centers in the U.S. by geography and economics.
Vision
We believe that contemporary and traditional visual art possesses the unique power to inspire, captivate, challenge and engage people of all backgrounds and ZIP codes.
Watch the South Carolina Arts Awards THIS Sunday (May 18) at 7 p.m. EDT.
The SCAC is excited to present a streaming presentation of the awards in 2025!
Viewers can access it via the SCAC YouTube Channel, and it will also be streamed through the SCAC Facebook page. Internet-connected smart TV’s or streaming devices with the YouTube app may be used for a more broadcast-style experience.