Sumter Accessibility 2009

Despite the cutback in funding for the arts, curator Frank McCauley has put together an impressive exhibition for the 11th annual Sumter Accessibility art installation. The artists will all have their works on Main Street this year, returning the event after a couple of years centered inside and on the grounds of the Sumter County Gallery of Art. Frank said he hopes this will make the exhibition truly more accessible to everyone.
One of the great things about Accessibility is the opportunity to meet and see the work of artists from all over the world. Their ideas and techniques always seem to have a different slant, usually very innovative and intriguing.
Frank said he received hundreds of responses to his call for entries, and he has selected artists from Canada, Israel, Argentina, Taiwan, New York, California. Huge installations representing landscapes, videos, film, graffiti art and more are in store for those of us who attend the Friday, Oct. 16 opening.
In recent years, Accessibility curators have included local artists, returning the exhibition to its roots when Peggy Chilcutt and Martha Greenway recruited several local female artists to create installations using grocery carts -- it was called Eve a la Cart. That was a big success, and Peggy and Martha followed it with male artists, also using grocery carts. From that modest start, Sumter Accessibility has grown to an internationally recognized and respected art happening.
This year, local artists Terrance McDow and Jamie Caplinger will have their works exhibited downtown in the McDuffie Furniture building. Also at that site, Accessibility will offer a chance to see the work of local high school students, an opportunity not often afforded to those who don't have children or grandchildren studying art in their schools.
Frank said he first saw Accessibility several years ago, when the opening night theme was Night of 100 Marilyns. A Summerville native, he was working on his undergraduate degree in fine arts at Winthrop University. The music, local women dressed as Marilyn Monroe and other entertainment inspired him to bring back more of that element, he said.
So during the opening, from 6-9 p.m., Sumter Cruisers will present a classic car display on Main Street, and the beach and variety music band Second Nature will play. At 7:30 p.m. Sapphire Moon Dance Company will present a unique performance.
Artistic Director Angela Gallo, who also teaches dance at Coker College in Hartsville, describes the company’s focus as being on “human relationships and socio-political issues on successes, failures, and strength – on falling, getting up and persistence.”
Sapphire Moon combines dance with theater by merging text, music, props, videos or other media and installations, so their performance will fit in nicely with McCauley's film and video focus. The company’s mission is to present dance theater works that inspire thought and use dance to take the audience out of their daily routines.
Frank said Canadian artist Jarod Charzewski is expected to arrive in Sumter this Friday, Oct. 9, to begin work on his huge installation at 12 S.Main St. People visiting the downtown area can drop in to see him work and ask questions about his technique and philosophy of his art. Graffiti artist Blu, from Bologna, Italy, will also be working next week, but his arrival date is not set yet.
Sumter Accessibility 2009 looks to be most intriguing. Visit Main Street between the hours and 6 and 9 p.m. on Oct. 16 to see art by some of the world's most creative and cutting edge artists.

Let's keep our arts healthy

In 1978, I left pottery class early to attend a concert at what was then the Sumter High School auditorium and is now Patriot Hall. On stage that night was the great Dizzy Gillespie with his band -- and his daughter (what ever happened to her?).

The entire concert was phenomenal, especially "A Night in Tunisia," which Gillespie had written in the '40s. He changed jazz with that tune, melding African and Latin beats. And he had already pioneered the bebop genre with musicians like Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk.

That night 30 years ago was truly a seminal performance -- and it was here in Sumter.

I was spellbound, as was the rest of the audience. A night with Gillespie (a S.C. native, by the way) stands out among my memories of outstanding performances sponsored by the Sumter-Shaw Community Concert Association.

Reading my New Yorker magazine last night, I noted that Freddy Cole -- who's performed twice in Sumter to rave reviews and enthusiastic audiences -- is playing one of New York's hot venues this week.

Gillespie and Cole are just two of the memorable artists among hundreds the SSCCA has brought to Sumter in the past more than 60 years. We've seen Shirley Jones, Burl Ives, Lily Pons (!), Rise Stevens, Arthur Fiedler, George Shearing, Count Basie, Anna Maria Alberghetti, ensembles from every branch of the military -- the list goes on.

The Sumter-Shaw Community Concert Association has just started its membership campaign for the 2009-2010 season. They've got a great schedule with 8 concerts lined up, and let's face it, with the demise of the Sumter Fine Arts Association a few years ago, the SSCCA is the only entity that brings us a full season of outstanding entertainment -- and culture.

It's the arts that are getting blasted hardest by the economy, considered by many to be nonessential. Libraries and community theaters are suffering, too. SSCCA has survived because its board works hard to remain within its budget. With grant money cut, the members have still managed a full season -- all for us, to enhance our quality of life.

It's not a problem unique to Sumter. The Miami Herald editors recently addressed the situation like this:

As communities struggle to keep going, culture is getting kicked to the curb, last on lists of nonessential items like parks, libraries, and humanity for the homeless. ... There were conservative howls when $50 million in arts funding was salvaged in the $787 billion federal stimulus package (for Florida), presumably because the jobs of musicians or dancers or actors are just frivolous time-wasters and not worth saving. Perhaps politicians think artists should go work at a foreclosure call center at one of the banks that shoveled adjustable rate mortgages down our throats.

Meanwhile, corporate arts funding has fallen victim to belt-tightening and shareholder rage over any expense that doesn't boost the bottom line. Corporate giving is one of the very few ways that companies give back to their community, albeit motivated primarily by the marketing boost of having their logo on the program. Such contributions might not have an immediate effect on the company's profitability. But they do help make those communities better places to live, which ultimately benefits everybody.

Let's hope Sumter's businesses and corporations continue to be faithful to the SSCCA. And let's buy memberships, too. Call Betsy Ridgeway (803) 469-2114 or Bob Rearden (803) 469-0508to find out more.