February Issue 2010
Commentary
by Tom Starland

Typos, Typos, Typos

Typos are the curse of publishers of words. It seems that no matter how hard you try to avoid them, search for them or stare right at them - they are invisible until your page is printed. Such is life as a publisher.

We're not trying to be perfect - if we did we'd never make our deadlines, but you want to avoid the glaring typos - such as the one we had last month in the headline for an article on an exhibit being presented by a Spartanburg, SC, art gallery.

The headline should have read - MYST Gallery in Spartanburg, SC, Features Works by Jane Allen Nodine, but it started out with the word - MYSY. We got it right in the body of the article and everywhere else it was included, but in the headline - it's a big fat "Y" instead of a "T".

I apologize to MYST Gallery and hope it never happens again. At least that's my hope, but things happen. As long as we keep publishing words - there will be typos.

Well, the good news is that if this mistaken headline threw you off from going to see this exhibit - it is still on view through Feb. 16. Go see it and have a laugh on us and our typos.

Another Tight Issue

This February issue is another small paper with all we could fit in - squeezed as much as we can. Some of the articles have been edited for space and you can find the full unedited versions on our website at (www.carolinaarts.com). We hope to be adding more pages in the March issue, but that still doesn't mean we'll be able to fit in all we receive each month, and that's where our website becomes a valued partner in our efforts to supply readers with all the news we know about visual art exhibits taking place in the Carolinas and more.

So, if you like what you see here - there is much more on our website and even more on my blog at Carolina Arts Unleashed.

Verner Awards Back On???

In 2009, the SC Arts Commission announced as one of its cutv vvv vvbacks, due to budget cuts by the State of South Carolina, that it would be cancelling the annual Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Awards and the Gala that went along with it. This was strange as the awards are a program of the SC Arts Foundation - a totally different organization - according to them, but the awards ceremony is back on this year along with the gala. Even though the State has asked its agencies to cut their budgets further - several times.

What should we make of this? Is the economy getting better or is it that the top leaders of South Carolina's art community can't go two years without their Gala and the opportunities that come with it?

In the past SC's visual artists have been asked to participate in an art sale at this gala event - an opportunity to sell their works to arts leaders at a discounted price - to people who don't need a discount - to people who have plenty of money to buy art at full price.

Some artists felt lucky and honored to be asked or selected for this art sale, but this year a big change is planned. This year's gala will not include an art sale but a silent art auction.

It doesn't matter to me, but I wonder how art auction-exhausted artists will feel about this change. Now, they are not only being asked to offer their art to well-off folks at a discount, but to share proceeds with the SC Arts Foundation too. It's as if the artists are being asked to help pay for the Verner Gala by a group that says their mission is to help and encourage artists. What's wrong with this?

Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2010 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.