The South Carolina Arts Commission, in partnership with South Carolina Humanities and Denmark Technical College, will offer a free virtual writing workshop in May. The Communal Pen: Crossroads workshop will allow participants to write to celebrate and explore connections to place and community. The virtual workshop is free and open to the public, and no previous writing experience is necessary to participate.
The free, virtual two-part workshop will be hosted on Zoom on Saturday, May 9 and Saturday, May 16 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM. Registration is required and is on a first come, first served basis. Space is limited. Register here: https://schumanities.org/communalpen/register/. This virtual workshop is hosted by Denmark Technical College.
The goal of the Communal Pen: Crossroads workshop is to use the writing process to help awaken and preserve thoughts and traditions, offering insight, understanding and respect to present and future generations. This writing workshop draws inspiration from the Smithsonian exhibit Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Exhibit themes and images are used as a springboard for igniting participants’ own stories, giving voice to the shared and individual experience of place.
The workshop facilitator is Eboni Ramm, an accomplished poet and jazz singer, who has taught her unique Jazz Poetry Salon at residencies with the Richland County Public Library, Arts Access South Carolina, Youth Corps, Fairfield Middle School, McKissick Museum, and ColaJazz’s partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center, among others. Learn more about Eboni Ramm: https://www.eboniramm.com/.
The Communal Pen: Crossroads Writing Workshop is offered by the South Carolina Arts Commission, in partnership with South Carolina Humanities, and Denmark Technical College, in conjunction with the traveling Smithsonian exhibition, Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Crossroads was presented in South Carolina from 2018-19 through the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) program as part of the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. MoMS provides access to the Smithsonian for small-town America through museum exhibitions, research, educational resources, and programming. Communal Pen: Crossroads is developed through the SC Arts Commission’s place-based initiative, the Art of Community: Rural SC, a new framework for engagement, learning, and action in rural communities. The writing workshops are coordinated through the Community Arts Development and Folklife programs, with generous support from South Carolina Humanities.
