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2nd Act Film Project returns Oct. 30 in Columbia

Two screenings at Trustus Theatre

The 2nd Act Film Project, an endeavor of the Jasper Project, will premier its 6th season of short films on October 30 at Trustus Theater in Columbia’s historic Vista. There will be two screenings, at 7 and 9:15 p.m. Tickets are $15-20 and are available via Eventbrite.com. Ten filmmaking teams, selected from an open call for entries, will each debut an original short film having been provided with the 1st and 3rd acts of a screenplay and tasked with writing the 2nd act and creating the film in its entirety. Teams are provided a small stipend to fund their projects. The 2019 2nd Act Film Project teams are led this year by David Axe, Ian O’Briant, Amy Brower, William Woody, Jennifer Baxley, Sean Parsons, Silas Rowland, Henry Coonrod, Taiyen Stevenson, and Daniel Colella. Wade Sellers is the project director. For more information on the 2nd Act Film Project, go to www.secondactfilmafestival.com.

About the 2nd Act Film Project

The 2nd Act Film Project is a unique take on the film project concept. The goal of the 2nd Act Film Project is to promote the growth of independent filmmaking in Columbia and grow the network of independent filmmakers throughout South Carolina. Founded in 2013, the project has already produced 50 films. The 2nd Act Film Project Is presented by the Jasper Project - a non-profit arts organization based in Columbia (www.JasperProject.org).

Submitted material

Jasper Project to release sixth ‘Fall Lines’

The Jasper Project, in partnership with Richland Library, Richland Library Friends and Foundation, and One Columbia for Arts and History, announces the release of Fall Lines – a literary convergence, volume V on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019 from 2-3:30 p.m. at the main branch of Richland Library (1431 Assembly St., Columbia). Fall Lines – a literary convergence is a South Carolina based print literary journal that solicits submissions of poetry and prose internationally. With more than 500 submissions this year, more than 30 were selected for publication through a blind reading process. The winner of the Saluda River Prize for Poetry is Kimberly Driggers for her poem, “Imagine the Sound of Waves.” The winner of the Broad River Prize for Prose is Derek Berry for his story, “Sasquatch.” Judy Goldman served as the judge for the prose competition and Délana R. A. Dameron served as the judge for poetry.  DéLana R.A. Dameron is the author of Weary Kingdom and How God Ends Us. She is an arts and culture strategist who lives in Brooklyn. Goldman is the author of two award-winning poetry collections and two novels, Early Leaving and The Slow Way Back, which was a finalist for SIBA's Novel of the Year and winner of the Sir Walter Raleigh Fiction Award and the Mary Ruffin Poole Award for First Fiction. Her memoir, Losing My Sister, was a finalist for both SIBA's Memoir of the Year and ForeWord Review's Memoir of the Year. Her work has appeared in Real Simple, The Washington Post, and in many literary journals. She teaches writing workshops throughout the Southeast, and serves on the permanent faculty of Table Rock Writers Workshop. Winners are sponsored by the Richland Library Friends and Foundation. The public is invited to the free release event, readings, and awards ceremony on Sunday, August 18th from 2-3:30 p.m. at the main branch of the Richland Library. Copies of Fall Lines will be available and free.

Who’s-who of female #SCartists headline new project

Home-grown historic women to be honored by home-grown talent

[caption id="attachment_40815" align="aligncenter" width="600"]Eartha Kitt placesetting by Mana Hewitt Eartha Kitt placesetting by Mana Hewitt for The Supper Table.[/caption]
The Jasper Project announced its most ambitious multidisciplinary arts project to date – The Supper Table – enlisting the talents of more than 50 of South Carolina’s most outstanding women artists from the fields of visual, literary, theatrical arts, and film. An homage to Judy Chicago’s iconic feminist art installation, The Dinner Party, and using Chicago’s project as a loose model, Jasper Project Executive Director Cindi Boiter conceived of The Supper Table as an innovative way of honoring some of South Carolina's largely un-celebrated, yet groundbreaking women in history. After consulting with experts like Marjorie Spruill, professor emeritus in women’s history at the University of South Carolina, Boiter selected 12 historic South Carolina women who, via their work in the arts, medicine, law, business, athletics, entertainment, and more, changed the course of human history. Using the model created by Chicago, Boiter commissioned Richland Library Maker Coordinator Jordan Morris to create a 12’ x 12’ x 12’ wooden table at which visual artists would create place-settings inspired by and honoring the historic women. In addition to the 12 visual artists, a dozen artists each from the literary, theatrical arts, and film were also invited to participate. The result is a multidisciplinary arts installation and performance which will premiere in September along with the release of:
  • a book Setting The Supper Table,
  • the premiere of a series of 12 looped 90-second films,
  • a staged oration by 12 women actors based on essays written by 12 literary artists,
  • and, of course, the installation of the table itself, complete with 12 place-settings.
Funded in part by a Connected Communities grant from Central Carolina Community Foundation, The Supper Table premiere begins Friday, Sept. 6 at Trustus Theatre with a celebration, performance, and panel presentation before moving Sunday, Sept. 8 to Harbison Theatre at Midlands Technical College for another premiere celebration and the installation of The Supper Table, complete with films and a collection of 12 original portraits of the honored women created by Artfields People’s Choice winner Kirkland Smith. After, it will travel to other venues in the state throughout 2020. In addition to the hand-crafted table with artisanal place-settings, the books, looped films, and portraits, the installation will also include three walls comprised of 120 hand-embossed tiles, each celebrating an additional history-making woman from South Carolina, some living and some deceased, called an "Array of Remarkable SC Women." These tiles were hand-painted this past spring by women and girls from the state's Midlands region. The women honored at The Supper Table range from indigo entrepreneur Eliza Lucas Pinckney to college founders Mary McLeod Bethune and Elizabeth Evelyn Wright to ground-breaking law professor Sarah Leverette, who died last August. The honored subjects also include Alice Childress, Septima Clark, Matilda Evans, Althea Gibson, Angeline and Sarah Grimke, Eartha Kitt, Julia Peterkin, and Modjeska Monteith Simkins. Eight of the 12 place-settings are devoted to women of color. Visual artists involved include Michaela Pilar Brown, Mana Hewitt, Eileen Blyth, Laurie Brownell McIntosh, Olga Yukhno, Flavia Lovatelli, Bohumila Augustinova, Lori Isom, Renee Roullier, Tonya Gregg, B. A. Hohman, and Heidi Darr-Hope. Jordan Morris created the actual table and Kathryn Van Aernum is the official photographer. The city of Columbia’s Brenda Oliver assisted with tiles along with Diane Hare. Literary artists include South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth, Eva Moore, Claudia Smith Brinson, Carla Damron, Candace Wiley, Christina Xan, Qiana Whitted, Meeghan Kane, Kristine Hartvigsen, and Jennifer Bartell. Boiter is also writing an introductory essay for the book. Film artists include Emmy award-winning filmmaker Betsy Newman, Laura Kissel, Roni Nicole, Faye Riley, Katly Hong, Ebony Wilson, Jordan Mullen, Steffi Brink, Carleen Maur, Lee Ann Kornegay, Lillian Burke, and Tamara Finkbeiner with Josetra Robinson. Kornegay is also creating The Making of the Supper Table, a full-length film that will premiere in spring 2020. Indie Grits Lab’s Mahkia Greene is overseeing the filmmakers. Vicky Saye Henderson is overseeing the casting and directing of the theatrical artists.
For more information about The Supper Table,visit its Kickstarter campaign at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/thejasperproject/the-supper-table.

Call for submissions: Fall Lines – a literary convergence

Submission deadline is March 31. The Jasper Project invites submissions of previously unpublished poetry, essays, short fiction, and flash fiction for Fall Lines -- a literary convergence. Publication in Fall Lines will be determined by a panel of judges. Accepted authors will be notified by May 30, with a publication date in July 2017. Two $250 cash prizes, sponsored by the Richland Library Friends, will be awarded: The Saluda River Prize for Poetry and the Broad River Prize for Prose. Fall Lines is presented by The Jasper Project in partnership with Muddy Ford Press, Richland Library, and One Columbia for Arts and History. Submissions are due March 31, 2017. Find complete submission instructions online.

Central Carolina Community Foundation awards Connected Communities grants to launch seven innovative projects

Central Carolina Community Foundation has awarded Connected Communities grants to seven nonprofits for new projects designed to enrich the Midlands region:

  • Columbia Museum of Art: “Cut! Costume and the Cinema” – Visitors will peek behind the scenes into the craftsmanship and artistry of cinematic costume design with this international arts and education exhibition, including 43 costumes from 25 well-known films, depicting five centuries of history, drama and comedy. The exhibit, which aims to draw new, cross-generational audiences to the Midlands, will be on display at the Columbia Museum of Art from November 18, 2016 to February 19, 2017.
  • Doko Meadows Park Foundation Amphitheatre Project – First-class performances and arts and community events will have a new home within Blythewood’s 25-acre, master-planned Doko Meadows Park, where the Doko Meadows Park Foundation will construct a new amphitheater, welcoming audiences and visitors of all socioeconomic backgrounds, ages and abilities.
  • EngenuitySC: What’s Next Midlands – Economic development nonprofit EngenuitySC will launch its second year of What’s Next Midlands, the collaborative crowdsourcing program aimed to gather great ideas for Midlands improvement from residents, and then connect those ideas with the community, capital and volunteers needed to turn them into reality. The program will complete one publicly vetted and approved project per quarter. The first What’s Next Midlands project to be funded has recently added brightly colored, metal patio tables and chairs along Main Street to add social seating during events and peak times (pictured above).
  • Riverbanks Society: Waterfall Junction at Riverbanks Botanical Garden – Waterfall Junction – a new attraction within the Riverbanks Botanical Garden – shelters three acres of ponds, creeks, falls and meadows, inviting visitors of all ages to connect with nature through hands-on exploration, imaginative learning and social offerings. The grant provides funding for public gathering and education sites within the new attraction.
  • South Carolina Philharmonic: Conduct the Phil – The S.C. Philharmonic expands their successful pop-up, interactive experience that allows the public to conduct the orchestra, holding Conduct the Phil sessions in isolated areas of the community to interact with new audiences including the homeless, mentally challenged, incarcerated, physically ill and at-risk youth populations.
  • South Carolina State Museum: RACE: Are We So Different? – The concept of race is scientifically and culturally examined, pondered and challenged at the S.C. State Museum’s new exhibit, which explores three primary themes – the science of human variation, the history of the idea of race and the contemporary experience of race and racism in the U.S. – and explains why we should celebrate our differences. Associated programs complement the exhibit, displayed from June 11 to September 11, 2016.
  • The Jasper Project: Marked by the Water – In commemoration of the first anniversary of the devastating South Carolina flood in October 2015, local artists and community members will collaborate and produce a multi-disciplinary community arts project, featuring visual art, literary elements, music and dance. Funding from the Foundation will support the publication of a book containing collected works from this project.
The grant recipients presented innovative ideas that embrace one or more of the following three focus areas, identified by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Gallup as the three most important elements of an attractive community: Welcoming Community, which promotes and encourages open and inclusive activities and programs; Vibrant Social Offerings, which support the availability of community events, arts and culture opportunities; and Superb Public Spaces, which enhance the beauty and physical setting of the Midlands community. Each selected project encourages citizen involvement and community-wide collaboration. “The projects selected relate directly to our quality of life and enrich our community in meaningful ways,” says JoAnn Turnquist, president & CEO of Central Carolina Community Foundation. “We look forward to working with these organizations throughout the next year and watching their projects unfold.” In the 2015-16 fiscal year, the Foundation’s first Connected Communities grants funded local programs such as “What’s Next Midlands,” a crowdsourced regional improvement program championed by EngenuitySC; The Nickelodeon Theatre’s “Indie Grits at the River,” enabling the Indie Grits Film Festival to offer free admission for all events for the first time; and educational opportunities in conjunction with the “From Marilyn to Mao – Andy Warhol’s Famous Faces” exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art, bringing the works of the world-famous artist to downtown Columbia, S.C. For more information about Connected Communities grants, visit the Foundation's website or call 803.254.5601. About Central Carolina Community Foundation Central Carolina Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization serving 11 counties in the Midlands by distributing grants and scholarships and linking the resources of donors, nonprofits and area leaders to communities in need. For more information about the Foundation, visit www.yourfoundation.org or call 803.254.5601.

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