COLUMBIA — Space is vital in a community. Not only in providing a physical gathering point for people but also in establishing a nexus point for ideas and inspiration. Free Times writers Haley Kellner and Fiona Schreier spoke to a handful of Columbia locals making that space.
Michaela Pilar Brown: Mike Brown Contemporary
Michaela Pilar Brown has been a cornerstone of the Columbia arts scene for years now as a visual artist, a position cemented even further when she became the owner of the former IF ART Gallery, now the Mike Brown Contemporary Gallery — a gallery that’s already expanded into the space next door on Lincoln Street. Her position as gallerist has only increased her ability and commitment to elevate artists from Columbia.
With the expanded space of the gallery, she has started a residency program for emerging artists, which welcomed its first artist last year. The six-week program is a way of honoring the late Wim Roefs, owner of the IF ART gallery, who offered the space to Brown to use as a studio while he traveled.
While the gallery and residency program are just a few of the things on her mind, Brown is thinking about shifts in the art world on a larger scale, too.
“I host a monthly conversation in the gallery. It happens every second Saturday of the month, and it’s been wildly diverse,” Brown said. “I think that there are those kinds of conversations happening all over the city. People wanting to talk about what a changing world looks like, what art looks like in that changing world.”
She hopes that these discussions will lead to more artists taking charge to create a sustainable life in Columbia.
“Sometimes there are people in positions of power making decisions about art because they assume that it’s for everybody and everybody can do it. But in art, like everything else, there’s mastery,” Brown said.
“There are people who’ve been working at it a long time, who understand how it works, who understand how it moves …who can help make some of those decisions. And further the success of this town as an art town.”
Fiona Schreier
Quentin Wedderburn: Eastmont Theatre Company
Quentin Wedderburn is a PhD student in psychology by day, but by night he and his roommate Johnathan Phillips run a theater company in their backyard.
Last year, Wedderburn served as producer/set builder/anything-you-could-think-of for the newly formed Eastmont Theatre Company. Inspired by the limitations Wedderburn faced trying to integrate the art he loved into his life, the company’s ethos is simple: Theater should be accessible for everyone, even those with little experience or hectic schedules.
Quentin Wedderburn co-founded a DIY playhouse.
“The idea of making it into a whole theater company was kind of there, but really what we wanted to do was put on a play,” Wedderburn said. “And once we had an idea that we both fell in love with and really wanted to bring to life, it was off to the races.”
After producing their first play, “End of the Line,” Wedderburn hopes to continue the company and use it as a space to connect more artists to each other.
Eastmont plans to continue producing plays, but Wedderburn also floated plans for turning their backyard theater space into a venue for musicians.
For Wedderburn, the project is all about bringing people together and unlocking talent and artistry that might otherwise go overlooked.
“We don’t want to limit ourselves,” he said, “and we want to slowly but surely become that space where people can come to and connect and build community.”
Fiona Schreier
David Stringer: SceneSC
In 2008, David Stringer left the Five Point’s Groucho’s to start a local music blog. Over lunch, he’d read a Columbia paper featuring longstanding, local musician Bentz Kirby on the cover.
“He had a quote in there that said everybody should do their part in supporting the local music scene,” Stringer said. With no band, but a background in journalism, Stringer decided to answer the call.
SceneSC has now spent 16 years supporting South Carolina’s music scene with Stringer at the helm. More than a music blog, it’s become a resource hub for bands and fans, for learning about and connecting over local music.
“The more informed the people are locally, the healthier the music scene is going to be,” Stringer said.
It’s like an ecosystem. Musicians need someone to listen. Fans need somewhere to find out information. Everyone needs a space to connect. With each endeavor, Stringer helps foster a scene he himself can contribute to and experience.
David Stringer of SceneSC in his home studio and writing office.
Today on the SceneSC website you’ll find interviews, show reviews and more. There’s a media contact list for musicians and a massive registry of around 300 bands. Recently, Stringer brought back the SceneSC Sampler for a 12th iteration, an annual compilation album featuring musicians across the state.
This year, Stringer is focusing on his recently debuted Indigo Sounds newsletter and podcast. If musicians’ biggest challenge is getting people to pay attention, Stringer wants to make learning about local music as simple as possible.
“Musicians work so hard,” he said. “When I see people putting out music, putting out incredibly personal music, I admire it so much. I want to share that.”
Those looking to join Stringer in establishing a thriving SC music scene for all can sign up for the Indigo Sounds newsletter and learn more at SceneSC.com
Haley Kellner
Nell Fuller, Julie Tuttle, Mara Zepeda: Made With Cola Love
Made With Cola Love is helping entrepreneurs find creative approaches to traditional business problems. Co-founded by Nell Fuller, Julie Tuttle and Mara Zepeda, the endeavor will support local businesses in Columbia by hosting pop-up shops in vacant spaces.
Inspired by San Francisco’s Vacant to Vibrant, the project leverages resources Columbia already has to invest in the city: local talent and empty storefronts.
“We have a lot of empty retail spaces in different pockets around town,” said Tuttle, who has a background in real estate development. “We’re seeing this project as a way to help building owners alongside entrepreneurs think differently about how to occupy those spaces.”
Like Tuttle, each partner contributes unique expertise to the project. Fuller founded the now-closed femme x, a coworking space celebrating creatives. Zepeda, a Darla Moore School of Business Entrepreneur in Residence, provides experience in concepts like cooperative businesses and placemaking.
Julie Tuttle, Nell Fuller and Mara Zepeda are the founders of Made with Cola Love in Columbia.
“Placemaking is the idea that where we live matters …all of the infrastructure and services and community spirit and everything that goes into making a place that we love to live,” Fuller said. “It’s a reminder that simply living somewhere, investing in our community, is creative. And running a business should be, too. There are creative models of capital access or company structure, creative ways to get consumers involved.”
She added that the pop-ups are meant to be splashy, all-hands-on-deck endeavors to draw people in — fostering connection through engagement initiatives.
For entrepreneurs in the program, Made With Cola Love will also provide mentorship on marketing, financing, HR and more. In the end, the project isn’t about getting businesses into a brick-and-mortar shop. It’s about helping them thrive and celebrating Columbia’s vast local talent in the process.
Expect to see Made With Cola Love pop-ups running from April through October. To learn more, visit MadeWithColaLove.org.
Haley Kellner
