Post Your Name, Contact, Comments so We Can Continue This Coversation

The Coalition has regular Meet and Greet meetings for Members where you get a chance to talk one-on-one with people that you met at the Creative Town Hall, share ideas and start a new partnership. Post your comments, your ideas and suggestions or your contact info if you want to be contacted by other attendees. Thank you for participating!

Town Hall Meeting August 25

The Charleston Arts Coalition conducted a survey titled the " Voice of the People" - results of this survey were presented at its Creative Town Hall meeting on August 25.

Some Survey Facts:
What's missing in Charleston arts community:
- public awareness
- creative arts district
- leadership
- networking
- support from business community
- networking
- creative community needs to be seem as professional
- multi-functional facility

277 people took the survey - leading age group 40-49 (28%)

72% of the surveyed people believed that there is a need for a group that unites the creative arts community in Charleston.

Special Guests that attended the Town Hall meeting:

Katie Fox and Jeanette Guinn from the SC Arts Commission
Ellen Dressler Moryl, Director of the Office of Cultural Affairs
Marty Besancon, Cultural Arts Director of the North Charleston Cultural Arts
Mark Sloan, curator at the College of Charleston's Halsey Institute
Karen Chandler, co-founder of Charleston Jazz Initiative and Arts Management Professor at the College of Charleston School of the Arts
Sharon Gracie, Artistic Director and Co-founder of Pure Theater
Kyle Barnette from the Charleston Ballet Theater

Moderator:

John Zinsser of Pacifica Human Communicatrions
Contact: jzinsser@conflictbenefit.com

In the audience:

West Fraser, artist, Helena Fox Fine Art
Lese Corrigan, artist/owner at Corrigan Gallery, president of CFADA
Robert Lange, artist/owner, Robert Lange Fine Art
Tom Starland, publisher, Carolina Arts
Erin Glaze, director, City Gallery at Waterfront Park
Nandini McCauley, marketing coordinator, School of the Arts at CofC
Angela Mack, director, Gibbes Museum of Art
Marla Loftus, Gibbes Museum of Art
Patrick Bryant, Parliament
Jim Braunreuther, arts coordinator, Charleston County Schools
Duda Lucena, musician, Brazilian singer and guitar player
art teachers, performers, designers, artisans, art enthusiasts

If we didn't include your name, feel free to include it in comments.

Tweeting Live from the Creative Town Hall Meeting at Wachovia Auditorium

We are preparing to start our Creative Town Hall meeting at the College of Charleston's Wachovia Auditorium. We are going to share ideas, suggestions and comments live on Twitter as well as post our survey results here on this blog. We welcome your comments on our blog.

The Spaces Between Your Fingers Project

Today, just before closing, a young guy came into my gallery. He looked like an interesting, arty dude, and he started to tell me about his community art project he's launching, called The Spaces Between Your Fingers Project...it's pretty cool. He's traveling across the country, headed west from Philadelphia, to Seattle, down to southern California, back east. He's only been in Charleston for 6 hours and he's driving up to Chapel Hill tonight. His goal is to meet 3,000 creative individuals in 30 days. Very cool. I wish he could stick around to meet all the CAC kids at Town Hall on Tuesday!
Check out his website and see for yourself. Matt is the man behind this, and he's printed up all these cards for people to draw their own hand's outline on, and then fill it with advice to America. The cards are then to be mailed back to him in Philly and there will be a whole exhibition of them. You're supposed to go around and find the hand that fits your own perfectly, and the advice that is contained therein, well, that's for you. He's going to scan them all and put them online, so you can find your own card down the road, if you can't make it to the exhibition. Being a writer, I'm sure Matt will take this project into something even more than just the visual display.
I have 10 of these cards, so if you want one, let me know! email stacyhuggins@live.com
I hope you will check this out, and be inspired, moved, motivated, whatever! It's great to see the work of other Creative people in our country--makes you feel like all the hard work going on in Charleston and beyond really has a purpose and will make a difference.
Keep up the good fight guys & cheers!
Stacy

Nursing Creativity Through the Economic Slump on August 25

The Charleston Arts Coalition in partnership with the College of Charleston’s Tate Center for Entrepreneurship will host a Town Hall meeting titled, “Nursing Creativity Through the Economic Slump,” on August 25, 2009 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wachovia Auditorium at the College of Charleston. The meeting is open to all Charleston creatives that are interested in exchanging ideas and bringing awareness of the importance of creative business for a thriving and prosperous cultural city. The Coalition will also announce the survey results and address the main issues that came up in the survey.

“The Coalition was created to be a voice of the people. Our goal is to host events where this voice can be heard,” says Jessica Solomon Bluestein, president of the Coalition. Meeting attendees are encouraged to share ideas and suggestions; panelists selected from different creative disciplines include Ellen Dressler Moryl, director of the Office of Cultural Affairs; Mark Sloan, curator at the College of Charleston's Halsey Institute; Karen Chandler, co-founder of Charleston Jazz Initiative and Arts Management Professor at the College of Charleston School of the Arts; and Sharon Gracie, artistic director and co-founder of PURE Theatre. The meeting will be facilitated by John W. Zinsser of Pacifica Human Communications.

The Charleston Arts Coalition, a cross-disciplinary coalition of voices aspiring to unite Charleston’s creative community, was established as a vehicle for expression and is evolving into a collaborative effort to promote and enhance Charleston’s rich array of creative disciplines including visual, culinary and performing arts, architecture, design and much more.

The Charleston Arts Coalition provides a forum and virtual gateway for creative individuals, organizations and businesses to collaborate on projects, exchange ideas, host special events and, in general, promote creativity in Charleston through advocacy, outreach, promotion and educational and professional programming.

The College of Charleston's Wachovia Auditorium in the Beatty Center is located at 5 Liberty St., Charleston. For more information about the coalition or to get involved, please visit www.charlestonartscoalition.com. Join our Facebook group to rsvp.

BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival Poster Competition!!

The BB&T Charleston Wine + Food Festival and Charleston Magazine call for entries for the 2010 Poster Comptetion DUE August 28!

Applications available for the 2010 competition at www.charlestonmag.com

The competition is on! Calling all artists to compete for a chance to win $1,000 and the title of Official Poster Artist of the 2010 BB&T Charleston Wine and Food Festival.

The winning poster (to be determined by a panel of judges representing both the local culinary and art communities) will be showcased in a special insert in Charleston magazine's December 2009 Food & Wine issue, and used for official retail merchandise.

Entry into the competition is free and open to all residents of Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties 18 years and older.

Artists' designs should illustrate Charleston's unique culinary culture and exhibit characteristics that would appropriately represent the Festival, while highlighting the 5th year anniversary of the organization. Artists are required to incorporate the signature wine stain (available with the application) into the design.

The deadline for all submissions is August 28, 2009.

For information about the competition, visit Charleston Magazine or email art@charlestonwineandfood.com.

"Measure: Creatures Great + Small" at Robert Lange Studios this September

Charleston-based painter Robert Lange plays with scale by shrinking massive animals and blowing-up mini animals in a series of 25 new works entitled Measure: Creatures Great + Small. On view from September 4 thru September 30, 2009, at Robert Lange Studios, the show is a unique investigation into how the size of an animal effects our interaction with them.

At the modest age of 28, Lange was recently the American Heart Association’s featured artist. He received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is best known for creating bodies of work in a hyper-realist fashion.

In December of 2008, Lange’s acclaimed series Still + Life portrayed still lives with the addition of living elements such as birds and humans. In his upcoming Measure show, Lange is now giving the viewer a unique and whimsical perspective of nature; a tiny lion sits regally on a chair or a huge penguin follows a pedestrian down the sidewalk.

Some humorous, some obvious, and some more subtler but in each painting Lange has illustrated how much animals are missing from our everyday by placing them in common scenarios. For example, in one of the pieces for his September show titled, The Fox + The Pear, Lange has depicted a tiny fox sitting in a bowl next to a pear. The fox is scaled to be the same size as the pear and in a charming way sits as though he isn’t a bit out of place.

“The reason for playing with the comparative size of each animal versus their surroundings is to make people take notice. There is an intrigue that is created and captivates the viewer by skewing the scales,” says Lange. “I can’t help but feel a certain amount of disconnection from animals and nature in general and a desire to bring both into my life and at least make people think about a possible addition to theirs.”

In The Viewer, one of the works from his upcoming show, Lange paints a giant owl being viewed by two people in a museum-type setting. Due to the relative scale of the viewers and creature, the people appear overwhelmed by the twenty-foot owl before them. This piece exhibits not only the artist’s feeling towards how our natural world is now displayed but also his humbled feeling as an artist towards capturing the quintessential essence of the subject.

“I wish through realism to create a seamless feeling that makes people second guess if tiny pandas really exist or what their experience would be like to have a giant chipmunk standing next to them,” says Lange. “It’s import to me that I’m always asking questions of the viewers through my paintings and that my audience looks to find the answers.”

Measure: Creatures Great + Small series will hang at Robert Lange Studios at 151 East Bay St. from Friday, September 4 – Wednesday, September 30, 2009. The opening reception will be Friday, September 4, from 5:30 – 8:30 PM and the artist will attend.

Please visit www.robertlangestudios.com or call for more information 843.805.8052. Digital images are available upon request.

Call For Entries

The Citadel’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences invites emerging and established South Carolina artists to enter an instructional exhibition that will be juried by the cadets of Professor Tiffany Silverman’s art history class. On view in the lobby of the main academic building, Capers Hall, the exhibition will open as part of The Citadel Parents’ Weekend on Friday, October 23rd and run through December 1st. All types of 2-D media and techniques are encouraged, with a subject focus on the people and places of the South Carolina Lowcountry. Selected artists may have additional lecture and publicity opportunities.

To enter, please submit up to 3 JPEG images of 2-D works no larger than 24” x 24“ along with a CV and statement about your artistic influences and creation process to Tiffany Silverman at tiffany.silverman@citadel.edu by September 15, 2009.

CharlestonCulture.com on Caterpillar Art

Check out Caterpillar Art's blog on Word Press, great write up on CharlestonCulture.com. Thank you to Tara for the CAC/CharlestonCulture love!

Spread the word about CharlestonCulture.com to your friends, colleagues, clients, visitors to Charleston...everyone! And if you haven't created your profile, do so immediately! It's free, easy to use, open to ALL disciplines of art, and the calendar allows you to post all your events for the public to see--'Say, what's going on today in Charleston?' Hmmm, one site that tells you all the arts events happening across town...give them the answer.

Want to get the word out about your art? Have great turnouts for your events? Make more money in this stressed economic time? Create your totally FREE profile and post all your events on CharlestonCulture.com! You can link your profile back to your website, add images, bio and contact info. If you're in the arts, of any kind, interested in the arts, or just looking for something arty to do in Charleston, CharlestonCulture.com is for you!
What are you waiting for?

OUTSIDE the BOX workshop, Sept. 11-12

a carol mcgill workshop

OUTSIDE the BOX, two
september 11th & 12th
ISLE OF PALMS, SC

A FUN workshop, anyone can participate:
beginner to old pro. come enjoy!

paint OUTSIDE the BOX
and around and upside down!

you will create one oversized painting in acrylic
Learn painting concepts of VALUE SCALE and RHYTHM
Create your own color palette from housepaints
Expand study of a theme to form your composition

Thursday & Friday 9:30 - 2:30
get acquainted session Thursday evening at the artist's home

$250 plus canvas and minimal supplies
checks received by August 11th early bird discount: $200

For more info, contact Carol @
CM1Spirit@comcast.net
www.CarolMcGill.com

Charleston Creative Co-Op Available

Two Great Upcoming Benefit Events- Check them OUT!

FUNDRAISER FOR ELLA WATSON
On July 23rd, there will be a fund-raiser for artist, Ella Watson, a young artist needing a liver transplant to survive at the Lowcountry Artists Gallery. The fundraiser, music, libations, and a raffle, will include a silent auction of Ella's art work and local artists' work. Portions of the proceeds will be going to Ella's Awesomeness Fund which is a grant for artists with medical conditions (you can read more at ellasliver.com ).

MARGOKAUFMAN GALLERY.COM PRESENTS:
Contemporary Women, a benefit for the Center for Women
On Wednesday, July 22 Margo Kaufman Gallery will be turning the space at 438 King St into an art gallery and hosting a fundraiser for the CFW. The show will highlight new works by Charleston's most talented female artists: Sharon Lacey, McLean Stythe, Helen Rice, Sally King Benedict, Kaminer Haislip, Zelda Grant, and Maria Costa. Refreshments will be served and the artists will be present. This is a one night only event. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the art will be donated to benefit the CFW's job counseling program. $10 donation at the door.
Wednesday, July 22 | 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
438 King Street, Downtown Charleston

We Need YOUR Feedback

Dear Friends,

If possible, please answer the following question by tommorrow at
5PM. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!

Based upon a recent study of the NEA, audience attendance for arts events is rapidly decreasing. Have you found this to be true at your events? If so, when did it begin or can you offer any specific statistics or other thoughts to be shared with the Post and Courier?

The Post and Courier is running an article analyzing participation in the various arts groups in Charleston. In light of a recent study conducted by the National Endowment for the Arts, which states that turn out of arts events is rapidly decreasing, they hope to compare the city to national trends and see if the occurrences have any correlation to the economy or if there is something else driving arts participation.

2009 Palette and Palate Stroll Taking Place on July 17, 2009

The Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association’s Fourth Annual Palette and Palate Stroll is one of the most anticipated visual art and fine food events in the South. This year’s event will take place on Friday, July 17, 2009. Fine art and food connoisseurs will stroll through the historic streets of downtown Charleston, sampling tastings from thirteen of the finest local restaurants in the beautiful setting of thirteen prestigious galleries. The Palette and Palate Stroll starts at 5:30pm and ends at 7:30pm.

The 2009 pairings are: Ann Long Fine Art & Oak; Carolina Galleries & Circa 1886; Charleston Renaissance Gallery & High Cotton; Corrigan Gallery & Cypress, John Carroll Doyle Art Gallery & 82 Queen; Ella Walton Richardson Fine Art & Social; Helena Fox Fine Art & Carolina’s; Horton Hayes Fine Art & Shine; Martin Gallery & Fat Hen and Wild Olive; Robert Lange Studios & FIG; Smith-Killian Fine Art & McCrady’s; The Sylvan Gallery & Halls Chophouse and Wells Gallery & Charleston Grill.

The event is presented as part of the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association’s Studio Series, benefiting its visual arts scholarship fund. Money from the scholarship fund has been awarded to organizations such as Redux, the Gibbes Museum of Art and the College of Charleston School of the Arts. The 2009 event is sponsored by Charleston Magazine. Cost is $30 per person and tickets are limited. Reservations are required. Tickets can be purchased by calling 843-819-8006 or on-line at www.cfada.com.

Founded in 1999, the Charleston Fine Art Dealers’ Association consists of the city’s prominent galleries working together to promote Charleston as a fine art destination for passionate art enthusiasts, avid collectors and talented artists. Since 2004, CFADA has donated more than $140,000 to local public high schools and scholarships for future artists.

Check out the Charleston Arts Coalition at the Charleston Civic Design Center's Civic Action exhibition! Opening reception June 25, 2009 from 5:30-8 pm. Come see what the Coalition is doing to improve life in Charleston and learn about other local grassroots groups who are working hard to make this the best place to live and work. Get involved!

Civic Action Exhibit Opening on June 25, 2009 at Charleston Civic Design Center

OPENING:
June 25th, 5:30-8:00pm

EXHIBITION:
June 26th -August 7th, weekdays
9:00-5:00pm

Where:
Charleston Civic Design Center
85 Calhoun Street

ADMISSION:
Free

The Civic Action Exhibition is a showcase of local grassroots organizations and the work they are doing to improve Charleston. For the exhibition the Charleston Civic Design Center gathered a variety of different organizations to demonstrate how the work of each of the organizations contributes to a larger action that is
changing our city for the better.

The exhibition was centered around a simple question put to each or the organizations. “What is the most promising opportunity to improve our community, and what action will your organization take to make a difference.”

We hope that you will join us June 25th for the opening, when each organization will answer this question two ways. Starting at 6:30pm each organization will give a short five minute speech addressing the question, and they will also all reveal the showcase pieces they designed which will be displayed in the CCDC’s gallery space for the remainder of the exhibition.

Exhibition Features:
Architecture for Humanity
Charleston Holy City Bike Co-op
Charleston Arts Coalition
Louie’s Kids
Charleston Horticultural Society
Lowcountry Earth Force
Charleston Miracle League
Pecha Kucha Charleston
Charleston Moves
Pour it Now
Fields to Families

CharlestonCulture.com Launch Party Video

If you couldn't make it to the party, check out the video here:

CharlestonCulture.com Launch Party from Anthony Spencer on Vimeo.

thank you!

Thank you to everyone who attended the CharlestonCulture.com Launch Party last night at Robert Lange Studios--it was amazing! Thanks again to Shine for the food & swinging after party, British Wine Merchant for the wine and DJ Icebread for the fabulous soundtrack. And especially a huge thank you to all who came! What an incredible arts community we have in YOU.

Please visit CharlestonCulture.com and create your free profile, add your events to our calendar and check out all the arts events of all types happening right here in Charleston!

LILA celebration on May 15th

Friends -

Please come on May 15th 6-8PM to our special celebration of "To Kiss a Biting
Spider" - The Burke High School literary magazine made possible through
Lila's Poets In the Schools Program.

Silent auction featuring signed books by LILA Advisory Board Members,
Tickets to The Colbert Report, gift basket donated by Jonathan Green etc.

Warm wishes,
Marjory

Marjory Wentworth, SC Poet Laureate
843/693-5191 (cell),843/849-12849 (FAX)
www.governor.sc.gov/about/wentworth
www.lilaconnects.com

CharlestonCulture.com is Here!

Join us Thursday, May 14, 2009 6 - 8 pm
Robert Lange Studios {151 East Bay St} 843.805.8052

Food by Shine, Wine from British Wine Merchant, Entertainment by DJ Icebread & door prizes from Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston Nut Company, Beaded Venus, Country Bumpkin and more!

AFTER PARTY at Shine!
58 Line Street, at the corner of King and Line
Drink specials on their very popular sparkling sake-Don't miss it!

A Charleston Arts Coalition Project
Supported in part by the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau