Four arts projects receive Elevate Upstate grants

From GSABusiness.com Four communities have received 2015 Hughes Investments Elevate Upstate Community Vibrancy grants. Phil Hughes and Hughes Investments annually provides two grants of $5,000 each. However, for 2015, Hughes provided an additional $5,000 with the third grant being split between two communities. The two $5,000 recipients:

• Celebrate AgriCulture, Greenwood — The Arts Council of Greenwood County plans a six-week celebration of National Farmers Market Week with activities such as tailored pieces of art, a family fun day focused on agriculture and cooking demonstrations.
• Music at the Museum, Greenville — In a partnership between the Children’s Museum of the Upstate and the Furman University Partners in the Arts Program, student and faculty ensembles will perform a series of mini concerts.

The two community projects each receiving $2,500:

• Art in the Park, Woodruff — The Woodruff Living Arts Festival will be a downtown event that aims to bring art to life in the Upstate.
• Walkable Cultural District, Spartanburg — The Art Partnership, in collaboration with the Spartanburg Art Museum, is planning a temporary public art installation to launch the newly designated Spartanburg Downtown cultural district.

“The goal of the Elevate Upstate program is to get communities thinking about what types of initiatives or programs might help spark vibrancy within their area and then provide some seed money to get some of them started,” said Hughes Investments President Phil Hughes. “In the three years we have done this program, I have been amazed by the great ideas and passion of communities across the region to grow their vibrancy and sense of place. It was a real challenge to narrow the field to five finalists and to select the recipients.” The program, which began in 2013, annually provides seed funds to support vibrancy initiatives in communities across the Upstate. Since then, Hughes Investments has provided $43,000 to fund projects in 12 different communities. Image: Anderson Mayor and Ten at the Top board member Terence Roberts (from left) with Elevate Upstate grant recipients Alyson Leslie, from Main Street Woodruff; Nancy Halverson, president and CEO of The Children’s Museum of the Upstate; Jennifer Evins, trustee from the Spartanburg County Foundation; Stephanie Turner, Uptown Market manager at Greenwood Farmers Market; and Anne Craig, director of the Greenwood Arts Center. Hughes Investments President Phil Hughes is on the right.