Overview
One Columbia for Arts & History is a non-profit organization formed to support and promote tourism in Columbia, South Carolina. Our mission is to advise, amplify and advocate for the unified arts and history community. We work to promote collaboration through shared celebrations of Columbia’s arts and historic treasures with the goal of raising the quality of life for our citizens, attracting tourist dollars to our city, and further enhancing our vibrant downtown.
Our Mission
Through the following actions, One Columbia for Arts and History will coordinate and maintain advertisements and promotions related to tourism development on behalf of the City of Columbia and arts/history organizations:
To Advise
One Columbia for Arts and History, in an effort to celebrate, promote and elevate the role of arts and history in our city, serves in an advisory role to City Council. Our goal is to unify and focus efforts toward a larger shared purpose and common agenda.
To Amplify
One Columbia for Arts and History serves to amplify and enhance the efforts and programs of already established arts/history organizations. By providing a vehicle that encourages organizations to celebrate and promote each other through cooperation and collaboration, we will increase tourism to benefit all.
To Advocate
In support of the City’s Strategic Plan, One Columbia will work to foster creativity and expand the knowledge of and enthusiasm for history and arts by telling the story of companies, artists and venues and demonstrating the value of the cultural community to the economic interests of the City.
Our Initiatives
Public Art – One Columbia for Arts and History is working to feature the City’s current public art and to bring even more to the community. You can find more about the specific projects we’ve completed and are working on here.
Show & Tells – In order to connect the broad array of arts organizations in the City, we’ll be hosting a couple of gatherings a year to build partnerships, learn more about the upcoming events and activities, and to gather feedback from the arts community. If you’re an arts organization that would be interested in participating, please email us!
Film Columbia – One Columbia is working with local filmmakers to shoot footage of artistic and cultural events throughout the city. This footage is then archived and available for use by the arts organizations, local government, tourist organizations and media outlets to promote and celebrate Columbia as a cultural hub. Find edited videos of the events we’ve recorded at our Vimeo page and contact us if you would like to obtain footage.
The Passport – Starting in August 2014, One Columbia will be launching a cultural passport iniative. More details to come!
Our Funding
One Columbia is supported by hospitality tax revenues directly allocated by City Council for the purpose of coordinating and communicating the activities and benefits of history, arts and culture for the City.