Many of you are no doubt idylling on some stretch of shore, perhaps with little more than a bodice-ripper of a beach read when it comes to cultural consumption.
In previous years, July in Charleston was a low-arts month, with many arts lovers and practitioners still nursing a post-Spoleto hangover. But it’s time to shape up.
In a world where some see arts as a four-letter word, there is no time like the present to vigorously walk the walk to ensure arts vibrancy in the months and years to come.
The clear and present danger to such vibrancy dawned on me last year, when The New York Times’s conservative columnist David Brooks used his spaces to make a case for culture as a way to combat an increasingly mean world. Last week, he focused on the demise of the great American novel as a societal safeguard.
Brooks makes a solid point. The defunding of federal resources and the hijacking of institutions like the Kennedy Center may denude the national discourse of the hard truths that artists explore.
Right now, you might be preoccupied flipping burgers on your Big Green Egg or cozying up to friends with second homes. Meanwhile, local performers, painters and practitioners are now engaged in nail-biting guessing games about what shows and happenings are going to make or break their budgets.
What I suggest is simple. Steal a few moments to suss out Charleston’s fall cultural season, and then book early and often. By committing now to coming shows or season subscriptions, you’ll boost our arts community and help them plan accordingly.
Need a jumpstart? Here are a few happenings.
In recent years, Charleston has become quite the music mecca, with enough festivals and local talent to keep the aural water high and attract visiting talent.
For starters, I’ve already secured my tickets to see Elvis Costello and The Imposters with Charlie Sexton on Oct. 3 at the Charleston Gaillard Center. For at-home listening pleasure, keep an ear out for Charleston’s two-time Grammy-getter Ranky Tanky. It has dangled the release of a new album, date to come.
In theater, here’s a fun fact. The excellent Best of Broadway series at North Charleston Performing Arts Center rounds out 2025 in December with Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical, featuring a score by composer Mel Marvin. He is a Walterboro native who discovered his vocation while studying pre-med at the College of Charleston, then meeting Dock Street Theatre greats Patricia and Emmett Robinson.
There’s plenty on offer from local companies, too, among them Charleston Stage, the Footlight Players, PURE Theatre, Threshold Repertory Company and Village Repertory.
In dance, I’m keen to see the new work by celebrated Step Afrika!, presented at Charleston Gaillard Center on Oct. 2, as it’s already getting great buzz.
Visual arts should be extremely dynamic, with changing of the guard at prominent places that may well alter the look of this lane. At the Gibbes Museum of Art, H. Alexander Rich takes the baton from esteemed longtime president and CEO Angela Mack.
This month, the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art welcomes new director and chief curator Michael Dickins, while Redux Contemporary Art Center has a new interim director in Charleston’s Buff Ross.
And when it comes to the written word, Charleston continues to punch above its population size, with a fall rich in events including Charleston Literary Festival, Y’ALLFest, independent bookstore events and so much more. On Oct. 28, I myself will be moderating a talk at Charleston Library Society with George Stevens, Jr. on his Hollywood-happy autobiography, My Place in the Sun. (Take that, Brooks.)
There’s plenty more to glean by scrolling through websites while you idyll poolside. Just put down your Aperol spritz for a skinny minute, and get a taste of the fall season ahead. You’ll be in fine shape before you know it.
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