Podcasts about chapman cultural center

Did you know Fred Armisen was in Greenville filming — you can get a sneak peek of it April 19th in Spartanburg! I spoke to the Director and writer Chris White - about his experience. If you want tickets to the event at the Chapman Cultural Center, Friday night head to the Tryon international film festival website and my bio. Tickets are only $25 and there's a whole evening of shorts being presented along with the sneak peek of the Armisen flick. Watch/listen as Chris shares his hopes for the Upstate film industry. #electricjesus #danielson #comeandsaveme #fredarmisen #scfilm --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amywood/message

In this week's episode, we talk with Dan Mayer, president of the Chapman Cultural Center. The Chapman Center is a fantastic facility that does amazing things to support the arts in Spartanburg.CCC website:https://www.chapmanculturalcenter.org/home/#gospartanburg#ChapmanCulturalCenter#SpartanburgSC#arts#DanMayerWe would love it if you would leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. Our website is www.gospartanburg.us.Follow our Facebook page and join our group for more info about new episodes.https://www.facebook.com/gospartanburgpodWe would love to hear from you. Email us at gospartanburg@gmail.com.#Spartanburg#South Carolina#upstatesc

Davelyn Athena Hill, Executive Director of Speaking Down Barriers Shares About the Organization's Work.Speaking Down Barriers started as poetry and conversation in November 2013. A group of mostly Black spoken word poets began to talk about race and racism in ways that implicated white supremacy. These conversations were centered around spoken word poetry which uses poetic devices with a first-person narrative and took place in the chapel of a majority white church in Spartanburg, SC. The conversations grew in diversity and in topic. Speaking Down Barriers' mission is equity for all and have two strategic imperatives; end oppression and value everyone. The organization holds these two imperatives in tandem believing that none of us are free until all of us are free and that everyone has inherent dignity and value that is not based on works.Humanity Chats - a conversation about everyday issues that impact humans. Join us. Together, we can go far. Thank you for listening. Share with a friend. We are humans. From all around the world. One kind only. And that is humankind. Your friend, Marjy Marj

AMPLIFYING BLACK VOICES - FREDERICK D. REEVES AKA SON OF ICE, IS EMPOWERING YOUTH THROUGH SONG AND DANCE!Humanity Chats - a conversation about everyday issues that impact humans. Join us. Together, we can go far. Thank you for listening. Share with a friend. We are humans. From all around the world. One kind only. And that is humankind. Your friend, Marjy Marj

Victor Durrah, Executive Director of Brothers Restoring Urban Hope Shares About the Organization's Community Impact. Brothers Restoring Urban Hope was recently awarded a Chapman Cultural Center Community Grant to create an educational S.T.E.M.-themed mural throughout the newly updated B.R.U.H. community center in Cowpens. The new S.T.E.M. mural will be painted in a way that identifies specific heavenly bodies and their position relative to the earth and sun.About VictorA native of Cowpens, Victor Durrah, Jr. is a non-profit leader and has been recognized on numerous occasions for his community work.Victor earned an Associates Degree from Spartanburg Methodist College and a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Non-Profit Administration and Management from the University of South Carolina Upstate. He has worked in the non-profit sector for more than 15 years focusing on youth development.Victor started his career with the Palmetto Council Boy Scouts of America, serving as the Director of Multi-Cultural Markets. He is the current Executive Director and Co-Founder of Brothers Restoring Urban Hope, Inc.(BRUH Mentor) -- a non-profit organization that focuses on group mentoring for young men and women.  A recipient of several awards, Victor has been recognized as a graduate of the Grassroots Leadership Program, Black History Maker of the Upstate (2012), BSA PDL1, PDL2, PDL3 certified employee, and received the Mary L. Thomas Award for Civic Leadership and Community Change. He has also received the Talented Tenth Award from the Urban League for his work in African American Communities and has been recognized as a top young professional in the non- profit field by the Chamber of Commerce for 3 consecutive years.A current board member for Habitat for Humanity, he serves as the A.I.M (Athletes In Ministry) youth advisor for Born Anew Church located in Spartanburg. His past community service includes his tenure as Community Services Chairman for the Gaffney Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.Victor is currently pursuing a  Masters in Public Administration at Clemson University. About Chapman Cultural CenterChapman Cultural Center provides major funding and support for many of Spartanburg's arts and cultural organizations. The organization's programs serve more than 40,000 public and private school students throughout Spartanburg County, with residencies by professional artists in the disciplines of music, dance, visual arts, literature, media, theatre, and crafts. We are excited to partner with Chapman Cultural Center to amplify Black artists and organizations who have been impacted by the Agency's Community Grants program! Humanity Chats - a conversation about everyday issues that impact humans. Join us. Together, we can go far. Thank you for listening. Share with a friend. We are humans. From all around the world. One kind only. And that is humankind. Your friend, Marjy Marj

Moses has worked with NFL Players like Odell Beckham Jr.  and toured all around the United Staes.We are so excited to partner with Chapman Cultural Center to amplify Black artists and organizations who have been impacted by the Agency's Community Grants program!  Our guest for this episode is Moses "Galaxy" Jenkins.About MosesMoses " Galaxy " Jenkins is an outgoing and energetic choreographer/dancer based in Spartanburg, SC who is trained in a variety of social dances including hip-hop, street dancing, animation, and pop-lock. He is an activist who has become a huge part of the Spartanburg community by participating in Dancing with the Spartanburg Stars, an event that raises money for cancer patients/survivors, and several rallies that promote anti-bullying. Moses has the creative ability to express different genres through movement that expresses ideas and stories. With a passion to be a choreographer who gains a widespread success through creating some of the most original, versatile, and hot hip-hop dances. Moses plans to create a different meaning to the word dance. He is also a creative director, short filmmaker, actor, published photographer, music artist, and producer, Activist, among other things. Learn more about Moses' work here.About Chapman Cultural CenterChapman Cultural Center provides major funding and support for many of Spartanburg's arts and cultural organizations. The organization's programs serve more than 40,000 public and private school students throughout Spartanburg County, with residencies by professional artists in the disciplines of music, dance, visual arts, literature, media, theatre, and crafts. Humanity ChatsCurated by Marjy Marj, Humanity Chats is a conversation about everyday issues that impact humans.Humanity Chats - a conversation about everyday issues that impact humans. Join us. Together, we can go far. Thank you for listening. Share with a friend. We are humans. From all around the world. One kind only. And that is humankind. Your friend, Marjy Marj

We have a great episode for you as we spotlight Americana/Rock band "Barleycove" who's sound echoes that of Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac. We're also thrilled to have on David Orosio of The Chapman Cultural Center which is an amazing venue showcasing a wide range of arts, music, and events!!Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ummpod )

Jennifer Evins talks about family, role models, career and receiving South Carolina's highest honor for arts and cultural leadership. 

We talk to Jennifer Evins, CEO of the Chapman Cultural Center. She is in charge of the Chapman Cultural Center located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Listen to how one woman has been able to make an impact on her community.

Jennifer Evins leads Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg County's local arts agency. We discuss what sets the Upstate's arts scene apart.

Pedestrians in Downtown Spartanburg will soon have a safer, more visible walk across some key intersections thanks to some planned for the intersections of Main St. and King St., Main St. and Spring St., and Main St. and Magnolia St. Each installation is being designed and painted by a different local artist or artist team with Michael Webster painting Main St. and King St., Matthew Donaldson painting Main St. and Spring St., and Frankie Page and Adrian Meadows painting Main St. and Magnolia St. The artists were chosen by a panel from the Spartanburg Downtown Cultural District Steering Committee made up of businesses, residents, arts leaders, city officials and Chamber of Commerce representatives.    Today on the podcast, we're talking with Eric Kocher, Creative Placemaking and HUB-BUB Director at Chapman Cultural Center, about the murals. We also talk with outgoing HUB-BUB Artist-in-Residence Ambrin Ling about her time in Spartanburg and her collaborative art project, . This project features small paintings that are part of a single series portraying the many, diverse visions of home as contributed by individual citizens in our area. Ambrin will be giving a talk about the paintings during  Listen below for more.

Joseph Brown founded the Carla Rose Foundation in honor of his late wife, Andrea Carla Frasier-Brown and his late mother, Ruby Rose Brown. This non-profit foundation raises money for people seeking alternative treatment and provides payment assistance to alternative care clinics. Joseph started this foundation because he felt his wife's traditional treatment was debilitating and that there must be a better way to heal. He also wanted to reduce the stress of the financial burden on people trying to heal from cancer. Joseph is also opening his first wellness center in Spartanburg South Carolina on September 30, 2019. It will be open to prevention seekers as well as anyone with a diagnosis of cancer or any other health issue. They will be providing many services including nutrition counseling, juicing, cooking demonstrations, lifestyle modification seminars, stress relief technique education, yoga, massage, spa and relaxation services, meditation, and art classes through their partnership with the Chapman Cultural Center. They are having a fundraising gala August 17, 2019 at the Chapman Cultural Center to raise funds for the opening of the wellness center.  Joseph is using the education he received through Beat Cancer's Certified Holistic Cancer Coaching course to headline the wellness center. We are so happy to help Joseph provide such needed services.  If you have a cancer diagnosis and need assistance funding alternative treatment please check their website at www.TheCarlaRoseFoundationInc.org. You can also find information on attending their new wellness center and their fundraising gala, as well as donation information, including purchasing their beautiful bracelets that honor different cancers.  Joseph Brown Founder of The Carla Rose Foundation www.TheCarlaRoseFoundationInc.org

It's an event that grows in popuarity each year, and on April 13, returns to Barnet Park in Downtown Spartanburg. The free international kite festival fills the sky with hundreds of colorful flying works of art and features live music, food trucks, and a makers market with wares from local artisans. The event also features a “rokkaku” kite battle, where teams battle to down the kites of other competitors. A City team will be competing this year, so come out and meet your humble podcast hosts (and cheer us on!). Today on the podcast, we're talking with Melanie Terry, Special Events Coordinator with Chapman Cultural Center, about the festival. Along the way we also talk about the return of the organization's , which brings musicians and performers to the streets of Downtown Spartanburg every Wednesday–Saturday during the warmer months.     

Among last year's dizzying number of fantastic Downtown Spartanburg announcements was a plan to create 28 new homes on a long-vacant parcel behind Barnet Park. Located next to another planned downtown residential project—Florida-based Forge Capital's 200-unit apartment complex—the Silver Hill development will feature 18 single-family homes and 18 townhomes on the long-vacant 4.5 acre parcel. Construction on the project is expected to start this spring.   Today on the podcast, we're joined by Jennifer Evins, partner on the Silver Hill development and President of Chapman Cultural Center, about her first foray into the development world and what this new neighborhood will offer for those looking to call Downtown Spartanburg home.

Randy Eaddy sits down with Jennifer Evins to talk about how the Chapman Cultural Center has changed their model to make an even bigger impact on their community.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you've spent any significant amount of time in Downtown Spartanburg in the last decade, there's a pretty good chance that you've encountered work created by one of the 33 artists brought to Spartanburg through HUB-BUB's celebrated Artists-in-Residence program. Over the years, the program's artists have created lasting impacts that are both physical (like Sparkle City Mini Putt) and cultural. Now, through a merger last year with Chapman Cultural Center, the former HUB-BUB Artists-in-Residence program is back, and the retooled 11-month residency recently welcomed two new artists to live and work in Spartanburg, Marisa Adesman and Ambrin Ling. Adesman was born and raised on Long Island, New York. She recently graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Masters of Fine Arts in Painting. Through her artistic practice, she examines the impact of femininity and modern culture in order to open up a conversation on gender politics with a strong emphasis on awakening the female self-hood.   Ling received her bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in Minnesota and a Masters of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a practitioner in the visual language of stains and traces, Ling uses painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation to explore ideas of absence, home, and belonging. Her work draws from her personal experiences moving across environments and as a mixed-race woman, as well as from her larger social, anthropological, and art historical research. Today on the podcast, we're talking with the two new AiRs and with Chapman Cultural Center Creative Placemaking and HUB-BUB Director, Eric Kocher about their first impressions of Spartanburg and about some of what we can expect to see from them over the coming year. Listen below for more.

Their performances routinely sell out the theater at their Chapman Cultural Center homebase, and when it comes to community theater companies, Spartanburg Little Theatre is in a class by itself in the upstate. And taking a look at the performances scheduled in their , it's pretty easy to see why. Today on the podcast, we're talking with Spartanburg Little Theatre Executive Artistic Director, Jay Coffman about the local theater scene and the organization's place in our city's creative community.

If you've spent any significant amount of time in Downtown Spartanburg in the last decade, there's a pretty good chance that you've encountered work created by one of the 33 artists brought to Spartanburg through HUB-BUB's celebrated Artists-in-Residence program. Over the years, the program's artists have created lasting impacts that are both physical (like Sparkle City Mini Putt) and cultural.  Now, through a merger last year with Chapman Cultural Center, the former HUB-BUB Artists-in-Residence program is back. The retooled 11-month residency is set to bring two artists to live and work in Spartanburg this September, but before that happens, we're talking with Chapman Cultural Center Creative Placemaking and HUB-BUB Director, Eric Kocher about the revived program. Listen below to learn more!

If we've said it once, we've said it...a lot more than once: Spartanburg does partnerships as well as any city in the country. Our community stitches together the interests and energies of the public, private, and various nonprofit sectors in innovative ways that create the fabric of this wonderful place we call home. Today on the podcast, we're talking about another of those partnerships, with  Pastor Tom Norrell and Lay Leader John Simmons about a new park slated to open behind the church. Featuring a beautiful brick inlaid labyrinth and an amphitheater, the park will be open to the public and will provide a hugely important link between the church and downtown standard bearers like the Marriott, Chapman Cultural Center, George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics, as well as exciting newcomers that are on the way like the redeveloped Montgomery Building, the Gibb's five-story mixed-use office development, and a planned 200-unit apartment development.

Did you know that there are more than 1,200 arts & culture programs, studios, facilities and activities available across the Upstate? The Culture Counts Forum being held at Chapman Cultural Center on Wednesday, January 24, 3–5 p.m. promises to both unveil a new regional arts & culture assets map to highlight Upstate those cultural assets and to show how they impact area economic development.  Also highlighting the event will be a keynote address by Anthony Radich, Executive Director, Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF). He also previously served as the senior project manager for the Arts, Tourism, and Cultural Resources Committee of the National Conference of State legislatures (NCSL). Today on the Podcast, we're talking with Chapman Cultural Center President & CEO Jennifer Evins about the event and about the crucial role arts and cultural offerings play in the future of our city and our region.

A challenging seven-acre lot behind the Chapman Cultural Center that had been vacant for years is slated to become home to the largest apartment development in downtown Spartanburg's history after  with Forge Capital Partners, LLC of Tampa, Florida to construct a $30 million complex. Preliminary site plans show a mix of three and four-story buildings in the seven-building luxury complex, with a 300-space parking area centered between. Today on the podcast, Assistant City Manager Chris Story sits down to give us details on the development agreement, the proposed project, and where this transformative project fits in with the accelerating growth we've been seeing in downtown Spartanburg over the past several years.

It's been 10 years since Chapman Cultural Center first opened its doors on St John Street, anchoring the northern end of downtown and establishing itself as an epicenter for arts and culture in Spartanburg from the very beginning. Today, with 350,000 visitors annually, it's easy to see how the vision and investment from private and public partners has paid dividends for our entire community. On Sunday, October 1, 1–5 p.m.  with live music from local artists, food trucks on the Chapman campus, and programming from their various partner organizations.  Today on the podcast, we're talking with Chapman Cultural Center President & CEO Jennifer Evins about the event and the history and future of this crucially important Spartanburg cultural resource. Listen below for more!

It's quickly become one of the most talked about public art projects around, putting the work of local and regional artists in the public eye in a unique and whimsical way. It would be a massive understatement to say that Lighten Up Spartanburg has been a success for in their goal to push visual art into the larger community beyond their walls at the Chapman Cultural Center. From the constant stream of folks around downtown taking pictures of the 28 bulbs to the tens of thousands of responses, the installations have received on social media, the buzz generated by this unique public art project is truly unprecedented in recent local memory. Today on the podcast, we're diving deep on Lighten Up Spartanburg with Spartanburg Art Museum Executive Director, Elizabeth Goddard. Listen for details and be sure to check out the for a map and descriptions of each sculpture. 

Over the course of its existence, local arts organization, has gone through a number of iterations. Starting in 2004 as a simple online forum focused on allowing Spartanburg locals to engage with each other and exchange ideas about a broad range of topics. In those early days, the organization hosted events and grew a following through guerilla marketing, providing an outlet for a budding community of young creatives. in 2006, with the help of the City and private donors, the organization was able to create a physical home for itself, the Showroom, which hosted a huge variety of events and housed the group's signature artists-in-residence program. In 2015, in part as a recognition of the changing shape of downtown, Hub-Bub left the Showroom and brought their programming back to its roots, bringing those wildly varying and uniquely creative events they'd become known for back out into spaces throughout downtown Spartanburg And now, more changes are on the way as the organization prepares to unite with Chapman Cultural Center in a move the group's Director, Eric Kocher says will free up more time and resources to focus on the thing Hub-Bub has always done best, bringing the kinds of artistic offerings to Spartanburg that you just can't find anywhere else. What does that mean for those of us who've come to view Hub-Bub as a beacon for the quirky and off-beat in town? We're talking with Kocher and Tim Giles on the podcast today to find out.

Last Tuesday at the Chapman Cultural Center, after more than a year of work and data gathering, including input for thousands of local residents, the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce unveiled its new strategic action plan. The ambitious plan seeks to move Spartanburg forward in eight key areas, affecting areas as wide-ranging as downtown economic development, improving educational attainment, poverty alleviation, and building a more cohesive sense of community. Announced at the event was the addition of Meagan Rethmeier as the new executive vice president of One Spartanburg and news that the Chamber has already raised $3.3 million of the $5.1 million goal set to pay for seven positions to implement the plan over the next five years. Today on the podcast, we're diving deep to get the details on One Spartanburg and what it means for you with Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Allen Smith.

Some of the most revered Southern works of art hang near those created by a deep well of talented local artists. Live music from one or more of two dozen outdoor and indoor stages can be heard nearly every night of the week. A ballet company, a philharmonic, and a theatre company provide big-city productions year-round. Another organization's artist-in-residence program brings artists live and make art for months at a time.Murals and sculptures dot the streets and make postcard-ready backdrops. Downtown Spartanburg is a vibrant, dynamic home for the arts, boasting the $45 million Chapman Cultural Center, some of the best art galleries in the South, and an independent press and bookshop respected throughout the literary community. Indeed, surprises are seemingly around every corner, including every step of the 2-mile Hub City Music Trail that chronicles Spartanburg’s significant musical heritage. That’s why basically all of Downtown Spartanburg —every street and every block — has been designated a cultural district by the South Carolina Arts Commission. Today on the podcast, we're talking about a great public art installation that will help us kick off the official opening of Spartanburg's newly designated Downtown Cultural District, taking place November 17, 4:30–8 p.m. on Morgan Square. Artist Ashleigh Shuler has planned a series of "yarn bombs" for locations around downtown, and also a community build for those who'd like to get involved, scheduled for Sunday, November 13, 1–4 p.m. at the Chapman Cultural Center. 

On National Food Day, Spartanburg will get a lesson in nutrition from The Mary Black Foundation when Dr. Ann Kulze, renowned authority, and motivational speaker in the areas of nutrition, healthy living, and disease prevention, presents "The Happiness Diet at the Chapman Cultural Center on Monday, October 24, 5-7 p.m. Dr. Ann has been featured in a number of national media outlets including the Dr. Oz show, Oprah and Friends Radio, Time Magazine, NPR, WebMD, CNN Radio, Prevention, and Redbook, among many others. She was the national spokesperson for Ruby Tuesday’s SMART EATING initiative and is a regular guest on the Midwest’s WBCL’s mid-morning program. The Happiness Diet presentation transforms the compelling body of science as it relates to diet and brain health into a program that is simple, fun, delicious, and completely straightforward. The audience will be wowed by Dr. Ann’s passion, and will walk away with take-action-today inspiration and all of the nutrition guidance needed to beat stress, boost happiness, and unleash the brain’s full potential. Because the brain is the most demanding, discriminating, and fastidious of all organs when it comes to nutrition, if the brain’s nutrition needs are met, the remainder of the body is more than taken care of. Today on the podcast, we're talking with Dr. Ann about her upcoming visit to Spartanburg, and about what folks can expect from this informative presentation.

In October 2014,  invited U.S. mayors to collaborate with artists and arts organizations to develop innovative projects that engage residents and attract visitors. In all, 237 cities submitted proposals, with Spartanburg joining three other cities around the country selected to receive up to $1 million for public art installations. Spartanburg's winning bold and innovative idea? , which will bring nine temporary art installations by internationally renowned light and digital media artist to 10 city neighborhoods From October 4 – April 1. The project is a partnership between the City of Spartanburg and ten city neighborhood associations, and is being led by . Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light builds on National Night Out, an annual event that promotes crime prevention efforts, police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie. Today on the podcast, we're talking with Jennifer Evins, President and CEO of the Chapman Cultural Center about the project, and about the special Seeing Spartanburg in a New Light kickoff events being held throughout our city during National Night Out, Tuesday, October 4.

Lisa Cox is a Parkinsons patient and advocate. She's spreading the word about the importance of creativity and self expression in the battle against any diagnosis, particularly Parkinsons. A team of experts will be in Spartanburg to share what's been learned about this connection Monday night at 6 at the Spartanburg First Baptist hangar. And Tuesday morning at 10am at the Chapman Cultural Center there will be a FREE Parkinsons ballet class. Wednesday the same team will visit the Parkinsons support group in Greenville. LISTEN to learn more.

Here at the City, we're always on the lookout for new ways to engage with Spartanburg's residents and fans. This week, two things in that vein made it into our podcast. First, in a test run of what we hope will be many future uses to come, the recording of this podcast was , a video streaming app that allows users to watch events in real time. . We're planning to use this new tool to add some great new content to our social media landscape. The other bit of new social media engagement has to do with photos. You all take a lot of really great photos of our beautiful city. We routinely see shots on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter taken by our residents that would shame many taken by professional photographers, so we started to ask ourselves how best to encourage this amazing trend of great local photos, and how to share some of these outstanding shots with a wider audience. Enter, the #SpartanSnaps social media cover photo extravaganza! The rules couldn't possibly be any simpler. Take a beautiful photo showing something distinctly Spartanburg. Maybe you frequent the Rail Trail, and the sunset looks really great that day. Maybe you're watching a fantastic performance at the Chapman Cultural Center. Maybe the way the light hit the bricks on E Main was looking really good one day. Your ideas, your inspiration, your vision of Spartanburg, that's what we want to see. Post that photo to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter using the #SpartanSnaps tag. Please make sure your posts are public, so that we can see them. Wait. It really is that simple. Each week, we'll choose a new #SpartanSnaps photo to be used as the cover photo on our Facebook and Twitter accounts (with all the credit, mad props, local internet fame, etc. given to the original photographer, obviously). So start snapping those photos! Also on this week's podcast, we give an update on some great news for one of Spartanburg's true originals, as , and we also rundown the latest in downtown development news.

We can always count on our friends at the Chapman Cultural Center to come up with innovative ways to highlight all that Spartanburg's creative community has to offer, and a new event to be held in Downtown Spartanburg on September 6 () offers a new way to do just that. #1Spark! is a festival of ideas, bringing together two of the most important creative forces in our community, business and the arts. The goal is to "spark" innovation bringing local artists together with local entrepreneurs to help connect the dots between ideas and people.   Are you an entrepreneur or inventor looking for a low-risk way to get feedback on your product or service from the public, or an artist looking to seel some original work? Sign up to participate by following , or by calling (864) 591-5604.

It's perhaps one of the most enduring images of childhood. Mention kite flying to just about any adult and you'll see a nostalgic gleam in the eyes as images straight out of Norman Rockwell painting fill the imagination. For the briefest of moments, we're all just kids again, hoping for a nice breeze. Wouldn't it be great to spend a sunny afternoon just flying a kite again? Thanks to the Chapman Cultural Center, the City of Spartanburg, and more than 20 other partners and sponsors, you can. is a community-wide initiative being held through April to build civic pride with a series of playful activities and cultural events using kites as a theme. Aside from a series of community kite-flying days sponsored by the City and Partners for Active Living, Spartanburg Soaring! also includes poetry readings, movies, an exhibit featuring kites from the collection of local enthusiast, Chuck Holmes, and much more.

December is here, and with the holidays upon us, it's time for another conversation with Champan Cultural Center President and CEO, Jennifer Evins about some of the center's great offerings this month. Listen to learn more, and be sure to check out the  for a complete list of what's happening this month.

  Big changes are in the works for some of Downtown Spartanburg's most important streets. At their most recent meeting, City Council  that eight projects to be completed over the next two years. Among the plans highlights are extending the Mary Black Foundation Rail Trail into Downtown, providing a curb-protected bike lane for Converse Street, and a adding pedestrian-only traffic signal and crosswalk across St. John Street in front of the Chapman Cultural Center and USC-Upstate George Dean Johnson Jr. School of business. The plan also calls for the chicanes along E. Main Street downtown to be straightened, and for sidewalk and other improvements along portions of N. Church Street and Daniel Morgan Ave.   Today on the podcast, we sit down with Assistant City Manager Chris Story to talk get the details on the new plan, both the nuts and bolts and the larger view of its importance to the future of Downtown Spartanburg.

Next month is a busy one for our friends over at the , with multiple great events to add to your literary event calendar every week. Though a 10-minute podcast isn't nearly enough time to get to all of that, we sat down with HCWP Executive Director, Betsy Tetor to talk about the biggest events coming next month, including the release and signing for a new book of Christmas stories by Spartanburg writers called  to be held at the Chapman Cultural Center on November 3, from 2-4 p.m, and a chance later in the month to meet Spartanburg's on canine celebrity, Chaser, a Border Collie who's remarkable ability to distinguish over 1,000 different objects has gotten her on, , and the front page of . Listen and enjoy!

No matter what time of year it is, there's always something going on at the . Today we're sitting down with Chapman's President and CEO, Jennifer Evins to talk about some of the great offerings coming up this month. From a Cultural Arts Festival on October 26, to a performance of Dial "M" for Murder by the Spartanburg Little Theatre running from November 8-17, to a wonderful exhibit of work by artists from Switzerland, the schedule at Chapman is truly packed.    So check out the podcast below, and for more details about their upcoming events, visit the .

 Sunday afternoon generally isn't the busiest time in Downtown Spartanburg. Sure you can grab a little lunch, take a little walk, and enjoy the sunshine (assuming we still get sunshine in the afternoon anymore). But what if you wanted a little more? What if you'd like to hear a little live music, or maybe take in a few cultural offerings, or what if you're looking to take home a cool piece of local art? Up until now, you might have been out of luck.   The  has plans to change all that. This week on the podcast we sit down with Jennifer Evins, President and CEO of the Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg to talk about "" at the Chapman Cultural Center (). With a Sunday Art Market featuring the work of local artists, live music from local singer-songwriters, and free admission to the center's history and art museums, the question of "what to do on a Sunday in Downtown Spartanburg" just got a great new answer. So give a listen, and be sure to come out this Sunday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. for a little music and art at the Chapman Cultural Center.