Narrator>> Brought to you in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission, and by viewers like you.

Thank you.

♪ opening music ♪ ♪ >> Good evening, I'm David Platts, the Executive Director of the South Carolina Arts Commission, which promotes equitable access to the arts and supports the cultivation of creativity in South Carolina.

It is an honor for me to join you and our gracious hostess, South Carolina First Lady Peggy McMaster, at the historic Governor's Mansion for the 2022 South Carolina Arts Awards.

As co-hosts of this ceremony, we will celebrate the Palmetto State's special and unique arts and culture.

There are many wonderful reasons to live in South Carolina.

We have been blessed with the beauty of nature from the mountains to the sea, with a rich history and heritage, and most importantly, with delightful and amazing people.

Past and present - South Carolina's citizens have made and continue to make our state a remarkable place.

Mrs. McMaster and I are eager to introduce you to several notable artists, advocates, or groups and recognize their contributions and achievements.

Each is unique, with their own talents, dedication, and accomplishments.

They are united by three important features: their appreciation of creativity, their devotion to our culture, traditions, and quality of life and perhaps most importantly - their state of residence, their status as South Carolinians.

Our recognition, and celebration of them is really a celebration of us all, and of this place that we so proudly call home.

David Platts>> The challenging circumstances of the past two years did not diminish the recipients' excellence or their contributions.

In fact, if anything, given physical separation and isolation, their accomplishments are more impressive for how they navigated so much uncertainty.

With separation remaining a factor for many of us, the unifying contributions of the arts, artists, and makers is an important harmony for us to celebrate.

During this ceremony, we have the honor of recognizing, commending, and thanking the artists and advocates receiving this year's Governor's Awards for the Arts and the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards.

David Platts>> Now I welcome someone who is familiar to all South Carolinians: South Carolina First Lady Peggy McMaster.

She is a great supporter and advocate for the arts and has a few words of greeting for you.

Mrs. McMaster, thank you for inviting all of us into this beautiful setting - a place which, like the arts, belongs to all South Carolinians.

Mrs. McMaster>> Hello, David!

It is my pleasure to have you and all our viewers joining us here at the Governor's Mansion.

The arts play an important role in people's lives and their communities across South Carolina.

We are glad to recognize and honor the achievements of seven remarkable recipients.

All of them are exceptional parts of our state's cultural life.

David Platts>> This year's awards ceremony is the result of a new partnership with SCETV, the state's public educational broadcast network of 11 TV stations and 8 radio stations.

SCETV's mission is to enrich lives by educating children, informing, and connecting citizens, celebrating our culture and environment as we're doing here, and instilling the joy of learning.

As has become our custom, the awards rely on the talents of several South Carolina filmmakers artists in and of themselves to help us document and showcase our awards recipients.

The films and filmmakers, the images and words they captured do more to convey the soul and spirit and impact of our recipients than anything that could be read to you from a script.

We hope you will enjoy these short films, to be shown after some special introductions.

And who knows?

There might even be some personal surprises for our recipients.

>> The Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards are presented in partnership with McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina.

Introducing the 2022 recipients is museum Executive Director Jane Przybysz.

♪ Jane Przybysz>> The traditional arts embody forms of creativity that are rooted in a people's culture and history.

One generation of artists passes them down to the next.

McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina and the South Carolina Arts Commission are partners in preserving and nurturing these art forms.

The Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards are one way we do that.

They are the state's highest award for practitioners and advocates of traditional arts.

We are happy to recognize three South Carolinians dedicated to preserving and presenting our state's longstanding and unique artistic and cultural traditions.

A fascination with pottery from a young age has taken Justin Guy around the world and back to his Edgefield County roots.

He focused on ceramics at the University of South Carolina, graduated and accepted an artist residency at Taiwan's Tainan National University for the Fine Arts.

There he learned Asian ceramic production practices as they relate to the continent's tea cultures.

Stops across the U.S. and in Europe refined his knowledge and skills.

He returned to South Carolina to impart his expertise in higher education settings and museum and school residencies.

The Palmetto Hands Fine Craft Competition and Exhibition and the South Carolina State Fair have honored his works.

Now, after 30 years of honing his skills as a ceramic artist, Justin lives and works in Edgefield, where he continues the centuries-old tradition of producing alkaline-glazed stoneware.

Saddler Taylor>> Well, Justin, congratulations.

I was very excited to hear that you are going to be receiving the 2022 Jean Lenny Harris Folk Heritage Award in the Artists category, I can't think of anybody more deserving, and frankly, this is a long time coming, in my opinion, but very excited when I heard the news, and just a very, very deserving accolade for somebody that I've respected for many years, and I've appreciated your work, and the way that you approach your work, something that struck me early on when I met you, gosh, I guess it's been 15 years ago, I might be off a year or two, but it's been a while, and I just - it always struck me, not only the attention to detail that you paid to the piece of pottery you might be working on at any given time, but the passion you have for exploring the history of Edgefield pottery, and making sure folks that come into the shop, whether it's the actual pottery shop, they're on Simpkins Street, or on the square in Edgefield.

You have such a passion for telling people the story of Edgefield pottery and how deeply rooted it is and how connected it is to community, and that really struck me, the first time I met you that you really had a passion for not only the pottery itself, but what the pottery stands for, and you are truly a master potter in all sense of the word and your attention to detail and your attention to the roots of the tradition and where it comes from, and the fact that you really have.

You get a lot of enjoyment out of sharing that with other people, whether it's physically teaching the art of pottery, or talking about the history of Edgefield, and the pottery tradition in Edgefield.

So, very fitting tribute to somebody who has dedicated a large part of your life to not only actual pottery, but the history of that Edgefield district.

So congratulations, my friend.

♪ Justin Guy>> Every potter wants a little bit of immortality, I think.

Every time you make a pot, you have a chance to make something that has the chance to last for a very, very long time.

You're never really selling someone a cup or a pitcher.

You're selling them connection to a human being.

I grew up learning about this amazing guy named Dave.

Dave the slave as he was sometimes called David Drake after Emancipation, exceedingly well educated at a time when it was illegal to have an education for an enslaved black man.

He was bold enough to take that education and put it on the sides of his pottery, which, of course, gave him immortality, in a sense, Puts words on there that described his state of mind.

It would have all been for naught if he didn't have the guts to put it on the side of his pots.

I heard stories when I was young about these potteries.

Eventually, I found my way through the woods and down the road to where the Miles Mill Pottery was, finding little pieces of pottery at first but they eventually found the mother lode, I guess you'd say, which is just a mountain of pottery.

So I used to love to come down here and pick out things that had fingers or just numbers or letters.

You could look for all weekend and find a couple of interesting things.

Things like this, which is exactly where someone over 100 years ago, grabbed the bottom of this pot and dipped it in glaze, and they left a little piece of themselves behind.

There's a story there.

I love it.

Pottery, of course, lasts for a very long time.

So, it was one of the first things you find, but it's also a benchmark for how far people have come.

Their ability to manipulate their world and make their lives easier and more beautiful, is truly human.

♪ If you put clay into the fire, and it doesn't go away, you get stronger.

It is essentially a form of alchemy.

You're taking the flesh of the earth and making it permanent, and that's magic.

It's an object of beauty, that's still usable, and you make a very good piece of pottery and then you decorate it with something that makes sense to you.

♪ Everybody gets to pick how hard this job is, but you have to learn from someone who learned from someone else.

This whole trade here is useless if you don't pass it on.

It's my tradition.

It's where I grew up.

It's what I grew up in.

It's what makes sense to me.

and it's what I intend to carry on to hopefully somebody else.

Somebody who's just as crazy as I am that would want to do these things, you know.

♪ Jane Przybysz>> Artist category recipient of the Folk Heritage Award, Justin Guy, Congratulations to you, Justin!

South Carolina women have contributed to their communities artistically, culturally, and socially through the making of quilts for centuries.

Though Alabama born, Ann Phillips of Sumter has for 40 years participated in this South Carolina tradition.

As a child under her mother's quilt frame, she threaded needles and learned to make a secure knot.

Only after her husband's military job took them to Sumter did she take up quilting to make the new house they'd built a home.

She elevates the artistry of quilt making, re-imagining traditional quilt block patterns to great visual effect.

She will change the set of a block, put it on point, frame it with multiple borders or use non-traditional fabrics and colors with the same historical pattern.

Ann is a staple at trunk shows and presentations, and her quilts frequently grace the South Carolina State Fair and Sumter area community initiatives.

For several years, she made some 50 quilts a year for nursing home residents at the Dorn VA Medical Center in Columbia.

>> Ms. Ann Phillips has been a friend and mentor for 17 years and has taught me more about color in quilts, how to see color and how to make it pop.

Ann will always use 75 pieces of fabric different, different pieces of fabrics in a quilt.

She does, Ann does very traditional quilts.

The way she does them is to add pops of color, her words.

Ann is always talking about, "Let's add a pop of red.

Let's add "a pop of orange," Something unexpected for the eye to see.

Ann tends to look at very traditional designs in very unique ways.

Being able to see a quilt through Ann's eyes, has taught me to not be afraid to experiment Ann is absolutely fearless when it comes to quilting.

Ann will try anything, take a look at it.

There may be large portions of something done and she'll look at it and say, "No, that isn't doing it."

"Tear it all apart and start again."

♪ One of the things about Ann, that I have really enjoyed is the ability to engage people in her quilts.

It is almost impossible to look at an Ann Phillips quilt, glance at it and walk away.

When you see an Ann Philips quilt, you're immediately drawn in.

There's something about the process that Ann uses that pulls you into the quilt.

The ability to translate designs that everyone has seen for 150 years in a new light is what Ann brings to her quilts.

The fact that this has been recognized by the Arts Commission is absolutely wonderful.

I'm very, very proud of you, Ann.

Thank you so much for sharing your life and your quilts with me.

♪ There is something captivating about quilting.

>> My earliest memories, were my mama quilting, and she did it all by hand.

piece and everything, although she had a sewing machine, quilting was a necessity.

Women would make quilts that recorded the history of what was happening then, these quilts were used daily, and it reminded the children of their history so that they did not forget that.

I absorbed all of that, and I absorbed the styles that were really prevalent at that time, which was mostly things that, patterns that had been used forever.

My mama always told me if you undertake to do anything, put the best that you have in you put it into what you're doing.

I learned about how to really see what you're looking at.

That's hard to understand, but a lot of people see it and they don't absorb or they don't think what it's about.

They don't look what's going on.

Putting geometrical pieces together, for a quilt is exactly like a jigsaw puzzle.

It all has to fit together perfectly.

Whatever we do to one piece of fabric that goes into the quilt, and there can be many, many pieces that go into a quilt.

They all have to be treated in the same way.

My mother taught me to hand quilt.

She'd been dead 20 years, and I simply closed my eyes till I could see her every movement that she made.

I did exactly what she did, and it worked, and I made beautiful perfect stitches.

The relationship between covers and how they work together, I learned a great deal and it affected my quilting and everything.

You know, really a quilter is affected by everything they have seen in nature, people they have known.

Places they have been and everything they've been involved with, and so it's really difficult to say this one person or one thing had so much effect on us because all of that comes together, and it makes us not only into the people we are, but in the work that we do in any artistic way.

I don't think that made me into a perfectionist.

I think it was just born in me.

I don't expect it of anybody else.

I just expect it of me, and so I hope that women will always quilt.

Certainly, they're not as necessary now as when I grew up, but when you need to really feel loved, and you need to feel protected, wrap into a handmade quilt.

It'll give it to you.

Jane Przybysz>> Congratulations to Ann Phillips, also a Folk Heritage Award recipient in the Artist category.

The gift of a knife to an elementary-aged Duncan Rutherfurd sparked a life-long interest in the great outdoors, and dedication to raising awareness of South Carolina's knife making traditions.

Though he is not a maker himself, today's knifemakers recognize that custom knifemaking has been revived and now thrives in South Carolina because of Duncan's influence.

In the 1970s, while exhibiting a vast personal collection of South Carolina knives for which he is known, Duncan conceived of what became the South Carolina Association of Knifemakers.

This network supported knifemakers learning the craft from each other, and finding a market for their wares, primarily through knife shows during the pre-internet 1980s and 90s.

Early on, the association made him an honorary member to recognize his vast contributions to their community.

When internet usage exploded, Duncan used his IT background to mentor association members on using it to connect with knifemakers and knife enthusiasts the world over.

With his advocacy efforts, Duncan bridges the older generation of South Carolina knifemakers to a new one.

>> Duncan has been there from the beginning, and Duncan is a very professional type person where whenever he gets ready to do something, you know, he goes all in he wants it done right, and so, by doing that he has helped people like me, and supported people like me and other makers, where if we were at a show, and he could look and tell if we had sold anything, or by talking with us whether or not we had sold anything, and you know, he may buy something off your table, or he may offer a little bit of critique, you know about your work and say, hey, you need to do this a little differently, and I'm here today to congratulate you on being awarded the South Carolina State Folk Heritage Award.

It's a very prestigious award, and I think that you are very worthy of it and I just wanted to congratulate you for all the hard work that you've done for SCAK, all the hard work that you've done for knife collecting, and knife making in South Carolina, as well as around the world.

♪ Duncan>> A hand built knife is more special, every single one of them is different, even made by the same man.

I still own the knife that I bought with money that I earned when I was five years old, when I was working on a ranch in Colorado.

I wore it on my hip when I was riding, because you never knew when you had something you needed to cut.

You start with a bar of steel, and a chunk of some kind of handle material and some pins, and you cut it out, grind it, have it heat treated, and then as Michelangelo said, "remove everything that isn't a knife."

I've been asked before, "Why don't you build knives and I can market them and appreciate them and buy them and now sell them, but I didn't have the skill level to build them.

It's an art like doing a painting or forging, doing sculpture, and Mr. Herron was one of the best in the whole country and trained probably 40 or 50 knife makers across the southeast, on how to build knives.

- and Gene George Herron's knives in the gun store that I eventually bought the first one from, it was $125 bucks, and it took me six weeks to make up my mind to spend that much money.

What if I lost it, you know?

Then three months later, I went to his house, and bought three more knives off his coffee table, and ever since then I bought them when I could, and I started buying other non-Herron knives in 1979 at a gun and knife show that I ran in Aiken, South Carolina, and at one point we were the fifth or sixth largest knife show in the country, because all the big knife shows that there are now, hadn't been invented yet.

SCAK was a South Carolina Association of knife makers formed at my gun and knife show in 1980, with George Herron is the first president we had 10 Knife makers, one scrimshaw person, and myself, and eventually it bloomed into 52 people who made knives in South Carolina.

The first 10 guys, were on the cover of blade magazine, the only handmade knife maker group ever to be on the cover in the last 45 years.

I'm hoping that in the future that the younger guys will see the craft and look at and analyze the knives made by previous knifemakers and strive to keep it going in South Carolina.

I'd like to be remembered as somebody who tried to encourage knifemakers and not just for one kind of knife but for making all kinds of knives.

There's a guy who helped work with George.

He built 1000 knives and then quit.

Why, he said?

Because he couldn't build a perfect knife, and he wanted to.

♪ Jane Przybysz>> Congratulations to Duncan Rutherfurd, this year's Folk Heritage Award recipient in the advocacy category.

On behalf of traditional arts practitioners and advocates across South Carolina, thank you to Justin, Ann, and Duncan for their contributions.

Mrs. McMaster>> Ladies and gentlemen, the 2022 recipients of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Awards.

And now, let's return to the Mansion grounds to meet this year's recipients of the South Carolina Governor's Awards for the Arts.

♪ David Platts>> For half a century - beginning in 1972 South Carolina has presented the Governor's Awards for the Arts.

They honor individuals, organizations, businesses, and public agencies for artistic achievement, partnership, and promotion.

These recipients have not only enriched our state's cultural scene, but through their efforts and accomplishments have expanded the visibility of, and accessibility to, the arts, for all our citizens.

Now, we are pleased to add four more names to a distinguished list of recipients, individuals and organizations, whose achievements and contributions to South Carolina's arts and cultural community have immeasurably benefited and enriched our quality of life in the Palmetto State.

Through their creativity, innovation, leadership, and unwavering support for the arts, each is clearly deserving of these awards.

David Platts>> A formally trained visual artist from Columbia, it is Darion McCloud's artistry as an actor, director, storyteller, educator, arts activist, and children's literature advocate that garners him this year's Governor's Award.

Once Darion discovered theatre, he remained on stage: storytelling, acting, and teaching to share his talents, gifts, and passion with audiences for more than 20 years.

He enjoys crafting experiences for old and young, the initiated and the un-initiated in venues ranging from classrooms to corporate settings, from libraries to theatres, and even around campfires.

Darion is the founder and creative director of NiA Theatre Company and Story Squad, a Riley Institute Diversity Fellow, and was the recipient of The Jasper Project's Theatre Artist of the Year Award for 2019.

He has established numerous statewide partnerships in higher education, the humanities, and the arts, embodying his life's commitment to what he calls “the transforming power of art.” >> Congratulations Darion on this award.

You so deserve it, and I am so proud and excited for you.

I have been lucky enough to know for many years, how wonderful and incredible and talented you are, and now the whole state and hopefully the nation knows how just lucky we are to have you in our community.

You are just really something special, and I knew that from the very first time that we met.

So I don't know if you remember, I was working in my library in the Upstate and you came as a storyteller, and you were just unlike any person I'd ever met before, and you were definitely the coolest person in the room.

Everybody wanted to be your best friend, and I think the thing is, like everybody felt like you were their best friend from the oldest to the smallest.

They felt that way about you, and I felt really lucky to connect with you there and get to talk to you about your work at Trust Us and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, and you know little did I know that we would become colleagues at the library and then later we would become creative partners in this wonderful journey that's been the NiA Company, and I'm just really, really grateful that you took a chance on me all that time ago and allowed me to put together the programs for Top Dog underdog.

I did such a good job that you let me be stage manager next time for, Glass Menagerie.

So, I Trust Us was such an incredible cast, and I feel like I've gotten to know all these wonderful people because of you, because that's what you do is you connect people and make people feel included and make them feel like they're part of this wonderful community that kind of, you're the fulcrum that everything kind of turns around, and people need that and want that and you provide that you deeply love people, and they know that about you.

And you just have this way of making sure that everyone is included.

Everyone is fed, and everyone has fun.

And yes, you're a great actor, and yes, you're a great director, and you're an incredible storyteller, but most of all, you're a great human being.

So,...I am so very, very proud to be your friend to get to create with you all this time.

How lucky am I?

And I really look forward to our years moving forward, creating together.

Congratulations.

I can't think of anyone that deserves this award more.

♪ Darion McCloud>> When I first discovered I was a storyteller, it was because I realized that already been around other storytellers.

I was always watching movies and dissecting them in my head and reading books, and, you know, or you're reading plays, I'd read plays for fun, before I ever stepped on stage.

When I realized I was a storyteller.

I realized that I had already been doing it, and the people around me had been doing it.

I like a good play.

I love a great play.

I love a play that when I'm watching it, I feel jealous because I'm not in it.

Aww man, I love that.

I'm a "curious person" for the most part.

Nobody's into everything, But for the most part, I'm a curious person.

I can find inspiration like love music, people, just real, just watching people.

Just the complexities of people just doing their thing.

It'll make me think about something or make me draw a line or something else, and this award is not just about your artistic excellence, your merit as an artist, to me it's also about what you do with that.

You know?

Who you do it with?

Who do you do it for?

I really get inspired by people who are truly themselves.

I love that courage, because I think it takes courage to be yourself.

I think so many of us, we walk through life, considering other things, other people, other things, all this, you know, like, and you see these people who can't help but be themselves, and I just think it's cool.

So, of course I'm really excited about creating with my NiA family.

We are officially the NiA Theatre Company, but we're affectionately known as a media company.

We do, storytelling events for families.

We do movie nights.

We do lessons, you know.

We have a big educational arm.

We do all kinds of stuff, but mainly we're known for doing theater for Bessie and Freddy, for the bird and for Mikayla, for both of the Reggie's, for Heather, for Loretta, for Thorn, for Boogy for Jim, for Mr. Mason for Ms Johnson, for all of y'all man out there.

I love all of you, man.

I can't fit you in 10 seconds, but this one's for us y'all.

Peace.

♪ David Platts>> Congratulations to Darion McCloud, the Governor's Award for the Arts recipient in the Artist category.

Founded as a non-profit in 2012, One Columbia for Arts and Culture in the span of a single decade, has earned distinction as the city's cultural affairs office, and its achievements are recognized with a Governor's Award.

The organization's mission to “advise, amplify and advocate for strengthening and unifying the cultural community of Columbia” is exemplified by its many accomplishments: organizing projects related to tactical urbanism, creative place making, and enhancing public space throughout the city.

In 2014 they enabled Columbia's public art program, resulting in more than 60 new public artworks and an online directory of public art.

The following year, One Columbia facilitated the process for South Carolina's capital city to name its first poet laureate.

More recently, the organization originated Columbia's comprehensive plan for the arts while successfully driving the adoption of a vibrant, modern flag, representative of the contemporary nature of the city and its diverse population.

>> So Colin went to One Columbia in 2015.

One of the goals was to do a Chalk Art Festival and it helped with the envision of that by partnering with me to create that festival.

The vision was to bring out families and community and also artists, as well as try to create more murals in the city and by having temporary art as chalk art, on the walls and on the grounds that will allow the city to see how color can make the city bring more vibrancy to the city as well as more color and life.

So, that started in 2015.

We did it for five years, and during that timeframe, there were more murals that came about.

As you see now, in the city that we have a ton of murals popping up, in all different locations, and that was a major goal for us as artists, and for One Columbia, as well, through an amplified program that it created, through reaching out to different people in the community, telling artists that "Hey, you can come to One Columbia and try to get your goal, and your vision, at least get your story, heard, that you have a support system, through organization that'll kind of help but not tell you what to do, point you in the right direction on what to do, as far as your career.

When it comes to amplify, amplify the goal for that was to bring diversity, to bring inclusive and inclusiveness to the community so that everybody understands where and how to grow, where to get grants, and also how to build a career here in the city.

You know, Columbia, is known for a college town, but we're trying to bring it and make it to where that people see the talent and the art that are - that is located here in town.

I think One Columbia House helped non-artists, you know, now that you see more murals, and more art when you're going out to the restaurants, when you go into work, you know, its not so much of a "Oh, that's different."

When you get to see it every day and more of it, it becomes a natural way of life.

You and understand that it's other, other entities and things going on, outside of sports, outside of the working nine to five.

that we have a thriving, creative scene when it comes to art, music, film, photography, whatever your art interest is, it is here in Columbia.

♪ Lee Snelgrove>> One Columbia was created as a standalone organization designed really to amplify the arts community advise and advocate for the arts organizations.

Ultimately, it's developed into a lot of different ways, all rooted in that idea of showcasing the arts community.

So, the work we've done in public art is really just about creating a physical message that tells about the deeper story of Columbia's arts community.

(gong rings) I started with the organization in July of 2013.

I am the first full time director.

I think because we're a small organization with limited resources, we weren't able to give people a lot of money, or a lot of physical resources.

So, if we can just be a connector for information, or we can be, you know, there on the ground, helping load in any opportunity we can take like creating the office of poet laureate, or doing the one or two series has been really just to bring more attention to the artists that are working here.

(woman singing in background) We also serve as this bridge to city government and our role, there is a lot of advising city government showcasing how they are a real driver of arts and culture, and so we've done some advocacy work, working directly with council to build a full comprehensive cultural plan.

They can serve as the sort of bones of how the arts community will develop over time.

Terrance Henderson>> I was a part of the community before we had One Columbia.

I remember how difficult it was, as an artist when you were trying to reach the community, when you're trying to connect, when you're trying to find support or to find an audience.

It's really important and crucial if the arts are going to thrive in a community that there's some kind of network, that's accessible by everyone.

>> In the last several years, it's become a more specific focus, really devoted to like cultural equity.

We took on a space in North Columbia's community specifically to showcase how arts and culture could work directly with neighborhoods, you know, build relationships, build networks within neighborhoods, so that the folks in those neighborhoods had a place that they could experience culture that is near them.

Michaela Pilar Brown>> I think the move to this community further illustrates their commitment to being in community and of community and practicing what they preach.

I think it establishes and grows relationships in this community in ways that other organizations have not been able to.

It's a real honor to receive the Governor's Award.

It's also really exciting that in this year, we're part of a really great cohort of awardees.

You know, this is the year and it's exciting that we're able to showcase the decade of work that One Columbia's been able to do?

David Platts>> Congratulations to One Columbia for Arts and Culture, the recipient in the Governor's Arts Award category for organization, Arts in Education category recipient Carrie Ann Power has been a South Carolina arts educator and advocate for more than 30 years.

She is credited with transforming East Aiken School of the Arts during her time there, adding full-time dance and theatre programs as well as developing and implementing the after-school arts program.

Going further, she secured donations to fund scholarships providing equitable access to those programs.

At the same time, she coordinated the Curriculum Leadership Institute in the Arts, enhancing standards-based arts lesson plans for teachers and students.

Carrie Ann took her wealth of knowledge to serve statewide as the education associate for visual and performing arts at the South Carolina Department of Education.

While there, she oversaw the development and revisions of K-12 Design Standards for visual and performing arts.

She has been active on notable state arts and arts education boards and, in her Aiken community, has continued to support programs bringing professional artists into schools.

Scot Hockman>> Hi, Carrie, we are so proud of your being the recipient of the governor's awards for the arts, your dedication and love of the arts have made so many opportunities possible for teachers and their students.

At the East Aiken School of the Arts, I visited you there and saw the spectacular program that you had created, and the addition of the strings programs, and also with the naming of the school as the School of the Arts.

When you were the elementary division coordinator for the South Carolina Art Education Association, you did an excellent job in your leadership in helping elementary teachers understand their potential with those students.

The division meetings that you created were informative, and teachers left with incredible materials to implement in their classroom.

Your work at the South Carolina Department of Education was amazing.

As you grew and sustained programs across the state, you facilitated and organized the writing of the 2017 proficiency standards, which were the first proficiency standards in the Visual Performing Arts, and then you add it with your vision, the design standards, which were the first in the nation process standards.

So your work for us, in South Carolina has made a big difference in the lives of teachers and their students and others, and we congratulate you, and we wish you the best as you continue with your grace and love of the arts to inspire others.

♪ Carrie Ann Power>> Teaching and working with children, they give you way more than you give them.

I've always loved the arts.

I've come from a long line of fine craftsmen and women in my family.

Getting into some of the other careers, there just wasn't the right fit, and art education ended up being the right fit for me.

When I first came to East Aiken, I was so excited to have my own art room for the first time.

I remember the children all working, and they were so into what they were doing, and I would sit up on one of the tables, so I could see all the kids through the classroom, and they were all just so quiet, and I remember thinking to myself, I'm getting paid to do this.

Arts education really allows for children to thrive and be able to draw from all of their experiences and to apply their learning in a creative way.

You don't ever build anything in isolation.

I mean, it takes a group of people that are committed and all believe in arts education and what it can do for a child.

I'm most proud of being a part of the team that got to see East Aiken become East Aiken School of the Arts and an arts magnet school and just being a part of the dedicated administrators and teachers that saw that come to fruition, and I'm also so very proud of being able to work with arts educators across the state to revise, what is now the new, South Carolina Visual and Performing Arts standards.

Looking back on my career as I go forward into retirement, I'm taking with me of course, the memories of all the work that I've been able to be a part of with artists in residence and honing in on what my own art form is and my own creative energy.

♪ Until the arts become part of a child's well rounded education, and is fully funded, there's always going to be a lot of work to do.

David Platts>> Arts in Education category Governor's Award recipient, Carrie Ann Power.

Congratulations, Carrie Ann!

Finally, Individual Category recipient Ed Madden is a poet, activist, and a professor of English, with a focus on Irish literature, at the University of South Carolina.

His areas of specialization include Irish culture; British and Irish poetry; LGBTQ literature, sexuality studies and history of sexuality; as well as creative writing and poetry.

Since 2015, Ed has served as the City of Columbia's poet laureate, the first individual to serve in that post.

In 2019, he was named a Poet Laureate Fellow of the Academy of American Poets and a Visiting Artist Fellow at the Instituto Sacatar in Bahia, Brazil.

Ed has twice been named a South Carolina Academy of Authors Fellow in poetry and was the South Carolina Arts Commission Prose Fellow in 2011.

He has served as a writer-in-residence across the state, and has four publishing credits, one of which won the 2016 Robin Becker Chapbook Prize.

>> Ed, I just want to say how proud I am of you, and how, what a joy it is to celebrate this with you, You're so much, you mean so much to me, and you mean so much to our community.

This is one of those things that we all just get to share in.

You have a generosity of talent, and spirit that is unique in that it has survived, not only survived, and it's flourished.

...I'm just incredibly happy for you and incredibly...proud of you.

For this, and for so many things that you have done and that you will continue to do.

You are an amazing friend to me and an amazing friend to the community.

Ed, you are uniquely gifted at helping people find the poet within themselves.

This is something that you could have kept in your back pocket, but instead you take it out and you fly this flag of, of finding art and finding beauty in everyone's lives and finding - allowing all of us to be poets, maybe not world class poets, maybe not a poet as great as you, but we all have something inside of us, and you have this unique ability to find it and nurture it and give us the, give us the bravery, give us the guts to put it out there and share it with each other.

You are more than a friend to me, and I think you know that.

You have been my confidant and my advisor over the past almost 15 years now.

There are very few things that I have done in the arts community that I didn't go to you first with, either to get advice, or insider information, or usually, to rope you into being involved in it with me and I don't know that you've ever said no.

I thank...you for that.

I'm just joyful that I get to celebrate this with you and that we all get to celebrate this with you.

You deserve this.

You are a worthy, worthy winner.

I love you, and we all love you ♪ Ed Madden>> I grew up on a farm in Northeast Arkansas.

My dad was a rice and soybean farmer.

My dad farmed with his brothers.

Almost all of my first cousins lived within the area.

We all went to the same church to chase my sense of community, like how... we can care for one another and also the ways in which we exclude or shine or stigmatize one another.

My second book, Prodigal , is about growing up gay, misusing the image of the prodigal son.

My third book, Nest , is about making a home and about making a life with Bert, and then my fourth book is entirely about going home to help care for my dad, how to lift him.

Don't pick him up by the armpits, which seems easiest.

You risk broken bones, bruised skin.

Instead, once he's eased up, sits shoulders hunched, feet slung over the edge, lean down for the hug, your arms under his and around, hands flat against his back, his arms around you.

This is what you do.

It was a difficult time, but in some ways, as he's dying, it was a healing time too.

I know this sounds hokey, but sometimes poetry feels like a spiritual practice, and the ways in which it forces me to think about those things, like connection to a community, my connection to the past or to the future.

When I was named poet laureate for the city, I really wanted to use this position to do things.

An honor isn't a stopping point.

It's a starting point, I had already been a community activist for over a decade in the gay and lesbian community.

That's how I wanted to do that kind of work, but from the position of poet laureate, this was my chance to shape the role, shape, what it can do, and use the role to get people's voices out.

When we put poems on the sidewalks with the rain proof paint.

So when it rains, all of a sudden, these poems are appearing on the sidewalks, you know, I could have done like other cities do and use traditional poetry, canonical poetry, but I have got fifth graders and spoken word poets, just a range of voices.

This is a city that's proud of its public arts, but literary arts should be part of that.

Put poems in daily spaces.

I love that you pick up your coffee, and there's a little poem on this side by Bugsy Calhoun about what the flood did to his house, or a little poem by Jennifer Martell about a turtle in the river.

All these ways in which you know, it stops you and you pause, and on the one hand, I think it creates a moment for reflection, but also it creates a moment for human connection, like you're thinking about who is this person, and what did they see, I finish my term as the city laureate, at the end of this year, I don't want to stop.

I know I'll no longer be the city's laureate, but I want to keep doing these kinds of projects.

Just because I'm stepping down from the position, doesn't mean I'm stopping doing the work, I guess is what I would say.

David Platts>> Congratulations to this year's Governor's award recipient in the individual category, Ed Madden!

♪ ceremonial music ♪ David Platts>> Mrs. McMaster, thank you for helping me introduce this impressive group of artists and advocates from all across our state, and thank you for your hospitality in hosting us as we celebrate the amazing achievements of our fellow South Carolinians.

Mrs. McMaster>> You're welcome, David, and thank you all for joining us to celebrate.

It was an honor to host this wonderful ceremony.

>> Congratulations to each of our recipients.

Thank you for all you do to make South Carolina culturally rich and unique and for your many contributions to the arts, creativity, and traditions that serve our communities and state so well.

We hope that you enjoyed the documentaries and surprise testimonials, and that this ceremony shows you our appreciation for all you have accomplished.

Artist Paul Klee observed, “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible.” This year's awards recipients do just that.

They make our cultural diversity and richness visible for all South Carolinians and those fortunate enough to visit.

Our state is all the better for it, and to our audience, we appreciate you joining us for this special event.

Governor and Mrs. McMaster, the South Carolina Arts Commission, and University of South Carolina McKissick Museum are already anticipating another great year of artistic achievement and cultural connection in South Carolina.

We look forward to honoring another exceptional group of artists and arts supporters next spring.

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