Carolina Arts Unleashed

Well, I hope no regular reader of Carolina Arts Unleashed needs to be reminded that the North Carolina Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC, is keeping the doors open by fundraising events as funding from local, regional, state or national government sources is not cutting it. Without these fundraisers and the support of those people who participate in these fundraisers - those doors would be closed.

So, it’s important to support these events - if you’re a pottery lover, history lover, art lover, or just a person who appreciates the fact that thousands of years ago some creative folks discovered a way to turn - what most thought was just dirt - into vessels which: kept people from having to walk to the stream, river or lake every time they were thirsty, made it possible to store fluids and foods for a period of time, and made it possible to eat food on a surface which kept the junk of the world out of our food.

It’s called pottery. Some of you still use some of these products - everything isn’t made of plastic - yet. And, I for one, hope that day never comes.

So, my pitch is for as many of you that can - go to this event, spend lots of money and if you can’t go - bid by phone. If you can’t afford to do either, see if you can become a member. And, if you’re one of those folks with the bothersome problem of having so much money you just can’t think of enough ways to reduce your tax burden - write the NC Pottery Center a big check and if that doesn’t help your situation out enough - write one to Carolina Arts too. We’re here to help you good folks.

One final note - you can preview the auction offerings on Friday, Apr. 23, 2010, from 10am -5pm and Sunday, Apr. 25, 2010, before the auction starts.

Here’s their pitch:

The North Carolina Pottery Center, partnering with Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd (LLAES), is pleased to announce, the 11th annual, Going, Going, Gone to Pots!, fundraising auction on April 25, 2010. In addition to an outstanding selection of contemporary and vintage pottery, the auction will offer pottery related items, such as books, posters and photographs. These items will be available for viewing on three web sites; (www.auctionzip.com), (www.ncpotterycenter.com) and (www.llauctions.com), which will offer national exposure of the items, artists and the North Carolina Pottery Center. The new expanded preview period, which opens later this month, also provides an option facilitated by LLAES, Ltd., for absentee and advance telephone bidding for persons unable to attend the live auction.

The North Carolina Pottery Center’s Board of Directors and the auction/fundraising committee, encourages and appreciates the public support that enables us to maintain our mission of promoting public awareness and appreciation of the history, heritage, and ongoing tradition of pottery making in North Carolina. We cordially invite you to participate in this vital and necessary fund-raising event. Your support allows us to ensure the continued success and viability of the North Carolina Pottery Center.

Along with our partner, Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, the following sponsors have generously committed their support to the North Carolina Pottery Center’s auction: Total Communication, Community One Bank, the Pinehurst/Southern Pines/Aberdeen Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Umstead Hotel, Energizer, Pugh Funeral Home, Insurance Associates of the Triad, Cabot Cheese, the Duck Smith House B&B, The North Carolina Zoological Society, Total Wine, Westmoore Family Restaurant, with others joining daily.

The Auction is scheduled for Sunday afternoon, April 25, 2010. The auction begins at 5pm, but the doors of the NC Pottery Center will open at 3:30pm with a preview, appetizers and local, traditional bluegrass music. There is no admission and everyone is welcome!

The North Carolina Pottery Center offers educational opportunities to statewide schools and individuals, changing historical and contemporary exhibitions, demonstrations, and information about statewide potters. The NCPC is a private nonprofit entity, funded primarily through memberships, grants, fundraisers, admissions, and appropriations.

The NC Pottery Center is open Tuesdays – Saturdays 10am to 4pm, ADMISSION (excluding free special events): $2- adults, $1 - students (9th through 12th grades), free - children through 8th grade, and free - NCPC members. The Center is handicap accessible. Groups and tours welcomed.

For further information and details call 336/873-8430, e-mail to (info@ncpotterycenter.org) or visit (www.NCPotteryCenter.org).

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We received this press release at Carolina Arts and it’s not often you get to watch a world-class artist at work, but here’s an opportunity. It’s just part of the built up to the exciting opening of the new Mint Museum Uptown, the third visual art component of the Wells Fargo Cultural Campus, joining the new Harvey B. Gantt Center for African American Arts + Culture (formerly the Afro-American Cultural Center) and the new Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Both of these facilities are open now.

Here’s that press release:

The Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, is offering special viewing hours this month to allow the public to observe the artistic process behind a commissioned work that will be installed in the new Mint Museum Uptown this fall. On Mar. 26-27 and Mar. 29-30, 2010 (from 2-6pm each day), the public is invited to observe Icelandic fiber artist Hildur Bjarnadóttir working in the lobby of the former Mint Museum of Craft + Design location (220 North Tryon Street), which will be transformed into a temporary studio during the artist’s visit.

During her visit to Charlotte, Bjarnadóttir will be creating a fiber art work for Project Ten Ten Ten, a series of commissions created especially for the new Mint Museum Uptown galleries by 10 of the world’s most innovative craft and design artists. Visitors to the craft museum will be able to observe Bjarnadóttir making natural dye from local plants and ask questions about the artistic process. The dye will be incorporated into the commissioned work, which will be unveiled at the new facility’s grand opening.

“Project Ten Ten Ten will catapult the Mint Museum of Craft + Design to the highest level of artistic excellence by commissioning 10 of the most important craft and design artists from around the world for site-specific work,” said Annie Carlano, Director of Craft + Design. When the doors open on Oct. 1, 2010, visitors will see spectacular works by glass artist/designer Danny Lane (United Kingdom), conceptual jewelry artist Ted Noten (The Netherlands), and furniture maker/designer Joseph Walsh (Ireland), in addition to the fiber work by Hildur Bjarnadóttir. Equally striking commissions by Kawana Tetsunori, Kate Malone, Tom Joyce, Cristina Córdova, Susan Point and Ayala Serfaty are also being planned for the new facility.

Bjarnadóttir learned crocheting, knitting and embroidery as a child from her mother, and came of age during the flowering of fiber art in Europe. In her native Iceland she saw museum exhibitions of contemporary textiles and assumed the medium was exalted in the art world. She later learned that this is not the predominant view, and creates work that is a reaction to the commonplace negative comparison of textiles to “fine art.” Whether affixed to a wall or placed upon a pedestal, her needlework creations tell stories of traditional women’s work with a cutting-edge, even macabre, twist.

Accommodations for Bjarnadóttir are being generously provided by Catalyst Condominiums (www.catalystcharlotte.com). Her fiber art commission is being funded by Mr. Wesley Mancini and the International Textile Market Association.

For further information check our NC Institutional Gallery listings, call the Mint Museum at 704-337-2009 or visit (www.mintmuseum.org).

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The Artists Round Table (A.R.T.) group in Columbia, SC, will present its second annual Spring N2 ART, featuring food, music and great art, at the Keenan House at 801 Wildwood Avenue, in Columbia on Apr. 3, 2010, from noon to 6pm.

Spring N2 ART will offer a unique promotional and public relations opportunity for working artists, musicians, art organizations and related businesses seeking alternative marketing and direct contact with potential clients, while providing a viable contribution to the arts and to the economic well-being of our community.

A.R.T. provides opportunities for artists to connect, collaborate and engage with each other and the community, while educating the public on the importance of the arts in South Carolina. This year we are incorporating a Youth Gallery, a hands-on area for kids and demonstrations.

SCETV will again join us to present films from their Carolina Stories series and Southern Lens series. A room inside the historic Keenan House will be set up for screening these films and introducing the public to some of the worthwhile programs happening over at SCETV.

Spring N2 ART will also feature local musicians: Dallas Leon Nelson, Chris Compton, and Diamonds in the Rough; a demonstration by the Columbia Tai Chi Center; and good food by Mr. Ben Heyward.

For further information contact Brenda Schwarz Miller at 803/ 609-3479 or visit (www.theartistsroundtable.org).

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I wanted to give my readers interested in pottery events taking place around the Carolinas and those looking for something interesting to do the weekend of Mar. 26 & 27, 2010, an update on the 13th annual Catawba Valley Pottery and Antiques Festival, which is a fundraising event for the Catawba County Historical Association in Hickory, NC, and the NC Pottery Center in Seagrove, NC. You can read my earlier posting at this link.

But, I’ll add this info for those who don’t want to go from link to link just to get you interested.

In addition to the 110 pottery and antique vendors from all over the Southeast, this year’s festival will feature a pottery exhibit prepared by Dr. Terry Zug, retired University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor and author of Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina.

The speaker this year is Stephen C. Compton, a native of Alamance County, NC. Compton holds an A.B. in anthropology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, M. Div. from Duke University, and D. Min. from Emory University and currently is the district superintendent for the Sanford District of The United Methodist Church. He formerly served as president of the board of directors for the North Carolina Pottery Center and was a founding member and first president of the North Carolina Pottery Collectors’ Guild (http://www.ncpotterycollectors.org/Home_Page.php).

For advance tickets to the Friday Night Preview Party (Mar. 26, 2010) ($40 per - required by Mar. 19, 2010) call the Catawba County Historical Association at 828/322-3943 or 828/324-7294.

If you go and end up talking with any of the potters from the Carolinas there - do me a favor and tell them you heard about the event at Carolina Arts Unleashed. Tell them Tom sent you. It’s called networking.

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Some artists are just too busy to take care of promoting themselves and if you throw in running a gallery/studio - they usually are taking care of promoting other artist’s shows. So, when we were talking to Betsey Carter, one of the owners and potters at Cone 10 Studios and Clay Gallery at 285 Meeting Street in Charleston, I asked if she had any shows coming up. At first she said no and in a bit remembered that she had a show going on now in Charleston. And when I asked where? - she said at The Real Estate Studio - which usually sends us info about their exhibits, but had missed sending us info about this show.

Unfortunately, this was a day after we had finished the April issue of Carolina Arts, but I remembered - I have a blog and I post lots of info about pottery exhibits - we may even have a pottery following. So I said - send me the info and some images.

And, here it is:

The Real Estate Studio at 214 King Street, Charleston, SC, is presenting the exhibit, Narrative Ceramics, featuring works by Betsey Carter, on view through Apr. 10, 2010. A percentage of sales from the show will be donated to Wando High School’s School of Arts & Humanities

Carter offered the following statement about her work, but started with the following comment: “I’d Rather Be on Fire Than Be Ordinary” - from Love Warps the Mind a Little, by John Dufresne.

“First and foremost I am a utilitarian potter. I make objects in porcelain for everyday life.”

“For thousands of years people of nearly every civilization have used pottery in their daily lives - to cook and serve food, store provisions, and protect valuables. These utilitarian pots, carefully crafted to suit the lives they led, were also objects of great beauty. I see my work as continuing this tradition of making beautiful objects for everyday life. The philosophy guiding my work is the premise set forth by William Morris, of the British Arts and Crafts movement, that the objects surrounding us should be useful and beautiful. I love knowing that the pottery I make will hold food at dinner tables, display flowers from gardens, or steep restorative pots of tea.”

“The work exhibited here evolved from these domestic objects. Most of these pieces began as simple plates, cups and vases - traditional pottery forms. The process of grouping multiples, organizing pieces on grids, and incorporating literary passages, references to historical ceramics, and political and social themes takes the work beyond the domestic sphere while retaining links to functionality.”

The Real Estate Studio is open Mon.-Sat., 9am-6pm & Sun., 10am-6pm. For further information call 843/722-5618 or e-mail to (concierge@dunesproperties.com).

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Well, the other day I had to remove some blogs, one coming to an end by Jeffrey Day and one that has become inactive. So, I thought I’d add a few new ones to give the blog links some diversity of location and viewpoints. I just haven’t come across too many blogs dealing with the visual arts in the Carolinas - except more pottery blogs and I hope to do something with them in the future.

One is Art Dispatch (http://artdispatch.blogspot.com/) - the Voice of the Jacksonville Council for the Arts… Dispatching art news, events, and info to artists and art lovers in Jacksonville, NC, and Eastern North Carolina. They have also website at (http://www.jaxarts.com/).

We don’t here much from visual art groups or individuals from the eastern parts of North Carolina - east of the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) other than Wilmington, NC, and Calabash, NC. I guess they have not run across Carolina Arts and we haven’t come across them, but we’re willing to include everyone in the visual arts in the Carolinas on our electronic versions of the paper - as long as they get us their info by our deadlines. For more info about that go to this link.

The other blog I’m adding is by Colin Qusahie, a visual artists from the Charleston, SC, area - although it seems like he’s been spending time all over the country. His blog, Colin Qusahie Art, can be found at (http://quashieart.blogspot.com/). Qusahie’s blog will offer interested readers another look into the mind and life of an individual artist. Something most don’t get exposed to that often.

A lot of people think of life as an artist as something glamorous, mysterious, or even leisurely and privileged. But, it’s a lot of work - if you’re going to make any money at it and these blogs show that - if you follow them on a regular basis.

Check them out.

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Talk about trying to stop the presses. We received this e-mail at Carolina Arts - last night (Mar. 14, 2010, after 10pm) just as I had finished my part of laying out the April issue of Carolina Arts. And, it was the kind of e-mail with very little info offered, but the sender was hoping we could help them get the word out - a very few words at that.

They were hoping we could help advertise a judged art show they would be having in March, and I’m thinking this is March - almost the middle of March - what’s the hurry?

Unfortunately, this is just another example of the major problem SC’s art community has in communicating what it has to offer to the general public - much less to the media which usually delivers that information. And, I feel this is a failure of the SC Arts Commission in not training the art community how to communicate and not insisting that groups they give funding to promote their events to the public in a proper manner. I don’t know if the Commission gives any funding to this guild, but it does no good funding projects directed toward the public that the public doesn’t know is taking place or doesn’t get info about in time to make a decision to go to it.

I think this should be a top priority in South Carolina and in North Carolina - which is better, but not much better. But enough of the soapbox speech.

At this point I usually just include the press release we received, but there was not enough info provided for our readers, so I have modified it, expanded on the info offered, and offered a bit of commentary.

The Seacoast Artist Guild of South Carolina is presenting, Swing Into Spring, a  judged art show featuring works by local artists in various media including: 2 Dimension, 3 Dimension, and Photography. (Although in my world I consider photography to be 2-D, but I know to many artists they still think of photography as something less.) But, I applaud this guild for at least including photography in this show - many don’t. In fact, many seem to enjoy adding the phrase “No Photography”.

The exhibit will take place at the Litchfield Exchange, 2 miles south of Brookgreen Gardens, behind Applewood’s House of Pancakes, in Pawleys Island, SC. An awards ceremony will be held on Mar. 16, 2010, from 6:30-8:30pm. The exhibit will be on view from Mar, 17 - 21, 2010, from 10am-5pm. The awards ceremony and exhibit is free and open to the public.

The Seacoast Artist Guild of South Carolina, Inc. is a local non-profit arts organization with members hailing from all over South Carolina. It was established by a group of artists interested in sharing their love of the arts with others in the coastal area.  Seacoast is dedicated to bringing opportunities to its members through art exhibits, art sales, workshops, and more. As part of their mission, the Guild works to open possibilities for those who can’t afford to take art lessons and nurture their skills. They also strive to reach the youth of the area through the visual arts.

For further information call Dottie Covington, Board Member & Co-Chair Publicity, Seacoast Artist Guild of South Carolina at 843/235-1299 or visit (www.seacoastartistguild.com).

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Well, on a day the weatherman said would rain all day - especially in the Bluffton, SC, area, I headed out on a three hour drive there - for a meeting which would only last an hour and 15 minutes. Unlike the Arts Commission staff which would be staying in a hotel over night, I had to drive back home - March 12 is deadline day for our April issue of Carolina Arts. But, I’m sure they had other business to do in the area the next day to justify the hotel stay. And, I was lucky the rain had stopped for my return trip home. Finishing that April issue delayed this posting.

OK, to end the suspense - in answer to the question you’re all wondering. There were 6 Arts Commission staff members and about 16-18 other people, but oh, what a group of folks who just happen to show up in Bluffton.

This crowd had less people than showed up in Columbia, SC, but, that’s to be expected. Some seemed to want to blame the turnout on the rain, but there are no rain days in the arts. Events take place all the time when it is raining and people go to them anyway - if they really want to. Some use rain as an excuse, but rain shouldn’t of been an excuse to not attend such an important meeting. But, I don’t want to diminish the rain - at times it was a real downpour.

About a week before this meeting, the Arts Council of Beaufort County held an Emergency Arts Summit in Beaufort, SC, and about 75 people turned out for that. Somehow they were able to get people to turn out for that meeting.

The group that showed up for this Canvas meeting wasn’t what I would call a normal one. Besides an art collector and an individual artist - the rest of the group were administrators or public officials.

In fact, the Director and Development Director of the Arts Council of Beaufort County were there. They said they were also  artists, which made three people who actually create art. You have to wonder why so few artists showed up.

To my surprise, Suzette M. Surkamer, former Executive Director of the SC Arts Commission and Betty Plumb, director of the SC Arts Alliance from Rock Hill, SC, were also there. What were they doing there? But, I soon learned that a meeting of the South Carolina Association of NonProfit Organizations (SCANPO) just happened to be taking place on Hilton Head March 10 & 11. Two folks were there from the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina on Hilton Head Island, someone from the local School District, and someone from the local Chamber of Commerce. There were a few folks from Jasper County and the others - the introductions went so fast I didn’t get them all. And, I’m sure I was a surprise guest to some, but Bluffton and Hilton Head Island are in the area of coverage of Carolina Arts and I’ve spent many a day in those areas delivering papers.

So, it was no surprise that the answers given to the three questions posed for the Canvas were pretty good coming from seasoned veterans. A few times it sounded like a lovefest. But, in the end they were just words on paper.

These folks won’t be getting together to study or suggest solutions to problems pointed out. They won’t even have a hand in how these words will be incorporated into the final report - which is just more words on paper. And, like the five times before this Canvas of the People (which is #6), no group of people will be gathered together to see how well the goals of the previous Canvas were or were not accomplished.

But, the real surprise of the evening came when I heard Jeanette Guinn, Program Director for Long Range Planning and Performing Arts County Coordinator for Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester Counties at the Arts Commission (she was also leading the discussion) say that the Canvas wasn’t to make a plan for them - it was for SC’s art community - shifting the responsibility from them to us.

I copied Guinn’s title description from the Arts Commission’s website - it’s too bad there are no visual or literary arts in the greater Charleston area that need coordinating. Most of the other County Coordinators don’t have such a specific description, but it’s their site - so it must have some meaning.

So aren’t we lucky that the Arts Commission is going to all this time and expense to help us organize ourselves - thinking about what works, what our biggest challenges are and what opportunities are out there - as if… as if we don’t think about those things every day - especially in these times.

Just before the end of our time they asked us to suggest what was a plus or a minus - as far as the meeting goes so they can make adjustments for the next meeting. My first suggestion was that the 15 minute talk given by Ken May, the acting Executive Director of the SC Arts Commission, about the results of a survey taken about the arts in SC could have been a handout saving us all that time for further discussion. After all, we only had one hour and 15 minutes and that wasn’t bad for a group this small, but what’s going to happen when it’s a group of 50 or 100 people? That might be wishful thinking, but if it happens, a lot of people are not going to get a chance to talk and there won’t be any time for discussion or follow-ups on comments.

Other comments were about a lack of snacks or coffee and donuts, some thought an hour was just right. I guess it was for busy administrators. Others gave the Arts Commission staff high marks for running the meeting. My list would be too long for this entry and can be found in previous postings about the Canvas of the People process. But I will suggest one thing to all who are planning on attending one of these gatherings. Write your answers to the three questions asked (given here) ahead of time in order to save time and not be distracted by others’ comments. You can always offer reactions on the fly to other comments, but you’ll be glad you wrote yours down ahead of time.

We were reminded that we will probably think of something important on the way home that wasn’t said and that we can always send those comments along to the Arts Commission by taking their survey found on their website.

But why add more words to paper? Where is the plan for action? It’s not like a taskforce is going to be formed to work on the goals which are distilled after combining the words from seven different gatherings. At least it never happened before that I know of and I haven’t gotten the indication that it’s going to happen this time.

The bottom line is - I think you should still go to these gatherings and tell them what you think about what’s going right and what your challenges are. Guinn said she’s not there to control your comments - just to direct them. Hold her to that statement and speak your mind. Don’t expect any administrators who depend on money from the Arts Commission to step outside the box. They’re still hoping it’s all not crashing down around them and the money flow will return.

But I have to wonder - where were all the artists from that area around Bluffton and where were the Board members of the Arts Commission? Where were they and why don’t they want to know what the community has to say, or are they too used to having that information spoon-fed to them by the staff members?

Here’s the remainder of the schedule:
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).

Here’s a link to my other postings on the Canvas of the People process.

Someone asked how this meeting was promoted and a chorus of voices said - very well, but I don’t agree. This is my fifth posting on these events since the press release first came on Feb. 10, 2010, just 12 days before the first gathering. I doubt any other publication or media outlet has given the Canvas more attention than I have and I doubt the Arts Commission has done any follow-up press release to upcoming areas since the first press release. That’s no way to beat the bushes for people to attend these meetings.

I bet if the SC Legislature was thinking about cutting the SC Arts Commission out of the State’s budget, they would beat all the bushes they could find.

Maybe I’ll see you at one of the next meetings - who knows who is going to show up? I know I was surprised at who was at this meeting. But you won’t know if you don’t show up.

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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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