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 Folklife & Traditional Arts grant program by the South Carolina Arts Commission supports non-profit organizations and units of government that seek to promote and sustain the traditional arts practiced throughout South Carolina. The grant aims to preserve traditional arts as expressions of shared identity, learned and passed down within cultural groups. The use of funds is broad, supporting projects that may include the presentation of traditional artists in various formats, documentation of traditional arts or folklife, cultural surveys to identify traditions and traditional artists, and the production, documentation, or distribution of a traditional artist’s work. It also supports the acquisition of materials or equipment needed for creating traditional art and the conservation of traditional art forms through projects like apprenticeships.