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SCAC announces additions, change to team

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Arts Commission welcomed to its team two new program directors who are tasked with serving South Carolina’s individual artists (#SCartists) and facilitating arts initiatives in rural communities.

Additionally, a current staff member transferred to become the first person in a new role at the agency.

Tanisha Brown joins the SCAC as artist development director. Brown will provide leadership related to building and sustaining support for individual artists in South Carolina in all disciplines (literary, performing, visual, etc.) at various stages in their careers (emerging, mid-level, advanced). A Columbia native, Brown is a multi-disciplined artist-entrepreneur, arts administrator, leadership developer, and business consultant. She received an associate degree from Midlands Technical College and a bachelor’s degree in media arts from USC. Tanisha has served on several local boards, including Columbia Opportunity Resource (COR) and the Midlands Housing Alliance for the Transitions Homeless Center. She enjoys driving economic development within her home state through advocacy and amplification of local arts and culture.

Rebecca Pearson, also joining the SCAC, is the agency’s first rural arts director. Pearson will provide consulting, assistance, and leadership for activities related to building participation in the arts and strengthening rural South Carolina communities through arts initiatives. The long-time Laurens County has lived and worked in rural South Carolina all their life. They have been active in local and state theatre since 2006 and holds a bachelor’s degree in English, theatre, and art history. Pearson has taught at Laurens District 55 High School since 2015.

Margot Lane Strasburger, formerly the SCAC’s digital content manager, is now the first public art coordinator for the agency. In her new role, Strasburger will provide consulting and assistance to constituents who could be grantees, artists, organizations, or local governments throughout the state on public art initiatives.

“We look forward to all the creative contributions from these staff members as they step into their new roles. South Carolina’s communities, whether they are large or small, and artists will benefit from their expertise and collaborative spirit. I am excited to welcome them to our growing team,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to promote equitable access to the arts and support 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 by providing 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 Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

S.C. Arts Commission announces six Emerging Artist grantees

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Six emerging individual #SCartists are benefitting from grants and career mentorship courtesy of the South Carolina Arts Commission’s Emerging Artist grant in FY2023, providing them valuable development as arts entrepreneurs.

The SCAC defines emerging artists as being at an early stage in their artistic career development with no basis in age. Six South Carolina artists were selected to each receive Emerging Artist grants ranging in amount from $1,500 to $1,800 from the SCAC in the current fiscal year (2023). They are:
  • Zeynep Gedikoglu of Clemson (multimedia sculpture)
  • Jordon Mack of Orangeburg (visual art)
  • Amanda Nicole of Liberty (music/composition)
  • Jessica Swank of Easley (photography/sculpture)
  • Shaquelle-Elijah Wiley of Columbia (music/performance)
  • Rolf Anthony Young of Charleson (mixed media)
In addition to financial support, artists benefit from mentorship and professional support facilitated by the SCAC and Deputy Director Ce Scott-Fitts. The combined benefits are intended to deepen artistic practice and foster artistic excellence; encourage career growth, advancement, and sustainability; and provide professional development and opportunities for collaboration.
  • “I'm so grateful ... not only for the funding but also for the community, accountability, and access that it will provide to this new group of southern artists,” Easley-based photographer and sculptor Jessica Swank
  • Charleston mixed media artist Rolf Anthony Young anticipates growth from his participation. “Receiving the grant not only fills me with more confidence in my art practice but connects me to a valuable network of grant winners who inspire me.”
  • Music artist Shaquelle-Elijah Wiley said it is overwhelming to be recognized this way. “I intend on representing the state with class and innovation,” he said.
The SCAC awards a new cohort of emerging artists each fiscal year. An online gallery of representative works by this class is available now on SouthCarolinaArts.com: https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/artist-development/programs/emerging-artists/ Individual artists who reside in South Carolina and fit the criteria of an emerging artists are encouraged to apply for the FY24 round of the Emerging Artist grant now. An applicant coaching session via Zoom is scheduled for Feb. 22, 2023 to offer advisement on the process of applying. Registration for the coaching session and full grant guidelines are available at https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/grant/emerging-artist-grants/. The deadline to apply for FY24 funding and mentorship is April 12, 2023.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to promote equitable access to the arts and support 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 by providing 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 Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

Artist entrepreneurs receive support from SCAC grants

Support arts businesses on Small Business Saturday, 11/26


for immediate release

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Two South Carolina artists (#SCartists) are recipients of FY23 South Carolina Arts Commission Artists’ Business Initiative grants, which provide career satisfaction and sustainability for artists making a living off their craft.

The Artists’ Business Initiative is a grant and program from the SCAC that offers financial support for arts-based entrepreneurial initiatives and professional training for the artists who are grantees. Grants can support start-up costs, taking an existing business in a new direction, or executing a temporary initiative (like a single business purchase) that will improve sustainability. A one-time purchase may be awarded up to $3,500, and an ongoing business initiative may be awarded up to $5,000. New grantee Talin Keyfer is an Anderson County artist who works in enamels and metals to create contemporary jewelry. Her works are available at various shows and through her website, talinkeyferjewelry.com. “In 2020, after some difficult transitions, I decided to commit to my love of art full time,” Keyfer said. She was accepted as an emerging artist at significant arts festivals and plans to use her grant on marketing, hoping to increase effectiveness through a marketing plan and growing a customer base. Eric Schultz, assistant professor of music at Coastal Carolina University, is a prize-winning clarinetist who performs as a soloist and in chamber and orchestra settings. His grant will enable him to record and release a debut solo album, “Storytelling.” “The album will feature several new pieces written by diverse composers, for me,” Schultz said. The central theme of the album will be identities, including the LGBT community and a Caribbean religion from a Puerto Rican composer, another’s Afro-Latina perspective, and “melding traditions from the eastern and western sound worlds” created by a Taiwanese composer, among others. As the annual Small Business Saturday approaches on Saturday, Nov. 26, the SCAC encourages South Carolinians to support local artists and arts-based businesses as they shop for unique, considered holiday gifts now and for any reason throughout the year. The latest data from the SCAC showed that South Carolina’s creative economy supports 115,000 jobs and generates tax revenues of $269 million. Artists’ Business Initiative grants, intended for professional caliber working artists in South Carolina, open for letters of intent to apply in late summer each year. More information is available at https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/grant/abi/.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission is to promote equitable access to the arts and support 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 by providing 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 Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

Serve #SCartists with the SCAC

Director-level position opens

  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET
  • COMPENSATION: $54,000-$58,000 + state benefits package

This afternoon, the South Carolina Arts Commission opened the application period to find the new leader of a core line of service.

This role serves a need that is central to the SCAC's mission to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina, leading the department that serves #SCartists!

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

The person in this role is expected to provide leadership for activities related to building and sustaining support for individual artists through arts initiatives in South Carolina. They work with individual artists in all disciplines (literary, performing, visual, etc.) and artists who are at various stages in their career (emerging, mid-level, advanced).  They play a vital role in working with constituents, grantees, and artists and provides consulting, mentoring opportunities, and assistance to individual artists living in counties or regions of the state.

Find out more here.


Jason Rapp

Grants Roundup: Deadlines for the Week of Sept. 12

SCAC Deadlines and Coaching Opportunities

Though not the only way, grants are among the main ways the SCAC accomplishes its work.

Because of their importance to that, and what they mean to so many of you, The Hub wants to help keep Arts Commission grants top-of-mind and reduce the number of times we hear people say, "If only we'd known about (X or Y) grant!"

We can't reach everybody, but we can try. On Mondays*, "Grants Roundup" highlights:

  1. what grants are due that week, then what's due later (in increments) before
  2. providing a rundown on open grant opportunities and then
  3. upcoming grants coaching sessions.

*The Roundup might run on Tuesdays when state holidays occur on a Monday.


SCAC Grant Deadlines

The state of South Carolina and South Carolina Arts Commission fiscal year runs July 1-June 30 each year. We are currently in FY23.

THIS WEEK

These are to serve mainly as final reminders to finish in-progress applications. Most grant applications simply cannot be undertaken well in this short a time frame. Consult an appropriate member of our team with questions.

  • n/a

NEXT WEEK

  • n/a

NEXT 30(ish) DAYS


OPEN ROLLING/MONTHLY DEADLINE GRANT APPLICATIONS

These grants offer convenient deadlines, but you are advised to apply at least six weeks before your project for some. Always consult the guidelines for specific instructions.

*The deadline to apply for FY23 funding is Monday, March 6, 2023.

MORE OPEN GRANT APPLICATIONS

Important Notes

  • Consult the SCAC grants page for up-to-date information on all grant deadlines (subject to change) and deadlines for non-grant programs.
  • Always read the grant guidelines in full.
  • For next steps, grant guidance, and more information, consult the appropriate member of our team if you are an artist or represent local organizations, an educational institution, or a non-arts business or organization offering arts programming.

Grants Coaching

Learn the ins and outs of the South Carolina Arts Commission grant application process and how to manage one of our grants from the professionals on the Grants Team and program directors! Monthly topical sessions are held the first Thursday of every month. Up next is...

  • Next call TBA

The free topical discussion is held via Zoom. Registration is required. Need to get some assistance with something else? Try a one-on-one call. The Grants Team is available to answer your questions about the grants process with 15- or 30-minute sessions, Tuesdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and Wednesdays from 2-4:30 p.m. Advance registration required. Visit the Grants Coaching page for further information and registration links.

OPEN COACHING CALLS FOR ARTIST GRANTS

Deputy Director Ce Scott-Fitts and the SCAC Grants Team are using Zoom to host open coaching calls on artist development grants to better enable artists to make competitive applications for our competitive grants. The sessions are free, but you must register in advance.

  • Next call TBA

APPLICANT COACHING CALLS

SCAC program directors are hosts of periodic informational sessions using Zoom about currently-available grant opportunities. Each session reviews a grant's guidelines and application and includes a Q&A session. Sessions are free, but you must register in advance by visiting the link below to a grant's guidelines page.


SCAC grants experts are here to help!

Meet the experts serving you on the SCAC Grants Team. Need assistance? Send an email to grants@arts.sc.gov!

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Jason Rapp

Now open: serve #SCartists or place-based and rural arts

SCAC opens three director-level positions

  • APPLICATION DEADLINE: Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET
  • COMPENSATION: Details included in postings

This morning, the South Carolina Arts Commission opened applications for three critical positions, two of which are new to the agency.

These roles serve needs that are central to the SCAC's mission to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina, leading departments to serve #SCartists, creative placemaking (new!), and rural arts (new!).

ARTIST SERVICES DIRECTOR

The person in this role is expected to provide leadership for activities related to building and sustaining support for individual artists through arts initiatives in South Carolina. They work with individual artists in all disciplines (literary, performing, visual, etc.) and artists who are at various stages in their career (emerging, mid-level, advanced).  They play a vital role in working with constituents, grantees, and artists and provides consulting, mentoring opportunities, and assistance to individual artists living in counties or regions of the state.

CREATIVE PLACEMAKING DIRECTOR

The person in this new role plays a vital role in working with constituents, grantees, artists, and organizations throughout the state.  They provide leadership for activities related to building participation in the arts and strengthening communities through arts initiatives in South Carolina.  They provide consulting and assistance to counties or regions of the state. Here are just a few things they'll be doing:
  • build and maintain/relationships with a broad cross-section of business, government, arts, education, and community leaders to engage them in best practices to build public participation in the arts in South Carolina
  • manage a grant portfolio:
    • development of grant guidelines, application, and selection process
    • provide feedback, serves as primary contact, and gives pre and post award assistance for grantees
  • develop partnerships and assists with communication between participating organizations and entities
  • elevate key community assets and issues, voices of residents, local history, or cultural infrastructure through programing
  • implement new/or additional initiatives, resources, or activities for a community
  • connect communities, people, places and economic opportunities via physical spaces or new relationships

RURAL ARTS DIRECTOR

Are you a connector? The person in this new role provides leadership for activities related to building participation in the arts and strengthening rural communities through arts initiatives in South Carolina. They play a vital role in working with rural constituents, grantees, and organizations and provide consulting and assistance to counties or regions of the state. A few things they can expect to do include:
  • create programming to serve rural communities and local rural arts organizations statewide
  • advise, and facilitate, community meetings with stakeholders
  • Coordinates agency efforts to support arts-based, rural community development statewide
  • serve as the SCAC's liaison with the rural arts community, rural organizations, and artists
  • provide consultative services for rural arts constituents and serve as a resource and advisor for rural agency programs
  • assist with rural cultural planning, development of grant applications, budgeting, and program administration
  • connect rural communities, people, places and economic opportunities via physical spaces or new relationships
Learn more about these positions and apply from the jobs page on SouthCarolinaArts.com. The application deadline for all three is 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022.

Jason Rapp

SCAC names FY2023 fellowship recipients

Program changes reinforce the arts’ influence in the creative economy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. –  A diverse group of four South Carolina artists working in different artistic disciplines are the latest recipients of new-look $10,000 fellowship awards from the South Carolina Arts Commission.

The SCAC Board of Directors approved four artists who exhibit hard work, exceptional ability, and dedication to their discipline for the agency’s first $10,000 fellowships. The artists receiving awards in FY23 are:
  • Eunjung Choi, DMA of Orangeburg County for performance in music,
  • Michael Smallwood of Charleston County for playwriting/screenwriting,
  • Rebecca T. Godwin of Georgetown County for prose, and
  • Marlanda Dekine of Georgetown County for spoken word/slam poetry.
Awards were $5,000 for most of the program’s history before increased funding for the SCAC allowed a jump to $8,500 in the previous fiscal year. The new $10,000 awards are a program high. “Artistic excellence of the caliber these artists demonstrate should be rewarded. Each of the four are deserving of the financial benefit and prestige that comes with a fellowship. The South Carolina Arts Commission is excited to support their creative pursuits, and we cannot wait to see what comes next from them,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. “The fellowship program is one of the arts commission’s signature programs. It directly impacts artist development, one of the agency’s three core functions,” SCAC Deputy Director Ce Scott-Fitts said. “Increasing the award makes the program more prestigious, but better serves the recipients. They receive financial resources so that they may focus on developing and creating art.” Last autumn, artists residing in South Carolina full-time were invited to apply for fellowships in the four disciplines represented in the current cycle. Out-of-state panelists who work in those disciplines were recruited to review applications and make recommendations to the SCAC board of directors. Applicants are not anonymous, and panelists consider work samples, artistic merit, achievements, and commitment to the discipline in which artists apply. Artists may apply in multiple categories with separate applications. The FY23 panelists were Andrew Lindsay Cohen (Pownal, Vermont), Dennis Rubin Green (New York, New York), and Antonio Douthit-Boyd (St. Louis, Missouri) for performance (dance, music, or theatre/film acting); Amy Palmo (Woodland Hills, California) for playwriting/screenwriting; Abigail DeWitt (Burnsville, North Carolina) for prose; and Brennan DeFrisco (Beaverton, Oregon) and Wendy Jones (Durham, North Carolina) for spoken word/slam poetry. Further changes to the program include the addition of more modern, inclusive categories that increase accessibility to the awards’ benefits. The categories, being phased in over the course of four years, include:
  • spoken word and slam poetry;
  • time-based art, which includes installation, sound, experimental film, video art, computer-generated art, technology, or performance art;
  • choreography and directing in film, theatre, and opera;
  • and the design arts, which include architecture, fashion, graphic, industrial, or interior.
“Adding disciplines allows for more inclusion while demonstrating how many aspects of the creative economy are touched by the arts,” Scott-Fitts said. The SCAC awards four fellowships per year to artists working in rotating disciplines. One artist from each of these fields: visual art, craft, time-based art (installation, sound, experimental film, video art, computer-generated art, technology, or performance art) and music composition will be honored in fiscal year 2024. To be eligible, artists must be at least 18 years old and a legal U.S. resident with permanent residence in the state for two years prior to the application date and throughout the fellowship period. Applications will be accepted later this summer following announcement by the SCAC. For more on discipline rotation, eligibility requirements, and the application process, please visit https://www.southcarolinaarts.com/grant/fel/. Correction, 8 July 2022, 11:05 ET: A previous version of this release listed Rebecca T. Godwin as a Colleton County resident. The SCAC was unaware of a recent move to Georgetown County. The Hub apologizes for the error.

About the FY23 Individual Artist Fellowship Recipients

Eunjung Choi, DMA | Performance (Dance, Music, or Theatre/Film Acting) | Orangeburg County Dr. Eunjung Choi, a native of Seoul, South Korea, currently serves as associate professor of piano and coordinator of keyboard studies at Claflin University in Orangeburg, teaching applied piano, class piano, piano pedagogy and literature, and music appreciation. Dr. Choi has presented numerous performances, lectures, and workshops to international, national, and regional music audiences in the U.S. and South Korea. Her articles have been published in major national and international journals. Choi earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Dongduk Women’s University in Seoul, Master of Music from Ball State University, Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of South Carolina, and completed a management development program at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. Michael Smallwood | Playwriting/Screenwriting | Charleston County Michael Smallwood is an actor, writer, director, and teacher. He is originally from Baltimore, Maryland, but currently resides in Charleston. A College of Charleston alumnus, Smallwood has also studied theatre, acting, and writing at the Kennedy Center in Washington and Horizon Theatre Company in Atlanta. He is a core ensemble member of PURE Theatre in Charleston, having joined in 2011. His theatre credits include The AgitatorsThe RoyaleMarie Antoinette, and The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity, among many others. He is a two-time KCACTF award-winning playwright. His screenplays and short films have won awards from GenreBlast Film Festival, Crimson Screen Horror Film Festival, and many others. His film/television credits include the Emmy-winning CBS series “The Inspectors,” the Netflix original movie Naked, HBO's The Righteous Gemstones and Halloween Kills (2021). He is also arts editor for the Charleston City Paper and host of the podcast “Welcome to Greendale.” Rebecca T. Godwin | Prose | Colleton County Native South Carolinian Rebecca T. Godwin has published two novels, Keeper of the House (St. Martin’s, 1994) and Private Parts (Longstreet, 1992). Her stories and essays have appeared in The Paris ReviewOxford American’s Best of the South issue, The SunEpochSouth Carolina Review, and elsewhere, and she has received MacDowell and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. One of Godwin's first stories won the South Carolina Fiction Project and was included in the anthology, Inheritance (Hub City Press, 2001). For 13 years she taught literature and writing at Bennington College, during which time she conceived and was faculty editor for plain china, an online journal showcasing undergraduate writing from around the country. She has served as judge for the S.C. Fiction Project and as screening judge for the Drue Heinz Prize and The Atlantic’s Student Writing prizes. Godwin earned a bachelor’s from Coastal Carolina University and a master’s from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English. She is currently at work on two novels and a story collection. Marlanda Dekine | Spoken Word/Slam Poetry | Georgetown County Marlanda Dekine (they/she) is a poet, a voice, and a presence. Their collection of poems, Thresh & Hold, won the 2021 New Southern Voices Poetry Prize at Hub City Press. Dekine is the creator of i am from a punch & a kiss, a multimedia book/mixtape project, and the founder of Speaking Down Barriers, a nonprofit working towards equity and justice. They are a Castle of Our Skins' Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative-in-Residence, a Palm Beach Poetry Festival Langston Hughes Fellow, Tin House Own Path Scholar, Emrys Keller Cushing Freeman Scholar, Watering Hole Fellow, and the recipient of many awards, including the SC Humanities Fresh Voice Award and Say What! Queen of the South. Their work has been published in Root Work Journal, Oxford American, POETRY Magazine, Emergence Magazine, Southern Humanities Review, and elsewhere. Currently, Dekine serves as Healing Justice Fellow with Gender Benders, a transgender advocacy group in the South, and as a guest poet with the composer/performer collective, counter)induction.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is to promote equitable access to the arts and support 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 by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in four areas: arts learning, community and traditional arts, artist development, and arts industry. 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 Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

New ‘U’: Artists U offers new podcast series

Tools and tips for #SCartists keep coming

Headphones lying on laptop on armchair. Hygge minimalist home room indoor apartment interior decoration. Cozy room in natural tone

The same value-filled workshops #SCartists have grown accustomed to getting from Artists U are now available in a new medium anytime, anywhere.

To broaden reach, Artists U founder/director/guru Andrew Simonet is now offering a podcast series of conversations with artists across media. It's called Artlife on Blast, and it's the result of a partnership that includes 701 Center for Contemporary Art and the South Carolina Arts Commission. Michaela Pilar Brown, executive director of 701 CCA and a notable artist in her own right, joins Simonet to talk with featured artists.
Here's a little more from Artists U:
  • We talked with South Carolina artists about making art, making a life, and making a living.
  • How do we nourish our practice and feed ourselves?
  • And how much money could you make selling your CDs out of your trunk in the 1990s? (a lot, turns out)

We spoke with artists about things artists don’t always discuss publicly.

FatRat Da Czar has been building a life in hip hop and the artist community to nourish that work for three decades. Camela Guevara turns waste streams into art and her day job into her studio. Malik Greene is building a life as a self-taught artist and the first professional artist in his family. Cedric Umoja got honest with a community and told them the mural he was painting would probably be a gentrifying force (and the conversation that developed was profound). Ed Rice carefully managed his expenses to live off his painting for fifty years. Fifty. Years.

While editing, I got to listen to the conversations many times, and I gotta say: these artists are fascinating. In each episode, we also share some Artists U prompts and tools, ways artists are building sustainable lives.


Artists U made "Art Life on Blast"available on artistsu.org on these common platforms: The series was created and is produced by Michaela Pilar Brown and Simonet (who edits, as you read above). Production support comes from Omme-Salma Rahemtullah. Music is from Sheldon Wright and Jamil Byron. Funding support comes by way of a partnership grant from the SCAC (/mic drop). Go have a listen!

Jason Rapp

Ce Scott-Fitts promoted to deputy director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing the promotion of Ce Scott-Fitts, previously artist development director, to its executive leadership team as deputy director.

The Detroit native (right) joined the SCAC as artist development director in 2019. Scott-Fitts was previously creative director and on the founding staff of the McColl Center for Art + Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she curated exhibitions, developed an artist-in-residence program, and established an international residency program for North Carolina artists in South Africa and Ireland. She has served on numerous grant panels nationwide and taught in higher education. She is currently co-chair of the individual artist support committee for Grantmakers in the Arts and is the founder of South Carolina Artists in Action, which seeks to serve the unique needs of Black South Carolina artists. While adept at serving others, Scott-Fitts is also a practicing artist and has exhibited at museums, public spaces, and galleries throughout the Southeast with works in public and private collections in the U.S., Japan, and the United Kingdom. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Scott-Fitts will step into the role officially on July 1. She will continue to manage day-to-day artist development initiatives as she has been while adding oversight of select programs of the SCAC. “I am thrilled to be a deputy director. I look forward to working with the programs teams as they create more opportunities for and support the state’s artists and arts organizations,” Scott-Fitts said. “Ce has been a valuable member of the Arts Commission team since her first day here. She has put tremendous effort into developing meaningful relationships with South Carolina artists to connect them with agency resources. Among those are the fellowships program she modernized and rejuvenated and our emerging artists program, which offers not just a grant but valuable mentorship. We are excited that the additional agency programs and constituents will now benefit from her expertise,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is to promote equitable access to the arts and support 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 by providing grants, direct programs, staff assistance and partnerships in four areas: arts learning, community and traditional arts, artist development, and arts industry. 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 Twitter for #Arts4SC and #SCartists content.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

Hey writers: One more week to finish up your manuscripts

S.C. Novel Series submission deadline is April 15

Frustrated woman writer lost concentration feeling lack of creative ideas

If this is you, we're sorry. But...

You have ONE WEEK to finalize that manuscript for the South Carolina Novel Series. The Hub brought you updates for the partnership this past December, so you have surely been hard at work ever since. We felt a reminder was in order just in case. Here's the program in a nutshell: Every other year, the South Carolina Novel Series recognizes one of South Carolina’s exceptional writers. Writers selected for publication in this series are awarded $1,500 and book publication, including marketing and tour support from Hub City Press and the series partners, as well as placement in all South Carolina state libraries and readings/events with presenting sponsors. The series is open to writers of all levels who have lived in South Carolina for at least one year prior to submission of their manuscript. Submissions for the series opened Jan. 1 and will close next Friday, April 15. Good news: they require no submission fee. The South Carolina Novel Series is a partnership of the South Carolina Arts Commission, Hub City Press, South Carolina Humanities and the South Carolina State Library.

Jason Rapp