Carolina Arts Unleashed

The next Canvas of the People events will take place in Bluffton, SC, at the Technical College of the Lowcountry on March 11, 2010 (that’s today) and then at the Governor’s School for the Arts in Greenville, SC, on March 16, 2010. Each runs from 6:45 to 8pm. Registration is not required.

Here’s the schedule:
Thursday, March 11 - Technical College of the Lowcountry, Beaufort area (Bluffton, SC)
Tuesday, March 16 - Governor’s School for the Arts, Greenville
Monday, March 22 - Black Creek Arts Center, Hartsville
Thursday, March 25 - Aiken Center for the Arts, Aiken
Monday, March 29 - North Charleston City Hall, North Charleston
Thursday, April 8 - Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg
For more information about exact locations visit this link (www.SouthCarolinaArts.com/canvas2010).

We found the questions you’ll be asked if you attend one of the Canvas of the People events on the Arts Commission’s website. You’ll only have an hour and 15 minutes so it will help if you know the questions ahead of time and have your answers written down. That will leave some time to tell the Arts Commission how stupid this process is. If that’s what you think. You might think you’re lucky that they even want to hear what you have to say.

Here are the questions and a few answers - off the top of my head.

Q1. What is one thing that is working in the arts, either in your community, the state or elsewhere?

A1. In North Carolina the NC Arts Council (equal to the SC Arts Commission) runs their program based on a Grassroots outlook - giving funding to the communities to use the way they feel best fits their needs. Not by everyone trying to fit their square pegs into the Arts Commission’s round holes.

Q2. What is one of the biggest challenges facing the arts where you live?

A2. Well, everyone in the arts is not a non-profit and those who are for-profit are invisible to the Arts Commission. They only want to assist groups that lose money and stay dependent on handouts and the Arts Commission. Let for-profits compete for funding too. Let the best ideas that serve the arts community get the funding - not just non-profits in need.

Q3. What is a great opportunity for the arts in our state?

A3. Since the state of South Carolina is in such a financial hole they could disband the Arts Commission and take all the money that doesn’t go toward the Commission’s overhead (huge staff and facility) and give it directly to each county on a per-capita basis. The overhead money could go toward keeping people on the job in safety, health and education positions.

I’m not saying that these are my answers. They just came off the top of a long list developed over the years. And, that’s one of the problems with this Canvas process - there are only three questions offered and you get only one answer. It’s like they don’t want to admit to any other problems or suggested solutions.

You want to know what was said in Columbia, SC - the first Canvas event where 20 people showed up. Click this link.

You say you can’t attend any of the planned gatherings - take this survey on the Arts Commission’s site. You can leave your written comments to be part of the official record. Of course - unlike a public meeting - if you do the survey, there is no way to guard against lost comments.

Funny, this survey - the ability to leave comments without attending the gathering wasn’t mentioned in the initial press release about the 2010 Canvas of the People process. You can always count on finding something extra on the Arts Commission’s website if you just dig deep enough - something not mentioned at first.

For instance I thought I was receiving all press releases from the Arts Commission - not so. I found notice of another Board meeting scheduled for March 10, 2010, 11am to 2pm, in Columbia, SC, at the Arts Commission’s headquarters dated March 1, 2010. Another ten day notice to such an important event.

They say the public is welcome to come to these board meeting, but the public has to know about them first. They shouldn’t rely on me to spread the word.

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I hope most of you saw the ad in our March 2010 printed version of Carolina Arts on Page 13 asking people to - “Be part of the Greatest Show in town!” by joining the Charleston Arts Coalition - Create. Unite. Inspire. If you didn’t see it - here’s a link to that page.

If you didn’t see our printed version of Carolina Arts - here’s a link to that March 2010 issue.

Carolina Arts became a member about five months ago and we think others should too. You can do it by just clicking this link. If you want to read what I said back then when we joined - here’s a link to those comments.

Who needs to join another organization? Who needs another item in the expense column of your balance sheet? Well, no one does - especially now. But, there are some expenses that are worth making. I’ve decided that joining the Coalition is a worthy one for me, and I’m not quick to jump in the line to join many organizations. I can’t make that decision for you. I can’t determine if this is one of those worthwhile expenses for you - you’ll have to do that, but first you’ll have to address the issue.

First, take a look at their websites - Charleston Arts Coalition, Charleston Culture, and their blog. Take a close look and see if and where you can fit in.

Do you as an artist, gallery owner, artists guild, visual arts organization, art museum, art enthusiast or art patron need another outlet to promote your activities? Could you use a little support by being a member of a group whose goals are similar to yours in these trying times? Do you want to make sure you are up on all that is happening in your field of interest? Are you a wealthy person or corporation which has exhausted your imagination as to where you can make donations of large sums of money to reduce your tax burden? Well, if so - joining the Charleston Arts Coalition just might be for you.

I know which category I fit in - how about you? Do you know where you fit in? Or are you out there in this big cold world all alone? Don’t be a loner - be a joiner and then become a worker.

In retrospect, what have I gotten from my membership in these last five months? Well, truthfully - I’m not sure how to measure that. I’ve been a little busy keeping Carolina Arts above water and this winter has put a funk on my overall attitude about most things - it’s been too cold and nasty to try and separate those feelings from anything else to make such judgements. But there are some results.

We have gotten some things out of our membership. We posted our info at Charleston Culture, which I’m sure has put our paper and related enterprises in contact with folks who may have never come in contact with us. I’ve made some contacts with a few folks behind the scenes at the Coalition, which never hurts - after all I’m in the business of information and contacts = information. Our membership shows that I’m not just a complainer who does nothing but back seat driving. And, the Coalition has provided me another subject for this blog - believe me - it’s not always easy to come up with a subject - you can’t always count on the SC Arts Commission to provide me with fodder. And, at the headquarters of PSMG, located on the eastern shores of Lake Moultrie - you won’t find too many folks hanging around the watercooler talking about the latest issues of the day.

Besides, the Charleston Arts Coalition is still very young - as is our membership. They have a lot of potential, but that potential is limited by the number of people who join with them in making a difference in Charleston’s art community. A community that is not always so user friendly.

Every day there are closed door meetings going on where decisions are being made that will let some people in and leave some people out. In these people’s minds the motto is - the fewer the better. The better for them. They may say they are there for the good of the all, but their actions say something different. And, be sure of one thing - funding - the mother’s milk of the arts is in short supply and shrinking every day. They may invite you to sit around the campfire to share stories, but they are only passing out marshmallows to a select few.

So why not join a group which wants to build a platform all can stand on - where you determine what you get out of it by what you put in. Who can ask for more? And, if you want more, well then you should be ready to do more.

When I joined the Coalition I promised to be a cheerleader - it’s about all I can do in my position. There is no time for me to socialize in Charleston, not much time for meetings or events - I’ve got invitations coming from two states. All I can do is make my pitch to the folks who seem to care about what I have to say and participate in giving my opinions - from afar, offering the benefit of my years of experience in the Charleston art community and keeping an eye on and open mind to what I see going on. I’ll do that as long as it is worth the effort.

Think about joining the Charleston Arts Coalition. Think about helping the Coalition make a difference in this art community. We sure need it.

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I’m pulling the plug on my little experiment of keeping the Comments option “on” at Carolina Arts Unleashed - for the reason I never had it turned on - I don’t want to be a blog site administrator.

I don’t know if this happens with most people’s blogs, but from the start we got a boatload of comments - comments designed to make it look like they were comments about what I had written, but were nothing more than a promo for just about anything you can think of. (Is this a real job?) Some were pretty clever in going the extra mile to make you think they read the entry and some were so lame that the exact same wording was used by several people. And, all were very flattering to me and my “wisdom” or the layout of our page - hoping I would leave them up. I left some up for a week to show people what we were getting, but in the end only five people made actual comments and I knew four of those people.

I thank those folks for those comments and I hope they’ll understand why I don’t have time to deal with all the others. It’s a shame that some always want to take advantage of a situation.

Every time I pulled in e-mail I would have several comments that Wordpress wouldn’t automatically post - waiting on approval from me to post them - all of them got deleted - you don’t want to know why. Another group would get posted and Wordpress was just sending me an e-mail to let me know it had added it to the comments and what was said - most of these got deleted too.

If I left all the comments that Wordpress accepted on there it would just look like a lovefest towards me and the layout of the page. No one’s going to believe that. I know I didn’t - our page layout is as plain as can be.

Why only five real comments? I’m not sure.

Was it a touchy subject which people didn’t want to go public on - maybe, but in some cases you wouldn’t know who the person is unless you knew their user name or real name - if it was given. Lots of people looked at the posting - we’ve got a system that can tell us how many people pull up a given entry - by day or for any given amount of time. That wasn’t a problem.

Someone told me I should have stopped posting and left that post up on top for a period of time, but I can’t do that - the blog is now part of the Carolina Arts communication system. There is too much going on to leave one post up for a long period of time. That person also suggested creating another blog for open comments or as a discussion outlet, but again - I don’t have time to manage that. My plate is pretty full now.

So here’s my solution. If you want to comment about anything I say - write it down and send it in an e-mail - like I suggested when I first started this blog. I can post it later. If that gets to be too much of a hassle - I don’t know what the next step will be, but the bottom line is - the printed paper comes first. That’s my job.

Basically, I don’t think a lot of folks want to make comments - real comments - comments that go beyond “I agree with what you said” or “You hit the nail on the head again”. Those kinds of statements don’t really mean much. I know some people don’t want to stand too close to me in a lightening storm - whether they agree with me or don’t. I don’t blame them. At this point I don’t have much to lose, but others do. And, there are some who just like to make their comments behind the scenes - never in public.

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We received this press release at Carolina Arts with a personal request in the form of - “just sending more food for thought for your blog!”. I think that might be a shot at me for pointing out that the Arts Council of Beaufort County was calling for supporters to help make them a Top 25 Art Destination in a magazine’s poll.

We don’t usually include info about classes or workshops in our paper or electronic media, but since I will have posted one about one in Greensboro, NC, by the time this comes up and the “fairness factor” kicks in, I’m including this, but don’t send any others. You hear that folks - don’t send us info about classes and workshops - we’re not including them. Why is that? There are too many - several every day - many never take place, and I think they are something these groups should promote in paid advertising.

By the way - all the dates mentioned are for 2010. That’s a hint to all you press release writers. This info is going to be in cyberspace for some time and there is nothing more disappointing than finding something good on the internet and later finding out the info is several years old. The year is just as important as the month and day in a date.

Here’s their info:

Social Media & Networking Online: How to blog, facebook, tweet, flickr, etsy, and why.

Tuesday, April 6th, 1-3pm @ ARTworks, with Ian Leslie, digital sherpa and director of marketing for the Lowcountry Economic Network, and Jessica Lebos, pro blogger and culture yenta. This $10 ARTsbiz session is an in-person discussion of the keywords, tags, tips, techniques and precautions that artists need to know to establish themselves online and populate the digital art scene representing Beaufort County.

Disaster Preparedness: Artists, what’s your continuity plan?

Monday, April 12, 1-3pm, @ ARTworks with Todd Ferguson, director of the Beaufort County Emergency Management Division, Kim Keats, SC Craft Fellow and phoenix risen from the ashes, and Grace Cordial, evacuator extraordinaire and director of the Beaufort District Collection for the Beaufort County Library. This $10 ARTsbiz session will provide information to artists about hurricanes, fault lines, local and national resources such as the Craft Emergency Emergency Relief Fund, while focusing on the measures most critical to resilient arts careers.

Shopping Locally & Artfully: the many unexpected benefits of art-collection for Beaufort County’s creative class.

Tuesday, April 27th, 1-3pm @ ARTworks with Martha Ahrens, curator, exhibit designer, collector, and the recipient of the arts council’s 2009 Town of Hilton Head Mayor’s Award for the Arts. This $10 ARTsbiz session is for artists and collectors of all levels and artforms: How to start and build a collection in the Lowcountry; Why artists should collect too; The history of artists bartering with each other, and which artists now are interested in a TBA barter event in Beaufort County.

ARTworks is the home of the Arts Council of Beaufort County, in Beaufort Town Center, Beaufort. For further info call Lisa Annelouise Rentz at 843/379-2787 or visit (www.beaufortcountyarts.com).

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We received this e-mail at Carolina Arts from Carol Bergin looking for some help in spreading the word about this Irish inspired event, and since I’ve got a wee bit of the blarney in me - why not. The Festival of Ballycahill taking place in Charleston, Town of Charles (Baile Chathail in the original Gaelic, anglicized to Ballycahill) presents a festival of Irish arts, crafts, culture and entertainment that reflects the wonderful history of Irish settlement and achievement in Charleston, and the  magical influence of Irish creativity in the modern era.

Here’s the info:

I have been the founder and organizer of several craft groups in Ireland. I am also privileged to have worked with many craft groups around the world through the Fair Trade network.

As a part-time resident of the Lowcountry, I am trying to get an exchange of experience between craft groups here and those in Ireland initially. I feel Ireland can greatly inspire craftspersons and the experience of crafts as a business in Ireland is relevant to the situation here.

As an initial offering, Inspired by Ireland has organized with Irish craftspersons to work with visitors on a travel program in June 2010. The details are at (www.inspiredbyireland.net).

As part of the first Irish arts festival, Ballycahill Festival, Helen Conneely, who was the founder of CORE, will be here for a week. Helen has great craft skills which she will share but also great wisdom in running crafts as a business. We invite members of your group to attend any of her demonstrations. Full details are at (www.ballycahillfestival.com).

Helen’s websites are:

(http://www.corecrafteddesign.com)

(http://www.celtic-roots.com)

(http://www.meso.com)

In addition, Arianne King Comer and I will be giving a workshop on Celtic Design, Saturday, 13 March at 1pm at the Meeting Place, 1077 East Montague Avenue, North Charleston. We would welcome any of your members. Celtic design can be applied to a wide variety of crafts.

We would greatly appreciate anything you can do to “spread the word”. I truly feel Ireland has so much to offer people interested in the arts. Let us share our wisdom!!!

All best wishes,

Carol Bergin

843/216-0031

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We received this e-mail at Carolina Arts. I used to be a member and supporter of Redux - under the founding management, but don’t know much about what’s going on there now - which is mostly my fault. I do tend to keep a full plate going. But that shouldn’t stop you from joining.

Here’s their pitch:

CHARLESTON, SC: Redux Contemporary Art Center launches its Spring 2010 Membership Drive. The membership drive begins March 8 and ends on April 21, with a membership celebration at Redux from 6:30 - 9:30pm.

Now is the best time to become a member of Redux with increased member benefits at all membership levels. Redux members now receive valuable discounts at Artist & Craftsman Supply, Charleston Center for Photography, Artizom Frame Gallery (downtown Charleston) and Havens Fine Framing (Mt. Pleasant). Memberships start at $45. Existing members now have the opportunity to earn 25 “Dux Bucks” by referring new members. Dux Bucks may be used toward classes, workshops and Redux merchandise. Members that join or renew at the Patron level will receive a Redux limited edition t-shirt.

Redux will launch the 2010 line of limited edition t-shirts at the membership celebration on April 21. Six local artists have been asked to design a t-shirt that will be hand screen printed at Redux. Only 30 t-shirts by each artist will be printed. They will be available for purchase at Redux for $30 each. All sales of t-shirts will help to support the diverse programming at Redux. This year’s t-shirt artists are: Jarod Charzewski, Nathan Durfee, Tim Hussey, Karin Olah, Helen Rice and Luke Vehorn.

Redux membership is a tax-deductible donation and a great way to show Redux that you are excited about what we offer to the community. Proceeds from membership help Redux continue to develop diverse programming, while introducing and educating the public to the contemporary visual arts. Support from the community allows Redux to continue to exhibit artwork by national and international artists, support local artists, and enrich the Charleston community through our adult and youth education programs. As the only arts organization in Charleston providing these much needed opportunities, your membership will assist us in maintaining an ambitious schedule of exhibition, outreach and studio programs to accomplish our goals.

Membership Drive: March 8 - April 21, 2010

Membership Celebration at Redux: Wednesday April 21, 6:30 - 9:30pm

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11am – 5 pm

Redux Contemporary Art Center, 136 St. Philip Street, Charleston, SC 29403

For further info call 843/722-0697 or visit (www.reduxstudios.org).

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We received this e-mail at Carolina Arts - it may be of interest to some of you out there thinking of starting a business in the arts or those who are already in the biz - thinking - “what can I do to turn this mess around?”

I think there are other entrepreneurship centers in the Carolinas, but I don’t hear from them.

Here it is:

Helping Artists Prevail in the Business World

Saturday, March 27, 2010
9:00am-5:30pm
Elliott University Center at UNCG

Learn how to turn artistic passion into a living. This artist-led conference will present entrepreneurial strategies and resources for student artists and emerging artists to become self-supporting. The conference will feature numerous speakers in three breakout sessions- Literary, Performing and Visual Arts.

Take advantage of this opportunity to meet and network with artists managing successful businesses and make strong connections for the future.

REGISTRATION FEES
Early Registration (Before March 12) $45 (students $25)
Registration (After March 12) $60 (students $35)
(Fees include all sessions, meals and reception)

For any questions or concerns, please visit our website at (http://entrepreneur.uncg.edu), e-mail to (ncec@uncg.edu) or call 336/256-8649.

Thank you,

North Carolina Entrepreneurship Center
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
516 Stirling Street, 418 Bryan Building
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170

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That’s right - another press release received at Carolina Arts with info we feel you should know about. You can read an article and see some photos of an installation Dougherty created at the Palmetto Bluff Resort in Bluffton, SC, which we presented in Carolina Arts in April 2007 at this link.

Here’s the press release:

Wood Artist to Create Installation for Rock Hill Community Performance Center

ROCK HILL, S.C. - Thanks to collaborative community-wide efforts, Rock Hill soon will become home to one of renowned artist Patrick Dougherty’s unique large-scale wood installations.

Beginning March 8, Dougherty will spend three weeks building an installation at Rock Hill’s new Community Performance Center, located at 249 E. Main St., weaving donated tree saplings into a large, intricate sculptural installation. Throughout the building process, the accessible artist will work with volunteers - including Winthrop University fine arts students - and interact with visitors who stop to watch his progress.

Funded by ACE Projects at Winthrop, a privately funded outreach program, the Patrick Dougherty Installation Project is a partnership among the Arts Council of York County, the Rock Hill Old Town Association, Rock Hill’s Gallery Up, Winthrop and ACE Projects.

The interactive installation project should provide the Rock Hill community with a unique opportunity to “realize the impact of temporary public art on economic development and quality of life in our college town,” said Tom Stanley, chair of Winthrop’s Department of Fine Arts. “Patrick Dougherty is especially gifted in helping to demystify art - helping us to see that it is a vital job that needs to be done.”

As part of the installation project, Dougherty will give a public presentation about his work on Thursday, March 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the City of Rock Hill Council Chamber, located at 155 Johnson St.

Here’s a couple of former installations:

Look Out Tree (2008), photo by Harvey Spector, Turtle Bay Arboretum, Redding, CA

Sortie de Cave/Free at Last (2008), photo by Charles Crie, Jardin des Arts, Chateaubourg, France

Dougherty, a native of North Carolina, first began experimenting with woven tree saplings in 1980. Since then, he has constructed more than 150 monumental tree-sapling sculptures throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. He also has served as artist-in-residence at universities and museums across America.

A resident of Chapel Hill, N.C., Dougherty earned his B.A. at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and an M.A. at the University of Iowa in Iowa City and completed post-graduate work at UNC-Chapel Hill.

For more information about Dougherty’s work, visit his website at (www.stickwork.net).

For further info about this project contact Katie Medlock at the Arts Council of York County, 121 E. Main St / PO Box 2797, Rock Hill, SC 29732; call 803/328-2787 or visit (www.yorkcountyarts.org).

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I couldn’t be in Columbia, SC, for the first event of the SC Art Commission’s 2010 Canvas of the People on Feb. 22, at 6:45-8pm. It seems many others couldn’t either with only 12 days notice - even those living right there in Columbia. In Jeffrey Day’s blog, Carolina Culture, he reports that only 30 people showed up for this important meeting and 10 of those were with the SC Arts Commission.

I posted notice of this call for public input within hours of receiving the e-mail from the Arts Commission. In fact, I did a follow-up blog entry on Feb. 18, 2010, encouraging folks to go to these Canvas of the People events. Day posted info about the event in his blog and The State newspaper serving the greater Columbia area offered an article about the gathering on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010 - the day before the meeting.

The fact that it took The State newspaper eleven days to offer its readers notice of this event is a whole different issue - assuming they got the same notice the rest of us got. But, then Jeffrey Day could address that issue better, since he was The State’s former arts reporter - let go last year in a staff reduction move by McClatchy Newspapers - owner of The State.

So, 20 people will have made their voices heard in the Columbia area - our state capital - for this ten-year planning process.

What are we to make of this?

Should we think that folks in the Columbia area don’t care what the Arts Commission plans - that it has no effect on them? Should we think that the art community and community in general in Columbia is happy with the way things are going in the arts? Should we think that sending an e-mail out to media outlets 12 days before an event is all you have to do to notify the public - regardless of when they will post that info - if they even do? Should we think that 20 people is enough to represent the Columbia area?

There are 16 days before the next meeting in Bluffton, SC - more days in between the 1st and 2nd meetings than the initial notice to the folks in Columbia. The folks in Spartanburg, SC, the location of the last meeting will get 51 days notice and the benefit of all the hub bub (they’ll like that reference) about the previous meetings.

Was this process fair to the folks in Columbia? I don’t think so.

When you look at the schedule of the meetings you see that most are less than a week apart - except for the first meeting - 16 days apart from the second. Was the Arts Commission in a rush to get the Columbia meeting over for some reason?

Here’s the schedule again:
Monday, Feb. 22 - Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia
Thursday, March 11 - Technical College of the Lowcountry, Beaufort area (Bluffton, SC)
Tuesday, March 16 - Governor’s School for the Arts, Greenville
Monday, March 22 - Black Creek Arts Center, Hartsville
Thursday, March 25 - Aiken Center for the Arts, Aiken
Monday, March 29 - North Charleston City Hall, North Charleston
Thursday, April 8 - Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg
For more information about exact locations visit this link (www.SouthCarolinaArts.com/canvas2010).

What’s the hurry? This is a plan for the next ten years. Let’s don’t rush through this process - leaving most of the people behind - only to hear about the process - after the fact.

I don’t know about the folks in Columbia, but I would be asking for a do-over if I was from there. Sure, they can go to any of the other meetings - all are welcome, but that puts the burden back on the public.

OK - let’s look at the darker side of things. Maybe 20 people is all that would show up anyway - even after a do-over. Maybe even less would show up a second time. Maybe less people are going to show up at the other meetings. Perhaps at the end of the process a total of 150 people show up for these meetings. What then?

The reality is, the SC Arts Commission will say that the people have spoken and they will write up their plan - based on what they heard? based on what they thought they heard? based on what they wanted to hear? based on what they wanted to do all along. What’s the difference?

What I hoped and hope people will do is show up to these events and tell them they have the whole process wrong. This is no way to plan for the future - not this fast and not without proper notice to the public.

Think about how much publicity - over a billion dollars worth - is being spent to let people know the US Census is coming. We’ll be so sick of hearing about it before it’s over - but it is so important to each state, yet a lot of people ignore it and many hide from it. In some ways you just can’t win when it comes to the public’s input, but you can make a better effort for people to know about it and see why it counts.

This is what Ken May, the acting executive director of the SC Arts Commission had to say in that article offered in The State the day before the meeting in Columbia. “While the economy has certainly presented challenges, the arts in South Carolina are still strong, and they still have a lot of community support,” May said. “The need for creative expression and aesthetic experience is a basic part of human behavior.”

In the article it also offered, “He pointed to a 2009 poll by the USC Institute for Public Service and Policy Research showing that 67 percent of S.C. adults participated in the arts in some way during the past year. The poll revealed that, on average, South Carolina residents participate in the arts 14 times a year.”

So, if participation is so high in South Carolina - why did only 20 people show up for the Arts Commission’s important planning meeting? Just twice as many people as staff members there.

I don’t believe or put much stock in such polls about the arts, but every time they have to stand next to reality - they look more fantasy and fiction - than research. They always say what the arts groups asking for the poll want. I hope the folks at USC were not counting football games as an art event.

So what percentage do you think 20 people is to the greater Columbia area art community? Not much.

Of course the explanation for such a low turnout might be that this is not the first Canvas of the People the art community in SC has been through and showing up didn’t seem to matter much to those who have participated before. The results of the process just didn’t justify a second or third trip to participate. It could be the old fool me once - fool me twice effect. And, it’s the same people doing the fooling too.

We need better ideas, better leadership, and a different group of folks calling the shots in South Carolina. But there doesn’t seem to be much chance of getting them any time soon.

P.S. - If you want to read what Jeffrey Day had to say about the Canvas event in Columbia, you better do it fast. He has announced his last posting on Carolina Culture as of Feb. 28. His comments about the Canvas process can be found in his Feb. 23 posting. His dealings with Carolina Culture may be finished, but I’m sure it’s not the last we’ve heard from Day.

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We received this press release at Carolina Arts about an interesting event to be held in Columbia, SC - focused around Teri Tynes - an old friend (she’s not old) and one of the bloggers we follow on a regular basis. In fact, after seeing Tynes’ blog I decided to jump into the blogging game. One day I hope this blog will look as good as her’s does.

Here it is:

Columbia, SC - The Columbia Design League, an affiliate membership group of the Columbia Museum of Art, launches a new public art initiative with Teri Tynes, former Columbia arts writer, gallery director and current New York City blogger. Tynes leads a thought-provoking discussion on Friday, March 5 at 6:00 p.m. at the soon-to-be-renovated Fox Theater on Main Street. She guides a conversation about ways in which all people, not just artists, relate to their urban environment. Citing examples from New York and Columbia, Tynes identifies the elements that create successful urban spaces. This event is $5 or free for Design League members.

At this event the Columbia Design League will announce a competition for art in public spaces called  “Play with Your City.”  The competition is open to everyone, not just artists, but to all those who think creatively.  The Design League will select a site for the project in the downtown area that has potential for creative growth.

The “Play with Your City” project invites everyone to think about public spaces in novel ways. This project is not about creating art and putting it in a space. This project asks people to fool around, think creatively and produce something that will improve the downtown experience.

Tynes leads an interactive walk on Main Street on Saturday, March 6 at noon, beginning at the Fox Theater. Participants are asked to bring a notebook, sketchbook, or camera so they can document what they see with words, sketches, or photos that Tynes will incorporate into a Web site. This event is free.

Tynes, the former director of City Art in Columbia, is now the creator and writer of the award-winning blog, Walking Off the Big Apple, a strolling guide to New York arts and culture. She has published articles for ArtPapers, The Dallas Morning News, Independent Film & Video Monthly and is the author of several contemporary art catalog essays. She is managing editor for The Moving Image, a journal of the Association of Moving Image Archivists.

For more information, visit (www.columbiadesignleague.org).

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