COLUMBIA, S.C. – The board of the South Carolina Arts Commission is pleased to announce the 2007 recipients of the Elizabeth O’Neill Verner Awards, the official Governor’s Awards for the Arts. These annual awards recognize outstanding achievement and contributions to the arts in South Carolina, and are the highest honor the state gives in the arts. The honorees, in their categories, are:
Arts in Education – Annette Francis, Columbia
Arts Organization – The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg, Spartanburg
Government – The Clemson University for the Lillian and Robert Utsey Chamber Music Series, Clemson
Individual – Kimberly Spears, Anderson
Individual Artist – Marlena Smalls, Beaufort
Business – The Palmetto Bank, Laurens
The awards will be presented during a special ceremony in Columbia Wednesday, May 2, followed by an awards luncheon at the Columbia Marriott Hotel. The benefit luncheon is presented by the SC Arts Foundation.
About SCAC
The South Carolina Arts Commission is the state agency charged with creating a thriving arts environment that benefits all South Carolinians, regardless of their location or circumstances. Created by the South Carolina General Assembly in 1967, the Arts Commission focuses on increasing public participation in the arts by providing services, grants and leadership initiatives in three areas: arts education, community arts development and artist development. Headquartered in Columbia, S.C., the Arts Commission is funded by the state of South Carolina and by the federal government through the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.SouthCarolinaArts.com or call (803) 734-8696.
Arts in Education
Annette Francis
A wife, mother, music teacher, chairperson and an advocate for the arts, Annette Francis has guided the PatriArts program for C.C. Pinckney Elementary School at Fort Jackson in Columbia for more than 15 years. Under Francis’ guidance, C.C. Pinckney was one of the first two elementary schools selected to become South Carolina Arts in Basic Curriculum sites in 1989. With her advisory group of teachers, parents, administrators, and local artists, Francis works diligently to secure arts funding and contract artist residencies and performances.
Francis welcomes artists who are able to help C.C. Pinckney students struggling in academic endeavors to “discover their hidden talents and a sense of self-worth.” For these achievements, she was named Richland One School District Teacher of the Year in 1980, and Fort Jackson School District Teacher of the Year in 1991.
She has been an active member of the SC Music Educators Assoc. since 1977, and continues to serve as a supervisory teacher for University of South Carolina practicum students to ensure Pinckney C.C. Elementary’s commitment “to prepare aspiring educators to continue the legacy of excellence the school now enjoys.”
Individual
Kimberly Spears
As the executive director of the Anderson County Arts Center, Kimberly Spears demonstrates her dedication to the arts in numerous ways. For more than 20 years, Spears has utilized her innovative programming and inventive artistic collaborations to advocate the arts. She works to promote arts in education programs in Anderson County, and creates numerous opportunities each year for artists to promote, exhibit and sell their artwork through juried shows, galleries and exhibits.
In addition to ensuring opportunities for area artists, she informs local community leaders and area business people about how the arts impact a community’s economy and enrich the lives of its citizens. Under Spears’ direction, the Arts Center has grown in both membership and size. Continuously voted as one of the top arts leaders in Anderson County, she was presented the “Pointing the Way” Award by the Anderson-Independent newspaper in 2005. She was also the first individual to receive the Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Non-Profit Director of the Year” award. She is currently a member of the Winthrop University Alumni Board, SC Arts Alliance, Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce, and Leadership South Carolina.
Individual Artist
Marlena Smalls
Marlena Smalls works heroically to promote and preserve the spirit, tenacity and music of the Gullah people of the South Carolina sea islands. She continues to transform Gullah descendents once unsure about their heritage into a group of people who are proud of their past and prepared to preserve it. Her passion to preserve and promote this culture has earned her a seat in the SC Black Hall of Fame.
Smalls and the Hallelujah Singers, a group she organized in 1990, perform Gullah songs to entertain and educate the public about the culture. In 1998, the group was named “Ambassadors of Tourism” by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism. They have appeared on the NBC Today Show, ABC Good Morning America, CBS’s This Morning, and numerous other national and international venues.
The annual Gullah Festival in Beaufort, the most prominent and visible celebration of Gullah culture in the nation, was founded by Smalls and four of her friends in 1985. Opening on the same weekend as Spoleto, the festival provides area African Americans a connection to their African pasts, and provides locals and tourists a counterpoint to Spoleto’s more European-centered offerings.
Organization
Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg
The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg strives to make the arts, artists and arts education a major community priority by working to make the arts accessible and affordable to every citizen in the county. In addition to providing leadership, funding and technical assistance, the Arts Partnership’s diverse board and energetic staff empower volunteers, artists, and other cultural organizations to take responsibility for advancing their missions. Since its inception in 1993, the Arts Partnership has led the way to virtually tripling the size and impact of the cultural community of Spartanburg County. Attendance at arts performances, exhibits and festivals, as well as employment opportunities within the local arts community, have grown tremendously.
The organization provides arts programs in 100 percent of Spartanburg County’s schools, and manages the largest local nonprofit arts education program supported by the SC Arts Commission. The organization raised $35.5 million to build its cultural center, and has developed several popular initiatives, including “Impressions,” a half-hour television program on the arts that airs in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia; and The Healing Arts Program, which works to integrate the arts in to local healthcare settings.
Government
The Clemson University for the Lillian and Robert Utsey Chamber Music Series
The Lillian and Robert Utsey Music Series has presented free classical music concerts to the Clemson community for more than 20 years. Since its modest beginnings in 1986, the series has presented 100 concerts and welcomed approximately 50,000 audience members at Clemson University’s Brooks Center for the Performing Arts.
The series actively works to cultivate the next generation of classical music listeners as well. As part of the Eskridge Tri-ART Series, the Brooks Center’s education outreach program, special morning programs designed to introduce the beauty of classical music are presented to K-12 students. Since the opening of the Brooks Center in 1994, the series has presented 26 educational performances for more than 12,000 children.
Donations from more than 700 individuals, families and business have led to a substantial growth of the series’ Chamber Music Endowment. This funding allows the university to present three to six performances each year featuring internationally renowned artists such as piano prodigy Lang Lang and violinist Vadim Gluzman. The group has been nationally recognized and has performances regularly aired on National Public Radio’s Performance Today, which is heard across the nation on more than 200 public radio stations.
Business
The Palmetto Bank
Celebrating 100 years of service in South Carolina, The Palmetto Bank illustrates its commitment to the arts by working to enrich the cultural organizations in all of the communities it serves. In addition to providing monetary support, the bank encourages arts participation with its highly visible corporate art collection of works from more than 30 South Carolina artists. In addition, the bank sponsors several cultural events, provides technical and communications expertise, and encourages its employees at all levels to volunteer their time, energy and talents.
With a quarter of its philanthropic budget allocated to the arts, the bank contributed more than $80,000 to 13 arts programs last year. Most recently, it announced a $250,000 endowment for the Spartanburg Museum of Art’s permanent art collection—increasing the bank’s arts budget allotment for the arts from 25 to 33 percent. Palmetto Bank employees in the Upstate work to promote the arts within their communities by organizing art contests, displaying student art work, and by volunteering their time and expertise at local arts events.
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