BWW Blog: Spotlight on the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina

Growing up in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, I was lucky to have a professional theatre like the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina in my backyard. There, I watched my mom perform in many musicals, and soon enough I started getting hired to be in those musicals myself. To gain theatrical experience at the professional level, work my first EMC contracts, gain such wonderful friends, and not to mention, learn so much all in the comfort of my hometown was a blessing. With this platform, it is only fair that I give back to the theatre that raised me, while they endure the setbacks from this pandemic. So, I took to interviewing the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina's Vice President of Marketing Andrea Gannon, who imparted to me knowledge of the Arts Center's future, goals, and how to lend them a helping hand.

Alright! To begin, could you tell us about the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina's mission as a nonprofit theatre?

Our mission statement is "To enrich and benefit the community through the arts." And that really is far-reaching; not only do we offer a wide variety of professional theater productions as well as presenting artists, we have multi-disciplined education and outreach programs in place to reach all ages. We strive to serve all the residents of the community and region, as well as our tourist population.

I know the Arts Center offers many programs that support arts education for the youth in our community; could you elaborate a bit on those programs and the impacts on the kids who attend?

Pre-Covid, our education programs were held both on-site at the Arts Center and in the schools across the Lowcountry region, spanning five counties. Our Educational Field Trips have provided performances and activities to more than 4,000 students each year. Based on what schooling ends up looking like this coming year, we will adapt and find innovative ways to get our invaluable programs to these students. As soon as our Lowcountry children went into homeschool-mode back in March, the Arts Center was quick to implement our Cyber School of Art, which offered video lessons that integrated art with other curricula, like math, science, and history. The lessons were taught by our Senior Director of Education Alana Adams who has done a stellar job at staying creative during this challenging time. The lessons are still free and accessible on our Arts Center of Coastal Carolina YouTube channel.

For almost twenty years, the Arts Center has partnered with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education program. In addition to arts education training for teachers, one of the ways that collaboration translates is in our VSA Program. The VSA (Very Special Arts), the international organization on arts and disability, was founded by Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith to provide arts and education opportunities for people with disabilities and make the arts accessible to all. The Kennedy Center award allows the Arts Center to provide hands-on arts experiences for the special needs students of our county. As a mom of a child with autism, I feel an extraordinary pride about this program we offer. We get to witness the impact this has on participants as they discover their abilities through art. Art truly changes lives, and especially in this instance, offers a wonderful form of self-expression and confidence building.

I think we must acknowledge the importance of encouraging equity, diversity, and inclusion within the theatre. Does the Arts Center have any plans for addressing issues of diversity and developing a more inclusive environment not only within the productions on stage, but behind the scenes as well?

This issue is very important to us. Even though the pandemic has been a challenging time for theaters everywhere, I think it has provided this industry as a whole, the Arts Center included, with the chance to reflect on theatre's role as a cultural leader both onstage and off. Our CEO/President Jeffrey Reeves is galvanizing a team within the Arts Center staff specifically to address Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. We were part of the two-day virtual forum with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition that focused on how to manifest an anti-racist theatrical landscape. And the learning won't end there, of course. It's an ongoing process and we are passionate about committing to these efforts long-term. The Arts Center has always been very involved in the native islander and Gullah community, and will continue to be. But we can do more, and that is our goal. We have multiple programs in the works to expand our efforts toward equity, both within our season and in the organization as a whole, and we look forward to announcing those as they are fine-tuned.

COVID-19 interrupted the seasons of most regional theatres in the country. How did you all at the Arts Center go about handling the COVID-19 pandemic? How did COVID-19 impact the theatre?

Like all regional theatres around the country, the pandemic was and continues to be difficult. We had to cancel a March performance of Charlotte Ballet, and related in-school services and a field trip for students with those artists; we also cancelled our largest fundraiser of the year, our spring production of Kinky Boots, and our summer show Footloose. So essentially half of our calendar. In their place, we have offered virtual opportunities including our entire summer camp lineup for youth, and those have been really well received. The camps have included both performing arts and visual arts, and the comments back from the young people and their parents have been completely joyful, making us so thrilled we can still reach, teach and do ... even though we're not in the same shared space.

We also didn't want to leave our adult theater-lovers without an at-home creative outlet, so we began a Virtual Play Club (VPC) for ages sixteen and up. Basically, VPC is like an online book club for plays, but instead of just reading the story on their own, participants are assigned a role and get to be a part of the play in a virtual reading on Zoom led by our Resident Assistant Director Whitaker Gannon. We have a mix of professional actors and enthusiastic audience members who come together to read and discuss art, which is quite wonderful during this strange time of isolation. The current play they are diving into now is Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris with more plays on the way.

I would love to know what the future looks like for the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina. Do you plan to move forward with the upcoming season? What plans, if any, do you have for preventative measures for hopefully re-opening in the near future?

We do have plans to move forward with a four-show season (unlike our typical five productions each year), and we have a few presenting artists lined up as well including Terminus Modern Ballet Company, and other artists from comedy to rock. We are excited about some streaming opportunities, and when we are allowed by the SC Governor to reopen to the public, we are looking toward a hybrid of live - with reduced capacity audiences - and streamed shows. With Jeffrey Reeves at the helm, we are remaining nimble, making this our mantra as we navigate forward.

Speaking of the future: what is the Arts Center's upcoming season? Has it been able to be finalized in light of the pandemic?

I'm glad to say, we can offer a sneak peek of a few show titles we are working on producing for the 20-21 25th Anniversary Season. We still plan to open with the Tony Award-winning Kinky Boots. Other shows in the works include Noises Off, Rock of Ages, and an audience fave for our 25th year, Mamma Mia!

While we work on the shows - budgeting, securing creative teams, and more - we are simultaneously researching ways to optimize a safe environment for our audiences. We have been consulting with experts, conducting airflow studies to determine the best method to ensure the complete filtration of air in the theater via UV Light Systems and Air Bi-Polar Ionization systems. In addition, we will be cleaning after all performances with CDC approved and EPA registered industrial-strength disinfectants. We're also exploring ULF Disinfecting Fogging Applications. We're evaluating all current CDC, DHEC and OSHA guidelines as we gear up to welcome back our audiences in the new season.

For those in the Lowcountry who are missing their nights at the theatre this summer, how can they donate to help the Arts Center through this difficult time?

To bridge this gap, we have established the Campaign for Continued Excellence to help mitigate losses in ticket revenue and contributed income from cancelled and postponed productions and events. Last year, more than 62,000 people attended the Arts Center's programs generating a total economic impact of over $13 million, so we are important to the area, not just artistically but economically as well. We have had a good response to the campaign, but do need everyone's help as much as possible. Donations, of any size, can be made online HERE. The support is so very appreciated.

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