A group of local citizens and art advocates is coordinating the launch of an art incubator in this historic community. Arts in the Burg is working to enhance the town with artists in working studios open to the public and live music venues.
Arts in the Burg will host a launch party on Saturday, June 26 in the alley behind the Princess Theatre. The launch party will include the unveiling of the city’s first large mural.
Arts in the Burg’s Director, Dale Woodfin, paints a bold vision for the incubator. “Communities in the southeast and throughout the country are revitalizing their historic districts through the arts and public artworks – think taffy being made in the window as you stroll down the street in Gatlinburg, but here it will be working artists practicing their craft and interacting with the public. With our tree-lined streets, historic architecture, and rich artistic history, we will be inviting regional and national art lovers to weekend experiences in South Pittsburg. Once we start attracting visitors to our downtown area, we expect other unique retail and hospitality type businesses to open.”
Using Huntsville, Alabama’s Lowe Mill Arts and Entertainment District, Paducah, Kentucky’s Lower Town Arts District, and other cities as examples, Arts in the Burg’s goal is to have 20 to 30 working artists in facilities located in downtown South Pittsburg by the end of 2021. Other examples of community revitalization programs are highlighted on The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) website, which showcases an expansive collection of art centers and historic preservation success stories throughout the country.
Arts in the Burg is the recipient of a generous donation from a gracious patron of the Arts, as well as a $10,000 grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission to fund the mural and launch party. This grant was awarded to SPARQ for the Arts in the Burg program as result of South Pittsburg’s participation in the Thriving Communities program and the Tennessee Placemaking Partnership.
The Tennessee Placemaking Project is a collaborative pilot project by Thrive Regional Partnership, Tennessee Arts Commission, Southeast Tennessee Development, and the Lyndhurst Foundation. The project is designed to support local communities as they scale up strategies that leverage local arts and cultural assets for economic vibrancy and growth throughout the greater Chattanooga region. To learn more, visit www.thriveregionalpartnership.org/projects/tn-placemaking-partnership
South Pittsburg, population 3,000, hosts the annual National Cornbread Festival, which attracts 30,000 people during the last full weekend of April. The festival includes the National Cornbread Cook-off, the Little Miss Cornbread Beauty Pageant, live music, and artists from throughout the southeast selling hand-crafted art, photography, sculptures, and other genres. The goal of Arts in the Burg is to build on the festival’s momentum by providing weekly art-related programming and entertainment that attracts both local and regional visitors to the historic city.
South Pittsburg is also the home of Lodge Cast Iron Cookware and U.S. Stove Co. With the community’s rich history of “makers,” one of our facilities will be a maker’s studio with artists that might include: Cast sculpting, ironworks, textile artistry other artistic genres.
Arts in the Burg is a program of South Pittsburg Area Revitalization Quest (SPARQ).
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