Communal Pen announces ‘Holiday Hangout’
Ed. note: Avid and savvy Hub readers like you know all about Communal Pen.
The creative writing workshop you know is presented by the S.C. Arts Commission (SCAC) and South Carolina Humanities in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institute's Museum on Main Street traveling exhibits in rural parts of South Carolina. However, you might also know that Museum on Main Street is on hiatus until 2022.
It turns out the Communal Pen is full of ink and ready to roll. So... the SCAC is offering a series of one-session workshops to fill demand as we wait 'til next year!
Communal Pen: Holiday Hangout
As the days grow shorter and cooler, come warm your hands and heart around the glow of writing, sharing, and listening in community!
In the Communal Pen: Holiday Hangout workshop, facilitator EBONIRAMM will lead the virtual workshop participants to celebrate and explore their connections to place, community, and traditions.
Often, it is in our written words that memory lives. The writing process can itself help us to awaken and preserve thoughts and traditions, offering insight, understanding and respect to present and future generations.
This is a one-part writing workshop offered two separate times:
- OPTION 1: 12-2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4
- OPTION 2: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 7
Deeply rooted in South Carolina, "Communal Pen" writing workshop creator and facilitator EboniRamm fell in love with the arts at a very young age and was encouraged throughout her youth to express herself. Today, an accomplished poet and jazz singer, she invites audiences of all ages to share her passion for combining these art forms, highlighting her belief in the powerful influence of jazz on the American literary experience and aesthetic. She has taught her unique Jazz Poetry Salon at residencies with the Richland County Public Library, Arts Access South Carolina, Youth Corps, Fairfield Middle School, McKissick Museum, and ColaJazz’s partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others. Other selected accomplishments include her publication, Within His Star: The Story of Levi Pearson, celebrating Eboni’s ancestor who added strength to the unprecedented Brown vs. The Board of Education case, and the release of her poetry CD, Passion, and her jazz CD, The Look of Love. Learn more about Eboni at www.EboniRamm.com.
Workshop coordinator Laura Marcus Green is program specialist for community arts & folklife at the S.C. Arts Commission, where she provides statewide outreach and project coordination through The Art of Community: Rural SC initiative and other projects, while managing folklife grant and award programs. She holds a Ph.D. in folklore from Indiana University and an M.A. in folklore/anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. Selected prior positions include folklife & traditional arts program director at McKissick Museum, community engagement coordinator for the Museum of International Folk Art’s Gallery of Conscience, and work as a folklife fieldworker and researcher, writer, curator and consultant for various arts and culture agencies nationwide. Having attended, coordinated, and facilitated diverse workshops, she is a devoted believer in the power of community writing.
In the Communal Pen: Postcards workshop, facilitator EBONIRAMM will lead the virtual workshop participants to celebrate and explore their connections to place, community, and travel.
Often, it is in our written words that memory lives. The writing process can itself help us to awaken and preserve thoughts and traditions, offering insight, understanding and respect to present and future generations.
This is a one-part writing workshop offered two separate times:
Music opens up pathways to creative thinking, sharpens our ability to listen, and helps us weave together ideas.
In the Communal Pen: Musical Pathways workshop, facilitator EBONIRAMM will lead the virtual workshop through writing to celebrate and explore connections to place and community.
Often, it is in our written words that memory lives. The writing process can itself help us to awaken and preserve thoughts and traditions, offering insight, understanding and respect to present and future generations.
This is a one-part writing workshop offered two separate times:
In the midst of the pandemic, Catherine Ntube joined the South Carolina Arts Commission as its specialist for arts organizations and education. Those are big pieces of the SCAC pie, so there's sure to be a learning curve as you acclimate. Except pandemic. Except the entirety of your new team is working virtually as a result of said pandemic. Except the people you were hired to serve were mostly (at the time) doing likewise.
Except... it didn't matter.
Ntube (that's EN-too-bay) hit the ground running anyway and has been ably serving in any way she's needed. She's instituted 
The Art of Community: Rural SC is a place-based initiative working in 14 rural communities and the Catawba Indian Nation. “Using arts and culture strategically to advance local places is the essence of our approach. These posters are a great example of what it means to lift local voices and amplify creative spirits for the good of everyone,” DuPlessis said. “We are truly in this moment together.”
Medlock Bridge Park
What are the memories, stories and traditions that make your community home?
What landmarks, customs, sights and sounds connect us with family, friends and neighbors, while highlighting our unique experience and identity?
Sometimes, you’ve just got to write it down!
Medlock Bridge Park
