Wade Sellers: 2025 S.C. Arts Awards Spotlight Series
Governor’s Award: Artist Category
As the day nears for the 2025 South Carolina Arts Awards, The Hub is shining the spotlight on this year’s six recipients, introducing them to you in greater detail.
This is the schedule:
- Governor’s Award for the Arts
- April 29: Dr. Gail V. Barnes (Individual Category)
- May 1: Koger Center for the Arts (Government Category)
- Today: Wade Sellers (Artist Category)
- May 8: Engaging Creative Minds (Arts in Education Category)
- May 13: Sumter County Gallery of Art (Organization Categoy)
- Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award
- May 15: Caroleen Sanders (Artist Category)
Wade Sellers
Wade Sellers
Wade Sellers is an independent filmmaker in Columbia. He produced his first film within months after graduating from USC in media arts.
As the first media intern at the South Carolina Arts Commission, Sellers assisted with the Southeastern Media Institute where he later became an instructor. He became an in-demand lighting director and gaffer on commercials and corporate projects too and had shot three indie feature films and many shorts by the time he moved to New York City in 1999. His 35mm short film Gordon’s Ride was featured at the Independent Feature Film Market and was sold to iFilm and ShortsTV.
Sellers co-founded the non-profit Hybrid Films in 2002 which functioned as fiscal agent for multiple documentary projects for underserved filmmakers in the region. Hybrid Films’ largest accomplishment was the Beg and Grovel Film Festival, the first true independent film festival in Columbia.
As Sellers continued to produce and film independent projects for himself and other filmmakers from South Carolina to New York City, he formed Coal Powered Filmworks, his production company.
His first Southeastern Emmy Award nomination came with South Carolinians in World War 2, a project he was commissioned to direct for South Carolina ETV. After completion of that series, he continued to produce historical documentary work that took him to Japan, France, England, Germany and Austria to international acclaim. His work was broadcast through PBS and his show “Return to Normandy” served as the opening film for the 2017 Normandie International Film Festival in France.
Through his career, Sellers has focused on collaborating with local filmmakers and promoting independent filmmaking in South Carolina. In 2013 he founded the 2nd Act Film Project. As of 2024, 84 films have been created by S.C. filmmakers solely for screening at the 2nd Act Film Project.
He has supervised more than 25 interns from USC and Benedict College since 2008, lectured and taught in the media arts department of USC, and was named a distinguished alumnus from the USC School of Visual Arts and Design in 2020. He has served as the board president for The Jasper Project since 2019.
Watch the South Carolina Arts Awards Sunday, May 18, 2025 at 7 p.m. EDT.
The SCAC is excited to present a streaming presentation of the awards in 2025!
Viewers can access it via the SCAC YouTube Channel, and it will also be streamed through the SCAC Facebook page. Internet-connected smart TV’s or streaming devices with the YouTube app may be used for a more broadcast-style experience.