While technically the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art is part of the College of Charleston, it plays a significant role in Charleston’s vibrant art scene. Mark Sloan has overseen more than 100 exhibitions (plus an annual Young Contemporaries exhibit that features a curated collection of work by CofC students) during his 20-year stint as Chief Curator and Director.
Mark, we’ll began our conversation with the organization’s mission and how that relates to making the arts an important part of life (and livability) in Charleston.
The mission was developed over several months, so I really need to share it in its entirety:
The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston School of the Arts provides a multidisciplinary laboratory for the production, presentation, interpretation, and dissemination of ideas by innovative visual artists from around the world. As a non-collecting museum, we create meaningful interactions between adventurous artists and diverse communities within a context that emphasizes the historical, social, and cultural importance of the art of our time.
Whew! I know that sounds like a lofty set of goals, but it does establish how we, the School, the College, and our Advisory Board, see the Halsey in the ecology of Charleston’s primary art institutions – including the Gibbes Museum of Art, City Gallery at Waterfront Park, and Redux Studios. We’ve established a distinct niche for our academic museum, hosting emerging, overlooked, and often under-represented artists. Every exhibition includes a range of events and educational opportunities – most free and open to the public – including film and video, publications, lectures, and artists-in-schools.
We try to emphasize the footprint of the College within the city, especially given that the Halsey is really many people’s portal into the entire institution, both literally – with our windows on one of the busiest blocks on Calhoun Street – and, figuratively – since one does not typically march into a biology class on campus. Not only do we function for Charlestonians in this way, but we are also a unique arts destination for visitors to Charleston, offering distinct, often challenging, work from unexpected sources.
Mark, I’ve known you to be very generous with your expertise and guidance to other area arts organizations, and you’ve been a willing participant in collaborative efforts. Along those lines, what would you do if you were “Mayor?”
At the Halsey we have found that students, patrons, and staff all benefit from being unafraid to ask the “big questions,” and this has meant that we have been able to show unusual, challenging, and often experimental work. We need to cultivate Charleston artists that are empowered to explore their own passions and questions in precisely this kind of work; and foster their efforts so they can also flourish and find success in Charleston and elsewhere. Establishing an infrastructure of best practices, including resources such as legal and accounting advice, can help guide artists’ careers so they might be unburdened by some of these realities.
We can meet our cultural aspirations if we are willing to collaborate effectively, eliminate redundancies, and encourage efforts that provide a mutual benefit between our institutions, organizations, artists, students, and Charleston residents. The arts can be a plan for life, inspiring individuals and cities with the knowledge that the future will require significant reservoirs of creativity and innovation to ensure our continued success.
Ever consider how culture can shape a neighborhood or give it identity through community-based arts? Our second interview, in a series featuring some of Charleston’s civic-minded organizations, is with Kate Nevin, Founder of Enough Pie, a non-profit working to do just that (some examples of their work can be seen on our Projects page). A year ago we did not know Kate well but we did share a view from neighboring offices on Upper King Street. Rumor had it that she had loads of ideas, so we reached out and soon discovered an ally and booster of our IYWM concept.
Tell us about Enough Pie’s mission and how that segues with the question of livability in Charleston? Our mission is to build and support a sense of community in Charleston’s Upper Peninsula using a tool set developed as part of the creative placemaking movement in use around the world. EP’s initiatives promote art and cultural activities as a central part of an inclusive and inspiring community. We are a relatively new organization and our earliest efforts in this area focused on developing a homegrown sense of the possibilities in this community – a placesaving strategy where everyone could feel that they had a part to play.
In the intervening two years we’ve been cultivating an arts and cultural framework for this neighborhood, using creative placemaking to catalyze ideas and make things happen. We’ve also found that partnerships – public/private, business/resident, citizen/artist – allow us to leverage more effectively the area’s creative energy into projects that are community-oriented and collectively transformational. These have included pop-ups, art installations, and creative collaborations with a broad range of organizations, such as Meeting Street Academy, Charleston Promise Neighborhood, Historic Charleston Foundation, and many local arts groups. All of these have been free and open to the public.
Our community feels empowered through these efforts to make our neighborhood better. We believe that we can retain the value of its accessibility, affordability, and diversity, and, simultaneously, welcome more like-minded businesses, organizations, and residents. We must continually foster the belief that there is truly “enough pie” for everyone when we think creatively, act deliberately, and practice inclusivity.
And, what if you were Mayor? I would choose an artist as one of my lead advisors. No political science, urban planning or policy experience needed. As to qualifications, I would look for a working artist with an impressive portfolio of community-minded, socially-progressive artwork and installations. Artists have an incredible way of opening us up to different possibilities and alternative ways of seeing. Ultimately artists provide us with better tools for connecting with each other. I would call this position Chief of Community Connectivity. The COCC’s main responsibility would be to take the hairy, messy, complicated issues that vex our City and use the language and perspective of art to find creative and executable solutions.
If you would like to be part of how a community’s sense of place can be enhanced through art and culture, then check out Enough Pie by starting with the projects EP has shared with If You Were Mayor.