Last Tuesday, we officially launched The Post and Courier’s new Arts and Culture Lab at a festive evening celebration at The Gibbes Museum of Art in downtown Charleston.
We were excited to see a large turnout that represented supporters of the arts and an array of leaders from cultural organizations and community groups.
This is the newspaper’s third specialized reporting lab. The others focus on education and climate impacts on rising sea levels. All three labs exist through donor support.
Philanthropy plays an important, growing role in supporting the depth and quality of local journalism that we’re committed to pursuing. The Post and Courier created a nonprofit entity, The Public Service and Investigative Fund, to help fuel and grow reporting by the labs, as well as the award-winning work of our investigative team.
Our mission with the new lab is to expand coverage, and visibility, of the creative arts and cultural experiences in our communities – from large venues and historic theaters to smaller settings and festivals – and to report on the organizations and financial structures that support these enriching experiences.
We were able to create the Arts and Culture Lab through support from two founding donors, the Wayne and Alicia Gregory Family Foundation, and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation.
During the launch event, the Gregory foundation revealed a matching grant challenge. The foundation pledged to match up to $100,000 in new donations, dollar for dollar, to double the impact.
If you would like to contribute to the matching campaign, or learn more about the Arts and Culture Lab, you can contact Claire Linney, The Post and Courier’s vice president of development, at clinney@postandcourier.com. You can also find information about the lab here: www.postandcourier.com/arts-culture/.
Here are the key journalists behind our arts and culture coverage:
- Chelsea Grinstead. Chelsea is the lab’s new full-time arts and culture reporter.
- Kalyn Oyer. Kalyn is the editor directing the coverage. She also will write about arts and culture on occasion.
- Lauren Leibman. Lauren is a life and entertainment reporter and will contribute to arts and culture coverage.
- Anna Davis. Anna, a news clerk, is the arts calendar coordinator in charge of a robust new online, statewide listing of events. She will do outreach to ensure organizations know how to get their events listed.
We also will add to our overall content with contributions from freelance journalists.
We appreciate the support that enables us to provide extensive, high-quality coverage of the creative arts and cultural experiences. Together, they enhance the vibrancy of community life and deepen our understanding of one another.