Voices on value of the art of community rural sc

The Arts & America's Bottom Line National Press Club January 23, 2018 Voices on the Value of The Art of Community: Rural SC

Young Voices Being a part of The Art of Community initiative is important because it's something creative taking place in my hometown of Blackville, South Carolina. This initiative has allowed me to be directly involved in my community by putting me in contact with people, like myself, who are dedicated to bringing change to underserved, rural communities. Many people in these communities lack the financial resources to focus on the arts, but thanks to The Art of Community, I've learned the value of focusing on home. I've lived in Blackville all my life but never have I been so motivated to learn about my home. —Bobby Harley Young Voice participant and educator at the department of juvenile justice 803-450-8697 bharley104@gmail.com As an artist in Varnville, South Carolina, it's inspiring to know there is an initiative that focuses on arts and culture in rural areas. I have become connected to new people from all over the region, our state and even the nation who share a common goal of helping rural areas with arts and culture based solutions. It has made me realize I'm not alone. It has also given me an opportunity to develop my skills as an artist outside of the studio. —Ment Nelson Young Voice participant ment.nelson@gmail.com

Engagement in this initiative has taught me the importance of the unwavering commitment when it comes to community work. That commitment will gradually spread from individual to individual growing into a collaborative with so much momentum that it cannot be stopped. Grounded in the concept of teamwork, members work in various facets towards a shared goal. It's never supposed to be all on one individual or about one individual—it's community work!

—Michael Dantzler Young Voice participant and resident of rural Eastover, South Carolina Owner/Photographer, Michael Dantzler Photography 803-429-2277 dantzlerphoto.zenfolio.com Mavens In Allendale, we are participating in The Art of Community to engage our community in new ways related to business retention and local community pride.

The direct benefit to our citizens includes the creation of a new business award that recognizes excellent customer service. Monthly gatherings of business owners have provided a new sense of what it means to be part of a "business community." We discuss how we can improve employment opportunities, how we attract new businesses and how to encourage and support the businesses that already call Allendale home.

—Lottie Lewis Maven, Allendale Through all the efforts of the South Carolina Arts Commission and The Art of Community: Rural SC initiative, we have a better understanding of the importance of arts and culture in Jasper County. Our county's parks and rec department has added a new dimension by adding arts and culture as a component of providing quality parks, recreation and leisure services to our county. This initiative has opened our eyes to the many new resources related to arts and culture as well as created new partnerships with our local schools, businesses and other state agency programs. We have begun the process of organizing a local arts council for the first time in Jasper County. We have also made the community more aware of the critical need for literacy efforts since we have a 27% illiteracy rate. Working with various partners in the county, we plan to bring more attention to this issue with the common goal of helping our youth and adults become valuable assets to Jasper County's future.

—Johnny M. Davis Maven, Jasper County 843-247-2582 jmdavis@jaspercountysc.gov The Art of Community has allowed CRAWL (Community Rural Arts Work League) to bring a variety of groups, persons and businesses together; this was evident in the community response to and participation in Winter Wonderland 2017, which was held on the newly cleared lot for our Art Park. Revitalization has begun on this formerly blighted area in Denmark, South Carolina, and is now host to a variety of

community activities including children's crafting, nutrition and well-being activities, and entertainment events such as a magician, a jazz band, a veterans salute and line dancing. —Dr. Yvette McDaniel Maven, Bamberg County 803-290-6461 mcdaniely@denmarktech.edu Advisors When the Rural Policy Research Institute made a strategic institutional decision to seek to enhance rural creative placemaking relevance in public policy decision making, it was based on a deeply held theory of change, which framed our partnership with Art of the Rural and interfaced with our emerging conceptual and analytic commitment to a comprehensive rural wealth framework. This, quite simply put, is designed to emphasize that just as families understand that income is only one component of their current and future well-being, the future well-being of a community, region or nation cannot accurately be assessed by only one economic measure, such as gross domestic product. Comprehensive rural wealth is the stock of ALL assets, and rural arts and culture is a critical one of these, which is still insufficiently valued by the public and private sectors.

So, as a public policy shop, we entered this sector seeking sustainable, systemic models that might merit replication across space and circumstance, as public-sector exemplars. Although there are wonderful arts and cultural projects across the rural countryside, and philanthropy is finally deepening its investment in the work of these rural makers, bearers, growers, and the organizations which lift up and support them, most of these great undertakings remain individual successes. I can count on two hands the number of deeply systemic, sustainable and scaling-up regional commitments that have the agency, vision and cross-sectoral, jurisdictional and cultural infrastructure investments essential for lasting social, economic and cultural change.

The Art of Community: Rural SC is one of these. We are humbled and honored to be partnering with these spirt-led colleagues and new friends who are in the midst of building a unique model, which is a classic exemplar of what comprehensive rural cultural wealth is all about, and why it matters so very much, not only in this place, and at this time, but across all of rural America, always. —Charles Fluharty President & CEO, Rural Policy Research Institute 319-384-3816 cfluharty@rupri.org The Art of Community: Rural SC is one of those refreshing initiatives that places the focus on what is good about the rural Lowcountry of South Carolina. This program is the brainchild of the South Carolina Arts Commission. It's an infusion of new energy and vision from its staff who have a passion for the arts and a true appreciation for the talent, heritage and uniqueness of our beloved rural towns.

This program has provided a wonderful vehicle to bring community representatives

together to share ideas, further develop programs and showcase what each community has to offer. I am confident that the six communities that are a part of this initiative will become better and stronger as a result of this effort.

—Dr. Ann Carmichael Dean of the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie Allendale Campus: 803-584-3446 Walterboro Campus: 843-549-6314 ANNCAR@mailbox.sc.edu The Art of Community: Rural SC is a response to the Arts Commission's mandate to help all South Carolina citizens and communities benefit from the arts. We have seen a number of small towns in our state use their unique cultural assets as key resources for revival. But before that can happen, there has to be leadership, teamwork, recognition of assets, a sense of possibility and focus on a goal. In some of our communities with the greatest challenges, The Art of Community is helping to promote and nourish these foundational elements for transformation—and it's working.

—Ken May Executive Director, South Carolina Arts Commission 803-734-8696 kmay@arts.sc.gov We are part of a national movement that views vulnerable youth as resources to be developed—not problems to be solved. Called The South Carolina Rural NextGen network, we bring together diverse high school students and community mentors from Aiken, Allendale, and several other rural sites to participate in a networked, blended learning experience for the next generation of social justice advocates.

Its strategic partnership with the South Carolina Arts Commission's The Art of Community: Rural SC initiative is one of its greatest assets, bringing the young people and the entire social action network together to build relationships and engage in grass-roots advocacy as well as providing opportunities for changing public awareness and contributing to public policy discussions and debate. Most importantly, it provides opportunities for young people in rural South Carolina and beyond to be part of this unique approach to "create a new framework for engagement, learning, and action in rural communities."

SC Rural NextGen, hosted by the University of South Carolina Aiken and directed by Dr. Lillian Reeves of the USCA School of Education, is part of the Ford Foundation's Youth Opportunity and Learning program and a special project of the Middlebury College Bread Loaf Teacher Network.

—Dixie Goswami Director, Middlebury Bread Loaf NextGen Ford Foundation Youth Opportunity and Learning Initiative Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College dixie_goswami@breadnet.middlebury.edu