About the art of community rural sc

The Arts & America's Bottom Line National Press Club January 23, 2018

About The Art of Community: Rural SC Initiative 2015-2018

Purpose: A community process, designed by the South Carolina Arts Commission to create a new framework for engagement, learning and action in rural communities.

Considerations: What makes rural places unique? What characteristics define each place? And how can those positive characteristics serve as the basis for new ideas and ways to celebrate six small communities in South Carolina's Promise Zone?

Who leads change in each rural community and how can the "table" be enlarged for more voices to be heard?

Intentions: The Art of Community: Rural SC creates a way to support new leadership, generate energy and motivate action in a rural region of South Carolina.

Its primary objectives include:     

to create pride of place to build new relationships with South Carolinians living communities to inspire new community building using arts and culture to fuel local action with new resources to learn together

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Through a guided exploration of each county's natural, built and human assets, the program will foster pride of place and consideration of what's possible within each community's cultural context and physical landscape.

While the discussion may include what "has been," the focus in The Art of Community will be on what "can be."

Outcomes at 1/15/18:      

New learning and practice of identification of local community assets through workshops, local meeting content and the subsequent development of six local tours New practice of using arts and culture as strategies to address local community issues including blight, business retention, youth, education, health, food access and literacy New relationships built through local, state and out-of-state meetings New practice in telling the stories of place through short essays, reflections, poetry and grant application narratives at state and national conferences New participation in professional development and leadership opportunities offered through arts, culture, humanities and community development gatherings New strategic partnerships with USC-Salkehatchie, Rural LISC, RUPRI, SC Office of Rural Health, SC Association for Community Economic Development, Write to Change Foundation/School of Education

Funding: This initiative is supported by two USDA-RD cooperative agreements (fiscal year 2016, $20,000 and FY2017-2018, $50,000); a USDA-RD Rural Business Development Grant (FY2018, $24,000) and a USDA-RD Community Facilities Grant ($30,000). It is also supported by the South Carolina Arts Commission's staff (program, partnership, education, folklife, grants and communications), which receives funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the South Carolina Legislature.

About The South Carolina Arts Commission The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) envisions a South Carolina where all can enjoy access to the benefits of the arts in their lives and communities, regardless of their location or circumstances. With a commitment to excellence across the spectrum of our state's cultures and forms of expression, SCAC pursues its public charge to develop a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education, and economic vitality for all South Carolinians.

Its commitment to community arts development is longstanding with early programs designed for field building. Its overall demonstration of that commitment has been through three domains: arts in education, artist development and community arts development. Early programs, including Cultural Visions, Mobile Arts Truck and Rural Arts, were designed to support the development of artists, arts organizations and local community support for the arts, especially within rural contexts.

In many cases today, rural and small communities lack the arts and/or community infrastructure necessary to apply for and implement SCAC grants. Agency staff assist by working with potential grant recipients to prepare applications for a lowbarrier grants category, the Horizon Grant. Awarding these grants requires intensive one-on-one work, but the payoff is additional arts opportunities where they could be of the most benefit: rural and underresourced communities. SCAC awarded four of these grants in FY2016-2017, and continues to work toward the goal of placing at least one grant in every county (46).

Another initiative, The Art of Community: Rural SC, resulted in six creative placemaking projects being designed and implemented by local teams in the six counties in a six-county region west of Interstate 95 in South Carolina's Lowcountry, specifically Barnwell, Bamberg, Allendale, Hampton, Colleton and Jasper. The initiative has led to national attention and new connections for the agency—from the White House to national thought leaders to significant organizations inside and outside of the state. In addition, SCAC has been invited to take part in regional and national conferences and webinars to present the program as a model for building community, economic opportunity and local infrastructure for growth and development in rural and high-poverty communities.

In FY2016-2017, the SCAC carried out this mission by awarding $3.3 million in grant funds to support community arts activities, artists, and school based arts programs around the state, using 342 grants to 42 South Carolina counties to enable 5.3 million arts experiences for residents and visitors alike. These grants also supported 963,608 learning opportunities through the arts for South Carolina schoolchildren in both in-school and out-of-school settings.

For more information, contact: Susan DuPlessis, Program Director South Carolina Arts Commission Office: 803-734-8693; Cell: 803-427-4906 sduplessis@arts.sc.gov www.southcarolinaarts.com