The landscape of our local art scene is growing and changing for the better: In 2023, Charleston arts organizations and individuals boldly created more opportunities for creatives to make and show work. Plus, we’ve heard from new voices, both on the stage and behind the curtain. This year saw the creation of new artistic offerings, plus the expansion and improvement of those that already work to make our town more beautiful.
In 2023, the Charleston City Paper profiled established and emerging artists of all ages and reported on artistic organizations’ anniversary celebrations, new programs and foundational shakeups. To refresh your memory, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite moments and changes of Charleston’s art scene in 2023. Here’s to another year of artistic growth in the Holy City!
New visual art offerings
In March, the Charleston art community was invited to the unveiling of world-famous digital artist Beeple’s new massive studio space in a Daniel Island warehouse off Clements Ferry Road. Since then, Beeple has hosted events at the space, including an April party in collaboration with the Gibbes Museum. The party was part of the museum’s annual, week-long celebration of the visual arts, Art Charleston, which launched in 2022 and saw great success in 2023.
Over the summer, the College of Charleston hosted its first studio art immersion program for high school and rising college students. Led by professor and multimedia artist Cristina Victor, the program exposes young students to studio art as a discipline and a way to immerse themselves in project-based learning.
This year saw the continuation of another exciting program for young artists: The Lightning Residency at Redux Contemporary Art Center. Since its start in June 2022, selected emerging artists are awarded a six-week, scholarship-based residency and exhibition, an exciting and rare offering in the state. Redux also saw a change in leadership this year: After an extensive search this summer, the organization welcomed new executive director Allan Bunch with an announcement at its annual auction in November.
And in response to the lack of local gallery spaces that accept work by emerging artists, art-loving individuals are making their own pop-up gallery experiences: Marie Carldous hosts the itinerant Gap Gallery, while Tim McManus celebrates art openings at his King Street space, Hed Hi Studio. Plus, there’s the newly announced Changeling Gallery by curator Minna Heaton.
More comedy, theater, drag
Charleston comedians agree the comedy scene here tends to ebb and flow, but this year marked an undeniably exciting moment.
Rip City, the Saturday Night Live-inspired sketch comedy show has made locals laugh at monthly performances hosted at various venues since its return to the stage in late 2022. And stand-up comedians, once frustrated by the lack of open mics around town, have curated their own events — now Charleston enjoys a bustling comedy scene. North Charleston-based comic Josh Bates is taking it a step further, opening brand-new comedy bar Wit’s End on Rivers Avenue early next year.
Queer-led theater company The Void, a group defined by intimate shows tackling subversive material, wrapped up its first season in 2023. And the Charleston Gaillard Center celebrated the production of its debut in-house theatrical production Finding Freedom: The Story of Robert Smalls, directed by JaMeeka Holloway. During opening night, Holloway was named the Gaillard’s 2023-2024 artist-in-residence, following in the footsteps of Marcus Amaker and Charlton Singleton.
In 2023, Charleston’s drag entertainment scene offered shows, brunches and bingo from at least a dozen local establishments, including Deco Nightclub and the Lucky Luchador downtown, Tin Roof in West Ashley and North Charleston’s Madra Rua Irish Pub and Holy City Brewing.
PURE Theatre continued its mission of producing work that inspires thought and ignites dialogue. This season was focused on American identity and supported the creation of new works in the PURE Theatre lab, including one of its most popular plays this fall, Atwater, written by Charleston native Fred Thompson. In October, PURE hosted Midlife Monologues, a theatrical showcase which brought together essayists, poets, actors and artists on one stage to shine a light on the challenges and joys of a woman’s life.
Continued success, anniversary celebrations
In June, The International African American Museum (IAAM) officially opened to the public after over 20 years of planning. Located at the historically sacred site of Gadsden’s Wharf, IAAM’s nine distinct galleries demonstrate how enslaved and free Africans shaped economic, political and cultural development throughout the nation and beyond. The museum’s special exhibition gallery saw its first solo exhibition this fall: Charleston visual artist Fletcher Williams III’s When it Rains, It Shines.
With the shared July premiere of two blockbuster films Barbie and Oppenheimer, James Island’s Terrace Theater celebrated its busiest day in 25 years of business. Locally produced Ohm Radio, which marked eight years on air this year, saw continued success, coming a long way from its start as a small group of people with a big dream.
It wouldn’t be a year of art in Charleston without Spoleto Festival USA. In 2022, the festival welcomed its first new director in 35 years, Mena Mark Hanna. Ahead of the 2023 festival, he told the City Paper a main goal for his tenure is to develop new works and find new ways to engage even outside of the 17-day festival period. That goal is already coming to fruition: In 2024, Spoleto will offer a new full-length chamber opera, Ruinous Gods, which is co-produced and co-commissioned by Spoleto Festival USA. It will explore “how mass displacement triggers profound psychological trauma among its youngest sufferers.”
Thank you for supporting the City Paper and our arts coverage this year. Do you have an artistic project in 2024 that we should know about? Tell us! chloe@charlestoncitypaper.com.
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.