Tag Archive for "South Carolina Department of Education"

S.C.’s original arts learning partnership turns 35

New name, new schools for FY23

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COLUMBIA, S.C. — How do you celebrate 35 years of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project? By changing your name to Arts in Basic Curriculum Institute, a name that acknowledges your legacy and claims your unwavering commitment to your mission.

Projects come; projects go. After 35 years, ABC is not merely a project but an institution of leadership for countless educators. A first-of-its-kind national model in 1987, the South Carolina Arts Commission’s partnership with the South Carolina Department of Education and Winthrop University is no project. It is an established collaboration that has sustained numerous challenges and continues to serve as an innovative model to assist student recovery from the unprecedented crisis of a pandemic. “South Carolina turned heads in 1987. Our governing partners received a $20,000 planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to craft a plan of action based on a vision, to make comprehensive and sequential arts education accessible for all South Carolina students,” ABC Institute Director Kim Wilson, Ed.D said. “The founding steering committee dreamed big. Within a year, it had a plan in place. Within two, there was money going to 11 schools and districts to serve as models for the entire education community. From there, it just hasn’t stopped growing or changing young lives.”

RELATED CONTENT: Read the original ABC Project plan from 1988

In year 35, the original 11 grants have transformed into 69 schools across 20 districts, serving some 41,000 students.

[caption id="attachment_52049" align="alignright" width="250"]

Archival image courtesy ABC Institute.[/caption] ABC Institute is proud to announce the three new schools that joined the ranks for FY23:

Angel Oak Elementary School |Charleston County School District | John’s Island
Beaufort Elementary School | Beaufort County School District | Beaufort
Hendrix Elementary IB World School | Spartanburg School District Two | Boiling Springs

Research conducted within ABC Schools have repeatedly provided evidence to the value of arts education in a student’s life. Data collected in 2018 from Gallup Organization research confirmed that South Carolina students who had access to the arts in their curriculum were more hopeful and more engaged than students who didn’t. “The Gallup research validated years of work by our agency and partners over the years,” said SCAC Executive Director David T. Platts, who was an administrator in an ABC school district at the time. “All of a sudden, we had proof of concept. It was, and still is, so gratifying.” However, ABC’s mission states, “all students in South Carolina,” so there was much more to be done. Demand has always exceeded available funding; and funding ebbs and flows throughout the years. Statewide advocates twice helped the SCAC secure $1 million funding increases specifically for the ABC Institute (2013 and 2016). Platts likes to echo da Vinci’s quote that art is never finished, though da Vinci goes on to say it is only abandoned. That has never been the case for the ABC Institute. After conducting a yearlong internal evaluation, ABC Institute announced a restructure at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year that featured the development of the ABC School Certification program and the Arts in Basic Curriculum mobile app as the primary tool to serve a redefined ABC Network, and eventually its name change. Then in 2021, the greatest challenge in recent memory became the greatest opportunity for arts learning initiatives.

Pandemic-related school closures introduced unprecedented learning loss to South Carolina students over two school years.

The American Rescue Plan made funding available to all states to assist in addressing any number of crises, and the SCDE was allotted $2 billion in ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding. The SCAC approached SCDE with a radical idea: we can prove arts learning increases student engagement, it is what students needs to get through this, and we can help address learning loss with arts and creativity using the ABC Institute as a key partner. Superintendent Molly Spearman agreed, and South Carolina turned heads again in June 2021: SCDE committed $20 million over three years to help the SCAC expand ABC Institute and other initiatives using key partners on the local, state, and national levels. “Having the rich history of success with ABC made it easy to sell our idea, but it was only part of the plan for what we now call Arts Grow SC,” Platts said. “It’s after-school learning. It’s summer camps. Eventually, we hope for even more, and all of it uses arts-rich learning.”

RELATED HUB CONTENT: Arts Grow SC to expand, first executive director named

ABC Institute continues to grow and innovate thanks to unprecedented funding.

The Certification designation recognizes model practices of what arts learning can be and how it contributes to student development and achievement. As Wilson explained, “ABC Certified Schools serve as a model for others. ABC Schools commit to not only their students but sharing their work for the benefit of all SC students.” Through Arts Grow SC, ABC Schools have offered themselves as ‘learning laboratories” for others to learn how to leverage the power of learning in and through the arts for accelerated learning. Thanks to the new structure, anyone can access the Arts in Basic Curriculum mobile app and connect to the ABC network. “Our peer-to-peer networking has always been a strength, and now we are putting that in the palm of a teacher’s hand.” Wilson said. From its base at Winthrop University, a team of professionals dedicated to the erstwhile “project” with a steadfast vision of equitable access to quality arts education for all students, continues its work. To learn more about ABC Institute, its programs, and opportunity to learn from its network of leadership, visit www.abcinstitutesc.org.

South Carolina Arts Commission News Release, Media Contact: Jason L. Rapp, Communications Director. jrapp@arts.sc.gov or 803.734.8899

Jason Rapp
Dec 14th, 2022

S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series: Carrie Ann Power

Governor's Award: Arts in Education 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.

Carrie Ann Power has been an arts educator and advocate in South Carolina for more 30 years.

[caption id="attachment_50351" align="alignright" width="350"]

Carrie Ann Power (center) receives her Governor's Award from SCAC Executive Director David Platts and Board Chairwoman Dee Crawford on May 18, 2022. Click image to enlarge. SCAC photo.[/caption] Her arts education career began in 2004 as the fine arts department chair, grant manager, and visual arts teacher at East Aiken School of the Arts (EASOA) until 2015. During that time, she wrote and received arts grants on behalf of the school totaling more than $320,000 to transform EASOA by adding full-time dance and theatre programs. She managed South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) Distinguished Arts Program and Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project grants for 10 years. Power developed and implemented all aspects of the EASOA after-school arts program and obtained community donations to fund scholarships that awarded access to low-income families. During her tenure she was also coordinator of Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts, which improves and enhances pedagogy of arts lesson plans based on the 2010 S.C. Visual and Performing Arts Academic Standards with week-long summer sessions for teachers. The SCDE was Power’s next stop, and she served as the education associate for visual and performing arts from 2015 until 2019. She oversaw the development of K-12 Design Standards for visual and performing arts and later coordinated their revisions. She also managed the Archibald Rutledge Scholarship Program, in which 12th-grade students vie for a scholarship in creative writing, dance, music, theatre, or visual arts. She served an active role on notable state arts or arts education boards, including: the S.C. Art Education Association (elementary division coordinator), S.C. Music Educators Association, Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities (designee of the state superintendent of education), Palmetto State Arts Education, South Carolina Arts Alliance, and Aiken Performing Arts Board. She also served the ABC Project on the coordinators committee and continues to serve on the ABC advisory committee. In her community, she supports educational outreach programs that bring professional artists into schools and works on the board for Joye in Aiken, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making the best in the performing arts available to its citizens, and especially for students. Power received a bachelor’s degree in art education from Mansfield University in 1990 and a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction from Leslie University in 2007.

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
Jun 7th, 2022

Arts Grow SC to expand, first executive director named

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The South Carolina Arts Commission and the South Carolina Department of Education announce the expansion of Arts Grow SC as a permanent fixture in the state’s arts learning landscape.

Arts Grow SC began in July 2021 as a three-year partnership between the South Carolina Department of Education and the South Carolina Arts Commission to use ARP ESSER funds to help public schools address pandemic-related learning loss with proven, arts-based learning initiatives. This landmark investment of $20 million allows a professional team and a network of partners to help schools and teachers fill learning loss gaps, use arts integration to remediate core subject areas, and provide summer and afterschool learning opportunities. This newly announced expansion establishes Arts Grow SC as a permanent part of the arts learning community. It will utilize a collective impact model, with the SCAC serving as the backbone for the work. This approach brings greater sustainability: building on the strengths of the SCDE, the SCAC, partnering organizations, schools, and districts. The collective impact model will activate existing education consortiums, shared-resource school districts, and newly identified hubs in areas not currently being served. These hubs will enable statewide programs and services. The flagship physical location for a more permanent Arts Grow SC will be the Spearman Center for Arts Innovation, located in Columbia at 1026 Sumter Street. Named for former music teacher and current state Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman, the Spearman Center will provide:

direct programs
professional learning
events
resource distribution
exhibitions

SCAC Deputy Director Ashley Brown has been appointed executive director of Arts Grow SC and the Spearman Center for Arts Innovation. Brown has served throughout the Southeast as a nonprofit and higher education administrator, public school teacher, stage manager, teaching artist, and director. She received her bachelor of arts in theatre from Winthrop University and her Master of Fine Art in theatre management from Florida State University.

Current Arts Grow SC partners include:

the Arts in Basic Curriculum Institute;
Engaging Creative Minds;
S.C. Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities;
ArtsNOW;
Boys and Girls Club of the Crescent Region;
S.C. Educational Television;
S.C. Arts Alliance;
Palmetto State Arts Education;
Education Commission of the States/Arts Education Partnerships;
and the Research, Evaluation, and Measurement Center at the University of South Carolina.

“In just a year we have rallied a statewide network to use the arts to address COVID-19 related learning loss. Using a collective impact model, Arts Grow SC and the Spearman Center for Arts Innovation will work to ensure every student in South Carolina has access to quality arts education and experiences," Brown said. "I can’t think of a better way to honor the legacy of Superintendent Spearman and all she has done for the arts in South Carolina.” “I have seen first-hand the tremendous impact that the arts can have on student engagement and academic achievement,” Spearman remarked. “Throughout my career in public education, I have strived to bring these opportunities to all students across our state and am so honored that the South Carolina Arts Commission has chosen to name this center after me. I look forward to seeing the innovative practices and programs that this center will grow and support.” “This is an exciting time for the arts in South Carolina,” said SCAC Executive Director David Platts. “Building on the strong foundation of existing partnerships across the state, Arts Grow SC stands as a model of how we, as state agencies, can work together with local consortia, organizations and school districts to help students most directly impacted by COVID recover and position themselves for future academic success. I can think of no more fitting tribute to Superintendent Spearman, whose life and career have been dedicated to turning challenges into opportunities in order to better serve students from all over South Carolina.”

While Arts Grow SC programs, grants, and professional learning opportunities are already taking place, the SCAC hopes to site work on the Spearman Center for Arts Innovation in the coming year. To learn more about Arts Grow SC, visit ArtsGrowSC.org.

Margot Lane Strasburger
Jun 7th, 2022

‘Sing It to Win It’ vaccine jingle contest opens

Be the (K-12) star in a statewide radio campaign

ENTRY DEADLINE: Tuesday, January 31, 2022

The South Carolina Department of Education and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are teaming up to help stabilize in-person learning across the state.

Both agencies recognize that the best way to keep learning on track and students in schools is having teachers, students, parents, and administrators getting vaccinated.

Sing It to Win It PSA #2 from Sing it To Win It on Vimeo.

The website (www.singittowinit.com) has more information, including the official rules, judging rubric and the submission form. To get students excited and talking about the vaccine, the Sing It to Win It Vaccine Jingle contest will be open to all S.C. students (K-12) in any public, private, or online/home school. Students will be challenged to create an original :15-:30 second advertising jingle to promote vaccination in South Carolina. Entries will be judged based on originality, messaging, rhythm/flow and overall sound. Winners of the contest will be invited to a professional recording studio to record their jingle, which will then be used in a state-wide radio campaign to promote vaccination. Additionally, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will receive a donation to support their school’s music program. Organizers from SCDE and DHEC hope that music educators across South Carolina will use this contest to help reinforce the importance of the arts, music composition and the creative process. Contest is running now through Monday, January 31, 2022.

Jason Rapp
Nov 19th, 2021

Arts learning partnership announces name, website

for immediate release

COLUMBIA, S.C. – “Arts Grow SC” is the name of the three-year, $20 million partnership to address pandemic-related learning loss announced in June by the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) and South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE).

Arts Grow SC was established to help public schools throughout the state address pandemic related learning loss with proven, arts-based learning initiatives. Though managed by the SCAC, the program has its own logo and this week officially launched its website: https://artsgrowsc.org/. There, interested educators, parents, and other stakeholders can subscribe to its newsletter. “The South Carolina Arts Commission is extremely proud to take this next step in the life of arts education in South Carolina. ArtsGrowSC is uniting dedicated partners who have a wealth of experience in arts instruction and in integrating the arts across other instructional areas” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. “Generous funding from the South Carolina Department of Education is allowing more teachers, administrators, districts, artists, and community partners to plug in to this unprecedented work than ever before.” This past spring, leadership from the SCAC proposed to assist SCDE in addressing pandemic-related learning loss with a creative pathway—rooted in innovation and evidence-based practices—that the arts are equipped to provide. Funding was requested to allow the SCAC’s team of professionals and network of partners to:

help schools and teachers fill learning loss gaps in the arts,
use arts integration to remediate core subject areas,
and provide summer and afterschool learning opportunities that leverage the arts in schools throughout the state.

The SCDE approved $20 million for the SCAC to implement its plan, now known as Arts Grow SC, over the course of the next three years. To realize its classroom-based goals, the SCAC will rely on its partners at the Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project, which currently serves about 44,000 students in 74 schools and has been cooperatively led for more than 30 years by the SCAC, SCDE, and Winthrop University. In addition, the SCAC will expand existing pilot projects with the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts & Humanities in Greenville and Engaging Creative Minds in Charleston and will offer grant and programming opportunities for arts education providers across the state. Further information is available on ArtsGrowSC.org and by emailing info@artsgrowsc.org.

About the South Carolina Arts Commission

The mission of the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) 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 three key areas: arts education, community arts development, and artist development. 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.

Jason Rapp
Nov 18th, 2021

Five-year case study to seek improvements in rural arts ed

The Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project announced it will conduct an intensive five-year case study with the Allendale County School District to discover solutions in how to improve rural communities’ arts education offerings.

The Community Access to the Arts in Rural Education (CARE) Project, its study and resulting guidebook will be accomplished with a $2.58 million Assistance in Arts Education grant funded by the U.S. Dept. of Education. Set to begin in 2021, the CARE Project will include multiple strategic state and local partnerships with the goal to develop sustainable approaches that will continue beyond the 2026 grant completion date. “Rural communities require a rural network of partnerships because of their lack of resources, and the CARE Project will align, strengthen and expand community partnerships among the Allendale schools with state and local partners,” ABC Project Director Kim Wilson said. Initial commitments to the CARE Project were received from the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC), South Carolina Department of Education, Arts Access SC and South Carolina Educational Television. Additional state and national partners will develop based on the needs and areas of growth identified throughout the CARE Project. Margaret Gilmore, superintendent of Allendale County School District, said her district is truly excited and grateful to have been awarded the arts grant for the amazing scholars of Allendale County School District. “This funding opportunity will certainly provide access to a sustainable arts-rich learning environment for the entire school community,” she said.

Arts advocates also are pleased with this opportunity. “After many years of working in Allendale County, it’s clear that there are many people who love and care about their community and the next generation,” said Susan DuPlessis, SCAC director of community arts development. “We are excited about ways to engage the community as this study and new practices are developed.” DuPlessis runs the SCAC's "The Art of Community: Rural SC" initiative, which works in partnership with Allendale Rural Arts Team, which is led by Lottie Lewis. “There is momentum in Allendale for building community, addressing issues and identifying assets like never before,” she said. “This new emphasis on learning through the arts within the school system will have a reciprocal effect, I believe, on the whole community—and that’s exciting for young and old.” In communities with high rates of poverty, access to the arts can be difficult, Wilson added. It takes money for art, music or dance lessons, and all too often, rural schools don’t prioritize arts education due to financial constraints. Access to the arts, however, has been found to influence student engagement and there is hope in South Carolina that the arts can be nurtured in every community.

The CARE Project’s goal is to create and share a resource guidebook based on Allendale’s experiences to empower other rural communities of persistent poverty to increase access to arts education for its students. “One of the most important outcomes will be to explore how to develop and maintain arts-rich learning environments as a pathway to equitable education,” Wilson said. “There is an urgent need to research and serve these communities, which have been continually absent from research and policy discussions, yet represent the most extreme gaps in equitable education,” she added. To communicate the grant’s significance, Wilson noted that the Palmetto state has a higher percentage of schools in rural communities than the national average and 12 of the state's 46 counties suffer from persistent poverty, meaning poverty rates have exceeded 20 percent of the population for more than 30 years. The CARE Project will provide direct arts education programs and professional development for arts educators, teachers and principals in practices that support arts-rich learning. “An arts-rich learning environment includes a combination of direct arts instruction, arts integration with other non-arts curriculum and arts experiences provided by visiting artists or cultural and community organizations,” said Wilson. The guidebook will contain instructional materials, arts-based lesson plans and other resources to engage stakeholder groups in other rural communities to replicate the promising aspects of the process developed during the CARE Project in Allendale. Education Superintendent Molly Spearman said that, growing up and teaching in a rural community, she has seen firsthand the disparities that still exist in South Carolina. “Students in rural schools deserve the same opportunities afforded to their peers in more affluent areas,” Spearman said. “I commend the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project for its pursuit and receipt of this funding that will help us establish innovative solutions for bringing access to arts-based education to all students in South Carolina. I look forward to seeing this work in Allendale and learning how we may replicate their successes across our state.”

Jason Rapp
Oct 19th, 2021

$20 million partnership to expand S.C. arts learning initiatives

SCAC, S.C. Dept. of Education make landmark announcement

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="601"]

Photo of elementary-aged students and their teachers doing projects in an arts classroom.

An Arts in Basic Curriculum Project site classroom. SCAC file photo.[/caption]

For Immediate Release

A $20 million partnership announced today by the South Carolina Department of Education and South Carolina Arts Commission will help public schools throughout the state address pandemic related learning loss with proven, arts-based learning initiatives.

The American Rescue Plan, passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law March 11, 2021 by President Biden, included $121.9 billion in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds (ARP ESSER), that has been administered through the U.S. Department of Education to state educational agencies. The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) is set to receive $2.1 billion in ARP ESSER funds to help South Carolina’s public schools address the impact that COVID-19 has and continues to have on students, families, educators, and school communities. Ninety percent of these funds will flow through to school districts with amounts determined in proportion to the amount of Title I, Part A funds they received in Summer 2020 from funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act. The remaining funds, which amount to $211,205,148 are to be used for state-level activities to address learning loss, summer enrichment programs, and comprehensive after school programs. The SCDE solicited public input on the use of these funds and the needs that the state should address in its ARP ESSER plan which was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education on June 18, 2021. Leadership from the South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) proposed to SCDE a creative pathway—rooted in innovation and evidence-based practices—that the arts are equipped to provide. Funding was requested to allow the SCAC’s team of professionals and network of partners to:

help schools and teachers fill learning loss gaps in the arts,
use arts integration to remediate core subject areas,
and provide summer and afterschool learning opportunities that leverage the arts in schools throughout the state.

The SCDE approved $20 million for the SCAC to implement its plan over the course of the next three years. “As a longtime music teacher, I have seen firsthand the impact that arts education can have on students,” said State Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman. “The arts have a unique ability to engage students of diverse backgrounds across all subject areas which makes this initiative well suited for the receipt of these funds.” “The South Carolina Arts Commission is confident in its ability to put this funding to use right away to equitably impact learning using the arts,” SCAC Executive Director David Platts said. “Our team of professionals manages existing programs, partnerships, and grant-making infrastructure for this work, which includes federal and state reporting for accountability. ARP ESSER funding from the SCDE will enable expedient and effective scaling with various arts education partners on the local, state, and national levels.” Programmatic focus areas of the SCAC’s plan include:

Arts integration
Arts in early childhood
Arts industry certification credentials for high school students, building on existing vocational training programs

To realize its classroom-based goals, the SCAC will rely on its partners at the Arts in Basic Curriculum (ABC) Project, which currently serves about 44,000 students in 74 schools and has been cooperatively led for more than 30 years by the SCAC, SCDE, and Winthrop University. The ARP ESSER funding will facilitate scaling the program to:

increase access to quality arts education (targeting underserved communities)
develop arts-rich learning environments
build, restore, expand, and support infrastructure for arts learning at the district level
research and develop new and innovative instructional practices.

“We have a couple of years’ worth of recent Gallup Organization research looking at South Carolina’s arts-rich schools. It repeatedly shows a link between arts-rich learning and student hope and engagement. We have dreamed about having the kind of funding that would enable expansion to all communities throughout the state,” SCAC Board Chairwoman Dee Crawford said. In addition to building on the work of the ABC Project, the Arts Commission will expand existing pilot projects with the South Carolina Governor’s School for Arts & Humanities in Greenville and Engaging Creative Minds in Charleston, and will offer grant and programming opportunities for arts education providers across the state. “Arts and creativity are critical to achieving the knowledge, skills, and characteristics outlined by the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate. We are excited to work with grantees, statewide partners in arts education, and other arts providers to ensure equitable access to learning in and through the arts,” Platts said. “This partnership fully supports our mission to promote equitable access to the arts and support the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina.” The SCAC is working now to release information on grant guidelines, research to support evidence-based practices, partnership and professional learning opportunities, and more in coming weeks. Starting in July, these resources will be available at www.abcprojectsc.com.

Jason Rapp
Jun 29th, 2021

Arts Education Partnership report lauds ABC Project in S.C.

AEP report 'reflects back and projects forward'

Over 25 years ago, the U.S. Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Arts partnered with the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies and Council of Chief State School Officers to create the Arts Education Partnership (AEP) to ensure that all students have equitable access to an excellent arts education. - AEP report

A new report from AEP takes a long look at the genesis of the partnership. While it's no surprise to those involved in the work, casual readers might be surprised to know that South Carolina and a few South Carolinians at the right place at the right time figured mightily in how everything came together on a national level. In a Part 2 of the report, former SCAC Executive Director Scott Shanklin-Peterson and Dr. Terry Peterson recount work with Dick Riley in Columbia as governor and Washington as President Clinton's education secretary to get the arts included in sweeping educational reforms in the 1980s and 1990s. The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) is extremely proud of the ongoing work of the Arts in Basic Curriculum Project, a national model for integrating the arts into K-12 curriculum discussed at length in the AEP report. Together with the South Carolina Dept. of Education and the Winthrop University College of Visual and Performing Arts, the ABC Project continues serving the Palmetto State 31 years after starting and 33 years after the SCAC received a $20,000 Arts in Schools Basic Education planning grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to develop the it. Read the full report here.

Jason Rapp
Sep 10th, 2020

S.C. public school seniors can win $2,000 for in-state college tuition

Archibald Rutledge Scholarship recognizes academic, artistic excellence

Application deadline: Monday, February 3, 2020, 5 p.m. ET

The Archibald Rutledge Scholarship program, named for South Carolina’s first poet laureate, offers 12th-grade students (enrolled in a public school in South Carolina) the opportunity to compete for a $2,000 scholarship encouraging and recognizing academic and artistic excellence among South Carolina students. Students are to fill out one application as it pertains to the art form chosen for this scholarship. Chose from among:

creative writing
dance
music
theatre
visual arts

Five scholarships (approximately $2,000 each) will be awarded in May 2019. The South Carolina Department of Education will make the necessary arrangements to transfer the scholarship funds directly to the South Carolina college or university of the student’s choice. Students planning to attend an out-of-state college or university are ineligible to apply. The recipients may also be recognized by their local schools/school districts. The deadline to submit an entry is Monday, February 3, 2020, delivered to the South Carolina Department of Education by 5 p.m. or postmarked on or before Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. Entries will not be accepted after the deadline. Entries should have been created during the 2019/2020 school year. Eligibility criteria:

Students must currently be enrolled in twelfth grade in a public school in South Carolina.
Students must plan to attend a South Carolina college or university.
Students must be a U.S. citizen and have attended public school in South Carolina for the past two years.
Students may only apply for one scholarship.

For additional information and to apply, click here.

Dec 20th, 2019

Tuning Up: A new day at SCAC + Florence 3 arts grant

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're forgiven if you thought this feature was lost to the sands of time. It doesn't look like we've had a "Tuning Up" since June. Time to fix that!

IT'S A NEW DAY. Last week brought the news that the S.C. Arts Commission wants to serve constituents now based on what you need rather than by where you're located. Today's the day the new system is in effect. Callers to the agency will get a new menu of options, and visitors to our website can solicit staff assistance in a new way too.
FLORENCE 3 GETS GRANTS FOR ARTS PROJECT. "The Distinguished Art Program grant is for the project 'Innovate – Creative and Critical Thinking through the Arts.' More than 3,000 students and 238 teachers will benefit from this grant program." Go here for the full story on SCNow.com. The grant comes from the S.C. Dept. of Education.
KEEP TURNING, DORIAN. At this writing, Hurricane Dorian's track appears to be continuing its ever-so-gradual shift eastward and away from the S.C. coast. You don't need The Hub to tell you that's good news, but we can tell you word's come in that 2019 Verner Award recipients the Gibbes Museum of Art plus College of Charleston's Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art—among many others—are closed as the storm makes its way along the coast. The closings are in response to mandatory coastal evacuations. Be safe out there, and definitely be ArtsReady: visit SouthCarolinaArts.com for resources to help you do just that.

Sep 3rd, 2019