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Fort Mill senior wins first place in annual state writing contest

One senior and three juniors have won the top awards in the annual South Carolina High School Writing Contest.

Presented by the South Carolina Honors College, the contest asks the same question each year: How can we make South Carolina better? Students can respond in poetry, prose, drama, and fiction, keeping their submission within 750 words. This year’s judge was Dr. Ray McManus, a poet and professor at the University of South Carolina-Sumter. [caption id="attachment_49565" align="alignright" width="300"] Kaylen Pritchard. Provided photo.[/caption] Kaylen Pritchard of Fort Mill (right) won first place with her personal essay, “The Curriculum My Brother Deserves.” A senior at Catawba Ridge High School, Pritchard recounted how her mixed-race family was “denied service” at a South Carolina restaurant because her younger brother, adopted from Africa, was Black. She argues against recent state legislation that limits teaching critical race theory in schools. “My brother has been on the receiving end of the bitter teeth of racism ever since he first came to the United States at 18 months old,” she wrote. “If my young siblings and I had to experience the confusion and fear of being turned away from an establishment because of one of our skin colors, we were old enough to learn about the deeply rooted issues that led to such manifestations of racism.” “Truly amazing work” is how Judge McManus described Pritchard’s work. “I do not know the age of this writer, but I think he or she captures the very essence of the issue and simplifies the complexity (without over-simplification) that is often elusive for many adults. This is a writer we college professors dream of having.” Pritchard will receive the Walter Edgar Award, which includes $1,000. The Walter Edgar Award is provided by Thad Westbrook, a Columbia lawyer and University of South Carolina trustee, in honor of his history professor. At Catawba Ridge High, Pritchard’s English teachers are Heather Spittle and Christopher Revels. William Ross of Sullivan’s Island won second place with “Train Tracks,” his personal essay about the racism that exists in the South and within his family. A junior at Charleston County School of the Arts, Ross describes an incident that occurred while his family watched a college football game. “This essay cuts me to the bone,” McManus wrote. “It’s honest and unflinching, which is not an easy task when you consider how we will often save face to prevent any perceived embarrassment. What this writer does, and so eloquently, is brave, and it’s beautiful.” A student of Danielle DeTiberus, Ross will receive the South Carolina Academy of Authors Award, which includes $500. Katherine “Kit” Moore of Greenville won third place for “Blue-Capped Future,” her personal essay about how everyone wins when students with disabilities are included in all school classrooms. A junior at Greenville Senior High School, Moore described how her brother, who has Down Syndrome, thrived in such a school. “If each of the 64,400 students were given the opportunity to impact their classmates as my brother did his, our communities would benefit from an inclusive educational system and our state would be filled with people who’ve learned to see the world inside-out.” A student of Rachel Stokes, Moore will receive the South Carolina Academy of Authors/Pat Conroy Literary Center Award, which includes $250. Liam Quan of Columbia won Honorable Mention for his poem, “The Holes We’ve Dug.” A junior at Heathwood Hall Episcopal School, Quan begins his poem by describing South Carolina’s potholed roads before covering the state’s history of enslavement and education. “I am blown away by the mastery of metaphor here – holes, more specifically potholes, as divots in our troubling and often embarrassing history,” McManus remarked. “The writer’s experimentation never loses focus on the subject. I have no doubt that this individual, staying on this trajectory, will be in print someday (sooner rather than later).” Quan is a student of Dr. Sally Plowden.
Now in its ninth year, the South High School Carolina Writing Contest was founded by Steven Lynn, dean of the South Carolina Honors College. The contest includes a publishing opportunity for its winners and finalists. This year, the submissions of the 22 finalists will be published here. “The cash awards are great, but we think the best prize is getting published,” said Aïda Rogers, contest coordinator. “We’re excited to bring their work to the public, and curious to see what these young people will do in the future.” The contest’s presenting partners include the Pat Conroy Literary Center, the South Carolina Academy of Authors, the South Carolina Writers Association, and the South Carolina State Library. Previous judges have been acclaimed South Carolina writers, including novelists Pat Conroy, Pam Durban, Mary Alice Monroe, and Elise Blackwell; poets Nikky Finney, Marjory Wentworth and Sam Amadon, and historian Walter Edgar.

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Tuning Up: The Lowcountry is hopping

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...

You love to see it.

SCAC grantee Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston (FY20 General Operating Support) was the subject of the "Non-Profit Minute" from LowcountryBizSC late last week:

Verner Award recipients unite!

Verner Award recipients Nikky Finney (2016, Lifetime Achievement) and the Gibbes Museum of Art (2019, Organization) will collaborate tomorrow night, Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. Finney, along with author of Charleston-based novel The Cigar Factory Michele Moore and professor and director of southern studies at the College of Charleston Julia Eichelberger join the museum to consider the literary traditions and social landscape that gave rise to voices like Eudora Welty and Zora Neale Hurston. This event is inspired by the exhibition Central to Their Lives: Women Artists in the Johnson Collection and is designed to put the stories and experiences of southern women artists in dialogue with the experiences of southern women writers. Guests will also have an exclusive opportunity to purchase copies of Finney's newest publication Love Child's Hotbead of Occasional Poetry, which will not be available to the general public until April. Finney and Moore will be signing copies of their works after the program. Learn more about the speakers and register here. (Member, non-member, and student rates apply; 135 Meeting St., Charleston)

Artist Minute, Feb. 18

The Artist Minute is up on LowcountryBiz, and you will want to make sure you listen to and watch Quiana Parler of Ranky Tanky fame.

Dorothy Allison to address Deckle Edge festival this weekend

Author will also receive festival's Southern Truth Award

In its 4th year as the grassroots answer to the S.C. Book Festival, Deckle Edge Literary Festival announces South Carolina author Dorothy Allison as the keynote speaker for the 2019 festival and the recipient of the second annual Deckle Edge Literary Festival Southern Truth Award. [caption id="attachment_39421" align="alignright" width="226"]Author Dorothy Alliison Author Dorothy Alliison[/caption] Allison will speak at the Booker T. Washington auditorium at the University of South Carolina on Friday, March 22 at 7 p.m. in an engagement sponsored by the USC Women’s and Gender Studies Program. On Saturday, March 23rd at 10 a.m., Allison will address the Deckle Edge Literary Festival in a conversation with Bren McClain, author of One Good Momma Bone (2017, USC Press) at the Richland Library on Assembly Street in downtown Columbia. (McClain is also a 2005 prose fellowship recipient from the S.C. Arts Commission). Allison is the author of Trash (1988), a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories, the multi-award winning Bastard Out of Carolina (1992), Cavedweller (1998), which became a New York Times bestseller, and more. She has written for the Village Voice, Conditions, and New York Native and won several Lambda Awards. Bastard Out of Carolina was a finalist for the National Book Award, the winner of the Ferro Grumley Prize, was translated into more than a dozen languages and became a bestseller and award winning film directed by Anjelica Huston. Allison is a recent inductee into the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Read more about her here. A native of Greenville, Allison’s writings frequently reference the class struggles and social alienation she experienced as a child growing up gay, impoverished, and the first child of a 15-year-old unwed mother in the conservative South Carolina upstate. Bastard Out of Carolina also details the sexual abuse she endured throughout childhood at the hands of her step-father. The New York Times Book Review calls the book, “As close to flawless as a reader could ask for.” Allison will be awarded the Deckle Edge Literary Festival Southern Truth Award on Friday evening, March 22nd. The Southern Truth award, whose first recipient in 2018 was Nikky Finney, is awarded to a Southern author whose body of work exemplifies the complexity of the South’s history, celebrates the gifts of the South’s diverse peoples, and enhances the narrative of the South by focusing on the progress we make and the continued work before us. The 2019 Deckle Edge Literary Festival includes an exciting roster of authors, panels, and interviews including, among others, printmaker Boyd Saunders (2002 recipient of the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for the Arts); Chieftess Queen Quet who is an elder of the Gullah/Geechee Nation; Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist Kathleen Parker and more. For more information please visit www.DeckleEdgeSC.org.
Deckle Edge Literary Festival receives funding support from the S.C. Arts Commission.

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S.C. literary giants to participate in 2018 Deckle Edge Literary Festival

Have you ever caught yourself wondering whether South Carolina has successful artists? Famous artists? Any making a mark in their medium or genre? Then consider Deckle Edge Literary Festival 2018 and wonder no longer. [caption id="attachment_33843" align="alignright" width="200"] Photo by Kathy Ryan, courtesy of TerranceHayes.com[/caption] The festival announced Columbia native Terrance Hayes (right, top) as its keynote speaker this year, and Conway native and current Columbia resident Nikky Finney (right, bottom) is to receive the inaugural Deckle Edge Southern Truth Award. Among Finney's accolades is being an Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award recipient from the Arts Commission, and she also received the 2011 National Book Award for Poetry and 1996 PEN American Open Book Award. Hayes is the current poetry editor for New York Times Magazine and has won Guggenheim, MacArthur, National Endowment for the Arts and U.S. Artists Zell fellowships. His Lighthead won the 2010 National Book Award, and How to Be Drawn was a finalist for the same. Got all that? Because we're not quite done. [caption id="attachment_33844" align="alignright" width="200"] Photo by Forrest Clonts, courtesy of NikkyFinney.net[/caption] Further Arts Commission connections abound among the authors, poets, and songwriters scheduled to participate in the scheduled panels or presentations. Julia Elliott, Scott Gould (twice), and Ed Madden are all S.C. Arts Commission Fellows, and other writers have received grants or won awards from the agency as well. In fact, it would probably be easier simply to list those who lack Arts Commission ties - but then we don't want anyone to feel left out. Go here for more information on Deckle Edge Literary Festival 2018, and go forth with the knowledge that, yes, South Carolina has amazing, accomplished artists of all disciplines. And as we continue our focus on Arts Advocacy Week, remember that public support of the arts has played a role in getting them there.

SC poet Nikky Finney earns place in history at new DC museum

Nikky Finney received the South Carolina Arts Commission's Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award for the Arts in 2016. From The State By Vera Bergengruen
[caption id="attachment_3431" align="alignright" width="250"]Nikky Finney photo by Rachel Eliza Griffiths[/caption] WASHINGTON - South Carolina poet Nikky Finney never meant to write the speech that earned her a place in history at the new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.
“I was just trying to thank my community, my family, remember what my life had been,” she said in an interview. Finney won the National Book Award for poetry in 2011. Her acceptance speech, less than five minutes long, became a widely circulated statement on race, history and writing. Finney, 59, will be in Washington on Saturday to hear President Barack Obama’s dedication of the museum when it opens to the public. And thousands of visitors will hear her famous speech, installed in a video display in the section of the museum that celebrates African-American cultural achievements. The speech begins by quoting the 1739 South Carolina slave codes. Related: 10 SC artifacts at the new museum (including a wrought iron gate created by Philip Simmons) “A fine of $100 and six months in prison will be imposed for anyone found teaching a slave to read or write, and death is the penalty for circulating any incendiary literature,” she began her remarks. Then she moved the audience two centuries forward into the present. “Tonight these forbidden ones move around the room as they please, they sit at whatever table they want, wear camel-colored field hats and tomato-red kerchiefs,” she continued. “Some have just climbed out of the cold, wet Atlantic just to be here. We shiver together. If my name is ever called out, I promised my girl poet self, so too would I call out theirs.” Her powerful words became famous across the world – more famous than the ones she won the award for, she jokes. “I feel like I’ve become better known for this speech than for my work,” she said in an interview. “Five years later I can’t believe how many people tell me, ‘I’ve watched the speech 10 times.’ It’s crazy how many people have reached out to me, people from all over the world.” Finney says the main message of her speech is “not to turn away from the source of who made you who you are.” And for her home state, she hopes that means learning from the mistakes of the past, outlined at the new museum. “Not only do I feel like I connect with the slave cabin, the slave badges, the Philip Simmons iron gate and the desks (from the Hope school), but I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without those artifacts and what came with them,” she said, referring to some of the more than 50 objects from South Carolina in the museum’s collection. One of them is a reconstructed 19th-century slave cabin from Edisto Island.
https://youtu.be/BFSiKx-hzks
“Without them, I wouldn’t be the poet or the writer or the activist I’m trying to be,” she said. Finney was born in Conway, South Carolina, the daughter of Ernest Finney, the state’s first African-American chief justice, who began his public service career as a civil rights attorney. Her work often reflects on growing up in the South during the civil rights struggles of the 1960s and 1970s. After teaching for 20 years at the University of Kentucky, she returned to her native state in 2013 to become the University of South Carolina’s John H. Bennett Jr. Chair in Southern Letters and Literature. In recent years, Finney said, she has feared that her state may be regressing to a darker era. “In South Carolina in the last two years we’ve had some of the worst news possible,” she said, listing the shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man, in Charleston, the mass shooting at Emanuel AME Church and a Columbia high school girl who was roughly slammed to the floor by a police officer. “This doesn’t bode well for what we should have learned from our history,” she said. “We need to use these lessons from the past to forge forward in a stronger kind of way, and I hope the museum . . . will help us do that in South Carolina instead of pushing (history) under the rug.” Finney said she couldn’t wait to see the museum, where her video will tie past and present together, a small piece in the “collage of history” of African-Americans in the South. “I’m a pencil-loving girl who comes from a very oral tradition here in South Carolina,” she said, reflecting that her ancestors could have lost their lives for doing the very thing for which she won a national award. “Back then, if they saw us trying to read or write they would take our hands, take our eyes, if they saw us keep doing it, take our lives, and here I was being awarded one of the top literary awards in the country, having come from that land,” she said. “That’s our spirit – you can kill us, some of us will die and some of us will take the stories of our grandparents to the next generation. I am the living embodiment of that.”

Verner Award highlights: Nikky Finney and Hootie and the Blowfish

Poet Nikky Finney and Hootie and the Blowfish are ambassadors for South Carolina, using their success and celebrity status to draw attention to the benefits of the arts. Read more about these recipients of the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards for the Arts below, and find out more about all of the activities taking place as part of the South Carolina Arts Awards on May 11. Nikky Finney

newNikky1 Nikky Finney was born in South Carolina, within listening distance of the sea. A child of activists, she came of age during the Civil Rights and Black Arts Movements. At Talladega College, nurtured by Hale Woodruff's Amistad murals, Finney began to understand the powerful synergy between art and history. Finney has authored four books of poetry: On Wings Made of Gauze (1985); Rice (1995); The World Is Round (2003); and Head Off & Split (2011), which received the National Book Award for poetry in 2011. Finney’s electrifying acceptance speech prompted the ceremony's emcee, actor John Lithgow, to proclaim, "That's the best acceptance for anything I've ever heard in my life." Head Off & Split was also selected as the 2015-2016 First Year Book by University of Maryland, College Park, providing an opportunity for students and faculty to delve into complex topics using a common text. Finney writes extensively for journals, magazines and other publications. Her new work includes The Battle of and for the Black Face Boy, commissioned in 2013 by the University of Maryland and published in the fall 2015 issue of Oxford American, the first feature-length poem to be published in the literary magazine. Finney’s other awards and honors include a PEN American Open Book Award for Rice in 1997, the Al Smith Fellowship from the Kentucky Arts Council in 1999, induction into the Hall of Fame for Writers of African Descent in 2002, and the Benjamin Franklin Award from the Independent Booksellers Association for The World is Round in 2004, In 2013, Finney returned to South Carolina as The John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair in Creative Writing and Southern Letters and Literature at the University of South Carolina after teaching creative writing at the University of Kentucky for 21 years. Watch the video of Finney's National Book Award acceptance speech.
Hootie and the Blowfish
HootieandTheBlowfish250Hootie and the Blowfish members Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld met when they were freshmen at the University of South Carolina. The band sold over 25 million records worldwide after their debut album Cracked Rear View hit the airwaves in 1994. At the end of the year, Cracked Rear View and the band won two Grammys, an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, a Billboard Music Award for Album of the Year, a People's Choice Award for Album of the Year and a People's Choice Award for Best Selling Artist, a feat they duplicated in 1996. Cracked Rear View remains the 12th best-selling album in music business history. The band grew up in an environment where education and music were important. Knowing how fortunate they were, they have a strong desire to improve education in their home state, funding programs that help provide a well-rounded and meaningful education based in practical studies and the arts. The band established the Hootie and the Blowfish Foundation in 2000 through the Central Carolina Community Foundation. The majority of funding comes from the annual Hootie and the Blowfish Monday after the Masters Golf Tournament. The event, created to support education and music programs nationwide, has raised over $2 million to date for multiple causes. Support ranges from building community learning centers to outfitting school marching bands to simply providing educators with the tools they need to nurture children's talents and help them succeed. In 2001, the band was involved in VH1’s Save the Music Foundation’s South Carolina kickoff, performing with students at the Statehouse to draw attention to improving the quality of music education in public schools. In addition to Monday After the Masters, the foundation also puts on various events throughout the year, including Hootie's Homegrown Roundup, a back to school program held in August each year to benefit the children of Charleston County School District. More than 12,000 students have benefited from the Roundup since the program’s inception in 2007. Although band members have had successful solo careers, they still consider themselves a band, performing together to benefit the causes they believe in. They willingly use their celebrity status as successful artists to draw attention to and benefit South Carolina. Their leadership in providing support and funding for education, particularly music education, has had a significant impact on the state and beyond.
 

2016 Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Award recipients announced

vernerstatuescolorCongratulations to the recipients of the 2016 Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Governor’s Awards for the Arts! The S.C. Arts Commission annually presents the awards, the highest honor the state gives in the arts, to recognize outstanding achievement and contributions to the arts in South Carolina. Awards will be presented May 11 at 11 a.m. during a ceremony at the Statehouse. This year’s recipients:

"Each of these Verner Award recipients has attracted positive national attention for the Palmetto State," said S.C. Arts Commission Chairman Henry Horowitz. "Their dedication to the arts greatly benefits South Carolinians and materially enhances our state’s economic vitality. Their contributions regionally and nationally are a source of pride for South Carolinians living anywhere. The Verner Awards recognize service, commitment and passion, and we are honored to have these individuals and organizations working to enhance our state's reputation as a leader in the arts." Also on May 11, the S.C. Arts Foundation will honor the recipients and the arts community at the South Carolina Arts Gala, a fundraiser supporting the programs of the S.C. Arts Commission. The gala begins at 7:15 p.m. in the Grand Hall, 701 Whaley St. in Columbia. Gala tickets are $75 per person and may be purchased online. The 2016 Verner Awards are sponsored by Colonial Life. For more about the Verner Awards or the S.C. Arts Gala, call (803) 734-8696 or visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com. About the South Carolina Arts Commission The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission works to increase public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina, by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts and other sources. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.

Sessions for everyone at the Statewide Arts Conference!

Update: Richard Evans' session (mentioned below) is now full. Conference registrants will receive information about the waiting list. The Statewide Arts Conference taking place Sept. 18 at the Columbia Conference Center is chock full of opportunities to learn from experts and network with colleagues. For less than $100, you'll have access to the kind of high-quality professional development usually found at regional and national conferences -- and you don't even have to leave the state! old cell phonesThe conference features not one, but two highly sought-after keynote speakers. National Book Award-winning poet and S.C. native Nikky Finney will kick off the conference, and Richard Evans of EmcArts will talk about adaptive change and innovation during lunch. Richard will also present a daylong session targeted at arts organizations and the complex changes we're facing. Space is limited in this interactive session and seats are going fast; everyone who registers for the conference will receive details about signing up for Richard's session. Registration is just $98 per person, or $88 per person if you and a colleague register at the same time. Session highlights (find complete details online.) For artists:

  • Making Your Life as an Artist: A Guide to a Balance, Sustainable Artistic Life
  • Practical Legal Tips for the Creative Person
  • A Life in the Arts: 10 Big Ideas on Career and Financial Success
  • Roundtable discussions/short sessions with Artists U facilitators
For everyone:
  • Creating and Cultivating the Agriculture and Art in Your Community
  • The Arts and Social Change
  • Creativity + Community: Leveraging Change for Good
  • Developing Community Partnerships for Arts Education
  • Everyone Tells Our Story But Us - Toward Authenticity in Artistic Presentations
  • Now Tweet This: Online Marketing is Here to Stay
  • Accessibility and New Audiences
Plus, explore program and funding opportunities from South Arts and the Humanities CouncilSC and get technology assistance through our curbside consultant. Read more details about the sessions and register today!

Second stellar keynote added to Statewide Arts Conference

Another internationally known speaker has joined the line-up for the Statewide Arts Conference being held Sept. 18: Richard Evans, president of EmcArts, a leading not-for-profit provider of innovation services to the arts and culture sector across the United States and abroad.

In addition to the opening keynote address by Nikky Finney, the conference will now feature a luncheon keynote and a workshop presented by Evans, who will share his experience of helping arts organizations innovate, with an emphasis on adaptive organizational change and effective ways to respond to the demands of a new era.

The two 90-minute portions of Evans' interactive workshop will be connected -- one occurs in the morning, and the second takes place after lunch. Participants will work in groups to explore complex challenges South Carolina's arts community is facing and dig in to some of the fundamental approaches that are helping organizations address our complex and rapidly changing world. Space for this workshop is limited to 60 participants, so pre-registration will be required. Everyone who registers for the conference will receive information about reserving a spot in Evans' workshop.

All conference attendees will have a chance to learn from Evans during lunch, when he will facilitate a conversation based on what he and his colleagues have learned from nearly a decade of leading adaptive work with 200 arts and cultural organizations of all types and sizes.

Arts organizations should consider bringing at least two people to the conference -- one person to participate in Evans' session, and one person to take part in the other sessions offered at the same time.  The $78 early-bird rate is good only through July 31, so register today!

More information about Evans' workshop and the conference is available online.

A big thank-you to the South Carolina Arts Alliance for generously sponsoring Evans' participation. Related: Poet Nikky Finney to headline Statewide Arts Conference

Poet Nikky Finney to headline Statewide Arts Conference

Nikky FinneyWelcome Nikky Finney as the keynote speaker for the 2014 Statewide Arts Conference! An award-winning poet and South Carolina native, Finney returned to S.C. in 2013 as the John H. Bennett, Jr. Chair of Southern Literature & Creative Writing at the University of South Carolina. After Finney’s fourth book of poetry, Head Off & Split, was awarded the 2011 National Book Award for poetry, her electrifying acceptance speech prompted the ceremony’s emcee, actor John Lithgow, to proclaim, “That’s the best acceptance for anything I’ve ever heard in my life.” Watch the video and get a glimpse of what’s in store for the conference at nikkyfinney.net. Early bird conference registration is $78 per person until Aug. 1. Find out more and register today! Image: photo of Nikky Finney by Rachel Eliza Griffiths

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