Advocates talk about ‘art for art’s sake’ as they lobby state lawmakers

Arts advocates from across the state are meeting this week to discuss plans to speak with the Legislature about increasing funding for the arts. 

South Carolina Arts Day happens each year as part of Art Advocacy Week. It typically includes performances at the Statehouse, which were canceled this year due to rain, and meetings with South Carolina legislators.  Jeff Robinson, executive director of the nonprofit group SC Art Alliance, added a summit this year the day before Thursday’s Statehouse visit. 

“The intention here is to bring a bunch of people together,” Robinson said Wednesday. “Let them hear from the speakers. Get inspired before they head over to speak with legislators tomorrow.”

The overall goal of the SC Art Advocacy Week is raising awareness of the importance of art, Robinson said, along with contacting with legislators. 

“A portion of what we’re doing here today is connecting advocates with legislators,” Robinson said. “We want legislators to think of people when they think of the arts. So when they’re looking at requests for more arts funding, they think about the community behind it.”

The Arts Alliance also has ways for people to engage in advocacy week from home,  if they can’t make the in-person events.

“Our members get daily newsletters that have prompts for action and resources they can engage with,” Robinson said. “We build a social media toolkit so people can have pre-made captions and graphics to use.”

The summit featured a number of guest speakers. David Platts, executive director of the South Carolina Arts Commission, spoke on the commission’s recent accomplishments.

“We talked specifically about the grants that we were able to make, how successful we felt like we were this year in grant making,” Platts said of his speech. “We talked about our new creative career studio – just a lot of things that we have been growing.”

Robin Berlinsky, chief executive officer of the Charleston-based nonprofit Engaging Creative Minds, also spoke, stressing the importance of advocacy. 

“The advocacy piece is such a connector,” Berlinsky said. “There are people here from all over the state, which is a good way to show that we don’t compete, we complete, that we support each other and all celebrate each other.”

Robinson’s passion for the arts comes from understanding the value that they have. 

“It’s art for art’s sake, right?” Robinson said. “The arts provide solutions to problems. They bring people together. They collaborate – do all these things for the community. But, also, they’re not an optional part of life. They are crucial to who we are as humans.”

The Art Alliance website and social media pages also post graphics on the $14.1 billion economic impact the creative sector has on South Carolina’s economy. That includes more than 123,000 jobs and more than $360 million in tax revenue. 

Robinson also gave some advice on how people can be better advocates. 

“First of all, know who your elected officials are, and don’t be afraid to engage with them,” Robinson said. “You shouldn’t only talk to elected officials when you want something. You should, especially if you are an arts advocate, invite them to participate in what is going on in your community. So, that’s just a really good way to build an ongoing relationship with sources of information.”