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HUB101: Submission Guidelines and Hints

Classes are back in session across South Carolina, and that means a new season of arts and cultural events is about to start as well. The Hub and its popular "subsidiary" Arts Daily are here to make you aware of all the great South Carolina arts news and events. While S.C. Arts Commission staff curate both, content is also largely driven by reader submissions – particularly as it relates to events on Arts Daily. Those of us who work in the arts sector tend to fall into one of two categories. You're either A) a "lifer" with 10 or more years experience at, often the same but sometimes, two or three arts organizations or you're B) brand spankin' new. (Look, we know there's middle ground because B's can't turn into A's overnight, but this isn't philosophy or logic and we ask that you go with it for now.) As you might have noticed with the recent spate of arts job postings on The Hub, there are several who fall into the latter category. Regardless, everyone needs a periodic refresher. Class is in session, and we welcome you to HUB101.

Got news? Submit Story.

"We’re looking for news and stories about the arts in South Carolina. Have you had a great arts experience?  Do you have a story idea about how the arts made a difference? Have you received an arts award? Has your organization issued a call for artists?  Share your news with us, and we may share it with our readers!" Put your important news releases here: Hirings, milestone seasons, significant guest artists, prizes or awards given or received, and the like. We also take calls for art, calls for artists, calls for submissions, calls for pizza, calls for applications, job postings, and on and on. Got a new twist on something familiar? Doing something groundbreaking? Let's have it. The common thread here is newsworthiness. We're a news aggregator for the arts in South Carolina. That said, believe us: we exercise editorial discretion on the regular. Not everything makes it (and there can be many reasons for that, to include lack of newsworthiness, our workload, etc.), but that doesn't mean don't try. If your try is newsworthy and well written, there's a good chance we'll help you amplify across the state and beyond. And did we mention newsworthiness?

Got events? Submit Event.

Arts Daily is the events calendar arm of The Hub. Many, many people are familiar with it because of its unique, statewide promotion component. No event is too big or too small. Sure, it needs to have an arts connection, but here are the two biggest things you need to know:
  • Please make it concise (brief!) and well written. An actual, live person reviews and edits every. single. submission. Real talk: Guess which submissions get approved?
  • And once more, with feeling: Please submit at least one month in advance and allow up to 10 working days for your listing to appear. This is the big one. You planned ahead for your event. Plan ahead for promotion. In order to make it to Arts Daily, your event needs to be submitted at least one (1) month in advance, if not before. And because of the approval process, particularly this time of year when everyone's season starts in the same six-week window and artists and organizations are submitting all their events, we need 10 business days to get them posted.
Editorial discretion can come into play with Arts Daily, but less so than The Hub. The vast majority of submissions are approved. Answer the five W's (and one H), slap a link and phone number on there, and give us a JPG at no greater than 1400px x 500px saved for web at at least 72dpi quality, and you're in a good position to get your event in front of a statewide audience on the web.

Got a new spot? Submit Venue.

After four years, venue submissions are less and less common. It's not often that new venues crop up. But it happens, and in order for an event there to be posted, we need to know about your venue. CLASS DISMISSED!
Ed. note: this post was updated 9 June 2022 to remove references to Arts Daily's prior radio component.

So, what would you say you do here?

[caption id="attachment_35603" align="aligncenter" width="600"] "The Bobs" from Office Space, 1999 by Twentieth Century Fox and Cubicle, Inc.[/caption] There's not a quick answer to that question, but let's start with this: The South Carolina Arts Commission does three things:

  • artist development,
  • community arts development,
  • and arts education
through four means:
  • direct programs,
  • staff assistance,
  • partnerships,
  • and grants.
The Hub serves as… a hub for the promotion of news items related to all those things. (The “Arts Daily” section serves as a centralized - what’s the word? - hub for promoting statewide arts events.) On a given week, you can see posts that serve to promote any number of those things. It’s critical for this outlet to do that because if you’re a tax-paying South Carolinian, your income comes to Columbia through the Department of Revenue and can return to your community from our agency by those four means. For the current fiscal year that ends in two weeks, we’ve helped provide one, some, or all the three things we do to all 46 counties. Barbara Streeter In short, we use The Hub to tell you how we’re attempting to be good stewards for your money. It’s not an election-year gimmick, but it’s here every year, on as many days as workload allows. The programs, artists, and ventures are not just lofty ones perched on the peak of Mount Olympus. No, we’re also using arts and culture to make Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Colleton, Hampton, and Jasper counties feel like they have a slice of the peak as new perspectives converge to address old problems. We help schools integrate the arts (top, right) into their curricula to foster creativity and critical thinking in new generations. We also enable artists to contribute to a $9.7 billion sector of the state economy by helping them not only further, but monetize their skills (bottom, right) to provide themselves sustainable income. That’s where your money goes, and it’s important for you to know that all the time, not just when differing opinions on funding collide - because it’s your money, entrusted to our professionals to impact all South Carolinians.
Two things you might have noticed here and/or our social media outlets lately are renewed emphasis on a) promoting what “SC Artists” are doing (spoiler alert: they are a wildly successful lot) and b) how “SCAC Grants At Work” are being put to work. Here is today’s example, which happens to encompass both. The grantee artists used an S.C. Arts Commission grant to take an art form often assumed to be reserved for Olympus right to Main Street: Here’s to seeing plenty more of this, all the time.

The Hub recognized as a Notable State Document

South Carolina State DocumentsWe’re pleased to announce that The Hub has been selected for the South Carolina Library's Notable State Documents List for 2016. The annual award is meant to call attention to the most informative documents released by state agencies. The South Carolina State Library began the Notable State Documents awards program in 1991 to recognize exemplary documents among the 3,000 items submitted each year to its depositories. The Hub also won the award in 2012. A panel of librarians and state employees selected the documents for inclusion on the list, grading the publications based on their designs, writing styles, and breadth of information. The judges chose a diverse group of documents for recognition. Documents detailing rules for healthy eating, natural disaster recovery efforts, and wildlife conservation efforts were among the 11 publications that made the cut. State Library Director Leesa Aiken said the yearly award showcases some of the strongest work completed by state agencies. "South Carolina state documents provide a wealth of information, statistics, and share a broad range of knowledge about our state," Aiken said. "I am pleased that we are able to publicly recognize these important publications and websites as notable documents, and it is my hope that all South Carolina state agencies continue to produce high quality documents such as these." Awards will be presented March 16 at 10 a.m. at the South Carolina State Library in Columbia. The complete 2016 Notable State Documents list is available on the State Library's website. About The Hub The South Carolina Arts Commission launched The Hub in September 2012 to promote all that is special about the arts in our state. Readers can find real-time news, events, opportunities and resources needed to participate in and learn about the arts in South Carolina.

The Hub is notable!

We're pleased to announce that The Hub has been selected as one of the 10 most notable South Carolina state government documents of 2012. The South Carolina State Library began the Notable State Documents awards program in 1991 to recognize exemplary documents among the 3,000 items submitted each year to its depositories. About 30 documents are nominated for consideration each year, with only 10 selected for recognition. South Carolina State DocumentsSouth Carolina state government documents come in many formats, and those selected for the award include state agency publications, reports, magazines, and websites. Other award recipients for 2012 include the South Carolina Department of Education, Clemson University, the South Carolina Election Commission and the South Carolina Department of Commerce. The complete list of awards and more information can be found on the South Carolina State Library's website. The South Carolina Arts Commission launched The Hub in September 2012 to promote all that is special about the arts in our state. Readers can find real-time news, events, opportunities and resources needed to participate in and learn about the arts in South Carolina. We're humbled by the honor.  

Milly

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