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Nominations open today for S.C.’s 2024 arts awards

Honor the best for excellence in arts achievement or advocacy

  • Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Folk Heritage Awards recognize arts achievement, influence, and support
  • Nomination window closes Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nominations are now open to honor persons or organizations in South Carolina who exhibit the highest levels of achievement, influence, or support of arts and folklife with the South Carolina's arts awards.

Square graphic with text on a medium blue background that reads "It's time to nominate your arts luminary. Deadline is November 5. South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts."

South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts The South Carolina Arts Commission is accepting nominations for the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, which recognizes persons or organizations in South Carolina who exhibit outstanding achievement or support of the arts. The Governor’s Awards use a simple, online nomination process, and all it takes to begin a nomination is one letter, which should describe the nominee's exemplary contributions to the arts in South Carolina in these categories: Artist, Individual, Arts in Education, Government, Business/Foundation, and Organization. A nomination letter should address any characteristics included in the category descriptions. The nomination letters are due Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For complete nomination guidelines or more information about the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or contact Communications Director Jason Rapp: jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899 Square graphic on a light sage-green background that reads "2024 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards nominations are open! Deadline November 5."Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards The SCAC, with the University of South Carolina McKissick Museum, honors the state’s exceptional folklife and traditional arts practitioners and advocates with the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards. The South Carolina General Assembly created the awards in 1987 to recognize lifetime achievement in the traditional arts and presents them annually to honor the work of stewarding and furthering the traditional arts significant to communities throughout the state. McKissick Museum is collecting nominations until Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For additional information and advisement, contact museum Executive Director Jane Przybysz: jprzybys@mailbox.sc.edu or 803.777.7251. The 2024 South Carolina Arts Awards broadcast on South Carolina ETV will jointly honor the recipients of Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards. A specific air date, anticipated in May, will be announced in spring 2024.

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.

About the University of South Carolina McKissick Museum

The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum tells the story of southern life: community, culture, and the environment. The Museum is located on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe with available parking in the garage at the corner of Pendleton and Bull streets. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. The Museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The Museum is closed Sundays and university holidays. For more information, please call at 803.777.7251 or visit https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/mckissick_museum/.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

SCETV to broadcast the 2023 South Carolina Arts Awards

Sunday, May 14 at 8 p.m. ET

 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Arts Commission and University of South Carolina McKissick Museum continue a partnership with South Carolina ETV to present the South Carolina Arts Awards when they are broadcast on television Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET.

South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here. South Carolina First Lady Peggy McMaster and David T. Platts, executive director of the SCAC, will be joint hosts of the South Carolina Arts Awards for the fourth year in a row. They will recognize seven award recipients: two receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award and five receiving the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts. McKissick Museum Executive Director Jane Przybysz will introduce each Folk Heritage Award recipient:
  • Emily H. Meggett (Edisto Island): artist category, Gullah Geechee cooking
  • Hampton Rembert (Bishopville): artist category, gospel singing
Meggett will be recognized posthumously after her passing April 21 at the age of 90. Platts will introduce the five recipients of the Governor’s Award for the Arts:
  • Ray McManus (Lexington): artist category
  • Carlos Agudelo (Spartanburg): individual category
  • American College of the Building Arts (Charleston): arts in education category
  • Aiken Center for the Arts (Aiken): organization category
  • Nigel Redden (Mystic, Connecticut): Special Award
The partnership between the SCAC and SCETV allowed for the South Carolina Arts Awards to take advantage of an SCETV production team, led by executive producer William I. Richardson, that created the pre-recorded ceremony. The award recipients will be introduced to the audience through seven new short films by four South Carolina filmmakers: Rick Fitts, Yulian Martínez-Escobar, Gavin McIntyre, and Shae Winston.

About South Carolina ETV and Public Radio

South Carolina ETV (SCETV) is the state's public educational broadcasting network. Using television, radio and diverse digital properties, SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment and instilling the joy of learning. In addition to airing local programs, such as Carolina Classrooms, Making It Grow, Palmetto Scene and This Week in South Carolina, SCETV also presents multiple programs to regional and national audiences, including By The River, Expeditions, Reconnecting Roots, Reel South, Somewhere South, Yoga in Practice and Live from Charleston Music Hall. In addition, SC Public Radio produces the national radio production, Chamber Music from Spoleto Festival USA.

About the University of South Carolina McKissick Museum

The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum tells the story of southern life: community, culture, and the environment. The Museum is located on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe with available parking in the garage at the corner of Pendleton and Bull streets. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. The Museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The Museum is closed Sundays and university holidays. For more information, please call at 803.777.7251 or visit https://sc.edu/mckissickmuseum.

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

2023 S.C. Arts Awards: Emily H. Meggett

Folk Heritage Award: Artist Category

Graphic with white copy on a dark blue background overlaid on granite blocks. The white text reads South Carolina Arts Awards 2023. As the day nears for the 2023 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is focusing on this year's recipients: five receiving the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts from the South Carolina Arts Commission and two receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, managed jointly by the SCAC and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina.

With deep appreciation, we remember the light and warmth from a well-lived life.

Official Statement from the South Carolina Arts Commission

As has been reported elsewhere, the sad news from Edisto Island last week was that Emily H. Meggett passed away April 21 at the age of 90. Emily Meggett was indeed a cultural treasure who deserves to be known—and remembered fondly—by all South Carolinians. Her generosity and creative spirit were the embodiment of ideals toward which we should all strive. The South Carolina Arts Commission extends sincere condolences to her family and the Gullah Geechee community for their loss. Though she will be recognized with her Folk Heritage Award posthumously, the South Carolina Arts Awards broadcast will nonetheless pay tribute as we remember her consequential life.

Gullah Geechee chef Emily H. Meggett, known by many as “M.P.,” was born on November 19, 1932 on Edisto Island, the place she called “heaven on earth.”

[caption id="attachment_53185" align="alignright" width="275"] Emily H. Meggett, 1932-2023[/caption] Meggett grew up with her family on her grandparent’s farm, where they grew a wide variety of vegetables and also kept livestock for butchering. Meggett learned to cook traditional Gullah Geechee dishes with the ingredients grown on the farm, standing next to her grandmother, Elizabeth Major Hutchinson, whom she called “mama.” Meggett learned more formal cooking in 1954 when she took a job at a house on Edisto Island owned by the Dodges, a white family from Rockport, Maine, who were in the oil business. Ms. Julia W. Brown, a Gullah woman, was the head chef of their family kitchen, and she was in charge of teaching Meggett how to prepare dishes correctly. Meggett recalled Ms. Julia telling her “You do it right or you do it over,” and true to her word, Ms. Julia would throw anything that wasn’t up to her standards straight into the trash can. Meggett married Edisto native Jessie Meggett, with whom she had 10 children. They built a four-room home on one acre of land where she cooked for everyone in her family, and many more as she remembered, likely more than a hundred children in the area. Meggett woke up around two o’clock in the morning with inspiration of what to cook the next day. She cooked every day for her family, her neighbors, and anyone who might need a meal. When you saw the small door to her kitchen open you know you’ll be fed, no money needed and no questions asked. Meggett’s family and friends encouraged her throughout her life to share her recipes in a cookbook, but the idea perplexed her as she had never used one herself. But eventually her friend Becky Smith convinced her to start the long process. Every day Smith would visit Meggett where they would work on one recipe at a time, figuring out measurements, and documenting the process. In April of 2022, Meggett’s cookbook, Gullah Geechee Home Cooking was published. The book, which was written with the help of food writer Kayla Stewart and oral historian Trelani Michelle, quickly became a New York Times bestseller. Meggett received numerous accolades for her work, including the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joe Biden. Biography written by Amanda Malloy, McKissick Museum
The South Carolina Arts Awards are coming live to SCETV on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET. South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here.

Jason Rapp

2023 S.C. Arts Awards: Hampton Rembert

Folk Heritage Award: Artist Category

Graphic with white copy on a dark blue background overlaid on granite blocks. The white text reads South Carolina Arts Awards 2023. As the day nears for the 2023 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is focusing on this year's recipients: five receiving the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts from the South Carolina Arts Commission and two receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, managed jointly by the SCAC and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina.

Raised on a sharecropper farm in Bishopville, 85-year-old Hampton Rembert has been singing gospel from a very young age.

He learned with his family who would sing on Sundays and during family reunions. With little formal education, Rembert started working at the age of 13, plowing with his own mule all day with his father. At age 20 he married his wife Mabel and joined the church that he still attends today, Unionville AME Church in Mayesville. Rembert was offered the job of assistant Sunday school superintendent at the church and was eventually promoted to superintendent. He held the position for 13 years before leaving to drive trucks, allowing him to see 28 different states. He continues to work today doing lawn services. Rembert worked hard at his professions throughout his life, and he always sang. He has 10 living siblings with whom he grew up singing. When they were younger, they formed a gospel choir of up to 21 members at one point. They would travel to sing at a different church every Sunday evening in Lee and Sumter counties. Singing is one of his greatest joys and an experience that connects him to his family and his faith, but his gift was threatened in 1998 after receiving a serious cancer diagnosis. One month after leaving the hospital from surgery he was diagnosed with another form of cancer and returned immediately for mouth and throat surgery. After that, there was a possibility that he would never talk, much less sing, again. Yet at 85 years and 25 years since that diagnosis, he still sings twice a month at his church and as often as he can with his siblings. Rembert credits the power of prayer from his friends and family for his recovery eventually testifying at his church just three months after surgery, with no small contribution from his attitude and tenacity. Written by Amanda Malloy, McKissick Museum
The South Carolina Arts Awards are coming live to SCETV on Sunday, May 14, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET. South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here.

Jason Rapp

On the passing of William L. Kinney, Jr.

Rare recipient of both S.C. arts awards


Official Statement from the S.C. Arts Commission

The South Carolina Arts Commission expresses its sadness after learning that William L. Kinney, Jr. passed this past weekend at his Bennettsville home. The U.S. Army veteran is remembered as a journalist, historian, and civic leader who was a life-long Bennettsville resident. Kinney has the distinction of being named recipient of both of South Carolina's arts honors: the Governor's Award for the Arts (2002, individual in business) and Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award (2003, advocacy). He served as a congressional appointee to the board of trustees of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for 30 years, and was board chairman for three terms. His artistic exploits included singing bass in his church choir for 75 years. The SCAC extends warm and sincere condolences to the surviving members of Kinney's family with gratitude for his advocacy on behalf of folklife and traditional arts and other art forms in South Carolina.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

On the passing of Thomasena Stokes Marshall

S.C. folk arts, political pioneer passed away Jan. 7


Official Statement from the S.C. Arts Commission

The South Carolina Arts Commission expresses its sadness after learning that Thomasena Stokes Marshall passed this past weekend. Most notable among her many accomplishments is a successful run for a seat on town council in Mount Pleasant that made her the first and only Black member of the council in 186 years (per the Post & Courier). She appeared on the S.C. Arts Commission radar as founder of the Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival Association. The group was honored with the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award in 2017 (Hub coverage), and Marshall collaborated with the SCAC on that. The relationship led to the organization participating in FOLKfabulous@TheFair with McKissick Museum and also a Folklife & Traditional Arts Project grant from the SCAC in support of a sweetgrass basketry summer camp. The SCAC extends warm and sincere condolences to the surviving members of Marshall's family with gratitude for her achievements and hard work on behalf of a cherished traditional art form important to our state.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

Tuning Up: S.C. arts leader added to national cohort + awards reminders!

Good morning! 

"Tuning Up" is a morning post series where The Hub delivers curated, quick-hit arts stories of interest to readers. Sometimes there will be one story, sometimes there will be several. Get in tune now, and have a masterpiece of a day. And now, in no particular order...

National Leaders of Color Fellowship Cohort

The first cohort of the National Leaders of Color Fellowship (LoCF) program has been selected, representing 53 leaders from across the U.S. including South Carolina's Davelyn Athena. The cohort will participate in a strategic leadership development program for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) leaders committed to the advancement of cultural equity in the arts that emphasizes policy and data in the arts, leadership, culture of care, and strategic foresight through an advocacy lens. You can read more about the LoCF program—and Davelyn—here. She is executive director of the Upstate-based Speaking Down Barriers organization. Congrats to her!

Nominations for South Carolina's arts awards are closing in just more than a week. 

Nominations for both are open through Sunday, Nov. 6 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The 2023 recipients will be honored in spring 2023 during the South Carolina Arts Awards broadcast on SCETV.

Jason Rapp

Nominate S.C.’s best artists, advocates for arts awards now!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Nominations are now open to honor persons or organizations in South Carolina who exhibit the highest levels of achievement, influence, or support of arts and folklife with the South Carolina Arts Awards.

South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts

The South Carolina Arts Commission is accepting nominations for the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, which recognizes persons or organizations in South Carolina who exhibit outstanding achievement or support of the arts. The Governor’s Awards use a simple, online nomination process, and all it takes to begin a nomination is one letter, which should describe the nominee's exemplary contributions to the arts in South Carolina in these categories: Artist, Individual, Arts in Education, Government, Business/Foundation, and Organization. A nomination letter should address any characteristics included in the category descriptions. The nomination letters are due Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

For complete nomination guidelines or more information about the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts, visit SouthCarolinaArts.com or contact Communications Director Jason Rapp: jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899.

Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards

The SCAC, with McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina, honors the state’s exceptional folklife and traditional arts practitioners and advocates with the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards. The South Carolina General Assembly created the awards in 1987 to recognize lifetime achievement in the traditional arts and presents them annually to honor the work of stewarding and furthering the traditional arts significant to communities throughout the state.

McKissick Museum is collecting nominations until Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. ET. For additional information and advisement, contact museum Executive Director Jane Przybysz: jprzybys@mailbox.sc.edu or 803.777.7251.

The 2023 recipients of South Carolina Governor’s Awards for the Arts and Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards are to be featured on the South Carolina Arts Awards broadcast next spring on SCETV. In June 2022, seven distinguished recipients were recognized for exceptional achievements in, support of, or advocacy for the arts on the first South Carolina Arts Awards broadcast. That partnership remains in place. A specific air date, anticipated in May, will be announced in spring 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.

About the University of South Carolina McKissick Museum

The University of South Carolina’s McKissick Museum tells the story of southern life: community, culture, and the environment. The Museum is located on the University of South Carolina’s historic Horseshoe with available parking in the garage at the corner of Pendleton and Bull streets. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. The Museum is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The Museum is closed Sundays and university holidays. For more information, please call at 803.777.7251 or visit https://sc.edu/study/colleges_schools/artsandsciences/mckissick_museum/.
South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp

McKissick Museum opens search for folklife program director

Application deadline: Friday, July 15, 2022


The University of South Carolina McKissick Museum is looking for a folklife program director to implement folklife-related public programs and research.

The position is funded by a renewable folklife partnership grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission. That grant enhances McKissick Museum’s ability to document for archival purposes the cultural practices of tradition bearers in South Carolina and to raise public awareness and appreciation of these practices through a variety of public program formats. McKissick Museum's folklife program director plans and implements folklife-related research and public programs that engage on and off campus audiences. The role will involve managing:
  • the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
  • Phase 2 of the Tradition Bearers Survey Project
  • the Folklife Resource Center
  • the South Carolina Broadcast Archives
The person in this position is also responsible for conducting in-depth fieldwork/research and continued asset mapping in communities across the state. Minimum qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in American studies, anthropology, cultural geography, ethnomusicology, folklore, history, or related discipline and two (2 ) years of work experience in public sector folklore, folklife, ethnomusicology, or related work areas; or equivalency. Spanish fluency is strongly preferred. Learn more about the position by visiting the official posting here.

Jason Rapp

S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series: Ann Phillips

Folk Heritage Award: Artist Category

As the day nears for the 2022 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is focusing on this year's recipients: four receiving the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts and three receiving the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award, which are managed jointly by the South Carolina Arts Commission and McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina.

For centuries, South Carolina women have contributed to their communities artistically, culturally, and socially through the making of quilts.

[caption id="attachment_50361" align="alignright" width="300"] Ann Phillips, seated, receives the Folk Heritage Award May 19, 2022 from Jane Przybysz of McKissick Museum at UofSC. Click image to enlarge. McKissick Museum photo.[/caption] Though Alabama born, ANN PHILLIPS of Sumter is a 40-year contributor herself. As a child, seated under her mother’s quilt frame, she threaded needles and learned to make a secure knot. However, she didn’t begin quilting until her husband’s military job landed the Phillipses in Sumter; Phillips felt their new country home needed quilts. Central to her approach is taking a traditional quilt block pattern and using it in a new way to great visual effect. Phillips has shown immense creativity and elevated the artistry of quiltmaking. She will change the set of a block, put it on point, or frame it with multiple borders or use non-traditional fabrics and colors with the same pattern. Quilting groups in South Carolina invite her for trunk shows and presentations to demonstrate taking a traditional, simple quilt block design and doing something new with it. Phillips’ work is regularly included at the South Carolina State Fair, and she shares her skill in her community: Through partnerships at her church, she assists in making quilts for a Sumter pregnancy center, all babies born to Shaw Air Force Base families, and for area assisted living centers.    
The South Carolina Arts Awards are coming live to SCETV on Monday, June 13, 2022 at 9 p.m. ET. South Carolina ETV, the state’s public educational broadcasting network, will broadcast the awards ceremony through its 11-station TV network that spans the state. Viewers can access the broadcast via livestream on the homepage of SCETV.org; by using a digital antenna; or through cable, satellite, and streaming live TV providers. Further information about accessing SCETV is available here.

Jason Rapp