after weeks of phone and email tag here it is

Contact: Jonathan Brilliant or Megan Lange questions@peoplesartcenter.com (843) 805-8052

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The People’s Art Center of Charleston Roundtable Discussion Scheduled for July 1
The Charleston Arts Coalition “Creative Spaces: Developing a unified Center for the Arts ”


CHARLESTON, South Carolina (June 10, 2008)—Open discussion to be held on July 1 at 7:00p.m, Creative Spaces: Developing a unified Center for the Arts, to follow up the Creative Spaces panel discussion hosted at Redux Contemporary Art Center on April 24, 2008. All interested parties are invited to join the newly created Charleston Arts Coalition from 6:30 – 8:00 PM at Theater 99 on July 1, 2008.

The format for the follow-up meeting on Tuesday will be more of a roundtable discussion and continuation of the conversation that began in April. The panel will consist of at least Chris Price, of PrimeSouth Group, LLC, urban planner Tripp Muldrow, of Arnett Muldrow & Associates, Jonathan Brilliant local artist and staff member of the Gibbes, and Fred Delk of Columbia Development Corp., with Buff Ross, serving as moderator. The panel is comprised of individuals that have worked on collaborative projects similar to the vision of The Peoples Arts Center. The goal is to create a roadmap of what action needs to be taken based on successful examples of Arts center development in other cities in the Southeast.

The panel discussion at Redux in April was a rare moment for Charleston artists, musicians, performers, writers, and patrons to discuss the rapidly diminishing real estate available to the arts in Charleston. Panel members and the more than 100 people in attendance discussed this issue.

From this panel discussion, the Charleston Arts Coalition was formed. It is a group of artists, arts professionals and members of the community who have joined together to work towards creating an all inclusive unified center for the arts, encompassing visual, performance, music and literary art. Their goal is to find and modify real estate through out the city of Charleston, to house production, presentation and education space for the creative arts. The ultimate project goal is the creation of the people’s Art Center.

The purpose of the first panel discussion held at Redux was to open a dialogue about the lack of art space in Charleston. The focus of the follow-up on July 1 will be on how to effectively begin to solve this problem and foster collaborations between the arts and the real estate development community.

The arts are a vital part of Charleston, benefiting the economy, tourism, real estate and the general cultural capitol of the city. The arts in Charleston must be advanced through the development of a space that could provide the living artists of Charleston with support and a venue to interact effectively with the public. This would foster collaboration among artistic disciplines enhancing each other and the community through exciting cultural events throughout the year.

Visitors planning on attending the event on July 1 are encouraged to draft questions and email them to questions@peoplesartcenter.com ahead of time as there will only be minimal time to answer questions the night of the event. Theatre 99 has graciously offered their space to host the discussion in a format that will accommodate a large audience comfortably. Theatre 99 is located at 280 Meeting Street, downtown Charleston, South Carolina, above the Bicycle Shoppe, with an entrance to the upstairs at the rear of the building. (843) 853-6687

Visit www.peoplesartcenter.com for more information about the roundtable discussion and to see some of the ideas being discussed.
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