The South Carolina Arts Commission (SCAC) strives to enhance the cultural and artistic landscape of South Carolina by supporting and promoting arts education, community arts development, and artist development. Through grants and other initiatives, the SCAC aims to ensure all residents have access to the arts and to foster an environment where the arts can flourish.
The Art of Community: Rural SC Grants program supports arts-based projects that address community issues and challenges in rural South Carolina. It aims to expand access to the arts in rural areas, include public engagement, and mandates the involvement of a project steering committee to lead and advise on the project. The grants cover a wide range of artistic disciplines, including dance, music, opera, theatre, visual arts, crafts, photography, design arts, media arts, literature, spoken word, time-based arts, and public art. All projects must include a public engagement component and provide opportunities for artistic development, whether through developing participants' artistic skills, offering artistic development activities for artists, or using the arts in new contexts.