LITTLE MOUNTAIN, S.C. – The S.C. Design Arts Partnership will present a documentary film about the history of Little Mountain at 1 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 2 in the Little Mountain Elementary School Auditorium, 692 Mill Street, Little Mountain. The film, which features interviews with local residents and tells the community’s story through historic images, will be presented as a part of the annual Little Mountain Reunion Festival.
Produced by Lee Anne Kornegay Media Productions based in Columbia, S.C., this project is an extension of the partnership’s involvement with the community over the past several years. In May, the partnership helped the community host a history harvest during which they conducted oral history interviews and developed a digital archive of historic photos and memorabilia, providing base materials for the film.
The history harvest and film are unique accomplishments for SCDAP. “So often our work in communities focuses mostly on design. It can be easy to overlook ways to incorporate some of the other arts disciplines into community development work, but they can bring great things to the table too,” said Lindsey Moore.
Moore is serving as project director for the Little Mountain history initiative. She is also executive director of the S.C. Design Arts Partnership. A joint program of Clemson University and the South Carolina Arts Commission, the partnership works with communities around the state on creative community development, usually by conducting educational programs and projects focused on how to use architecture, landscape architecture and community and regional planning to improve quality of life.
The partnership began working in Little Mountain in 2006. To date, the town has received conceptual plans for downtown beautification, recreational amenities and more. Students from Clemson University helped to create some of these plans through the partnership’s public service studios directed by Landscape Architecture Professor Mary Beth McCubbin.
According to Moore, the film and history harvest allowed the partnership a chance to utilize media, visual and literary arts, in addition to design, to assist the community. “It became clear pretty early in the process that Little Mountaineers had mastered the art of storytelling. Some of the historic photographs they had were beautiful works of art too. We really wanted to find a way to use these,” said Moore. As a primary sponsor of the partnership, the South Carolina Arts Commission has statewide programs in each of these arts disciplines, so the connection was easy to make.
Moore hopes this project will showcase the community in a positive way while helping to preserve Little Mountain’s special sense of place for the future. She also hopes that other communities around the state will be inspired by what Little Mountain has done. She wants communities everywhere to find creative ways to use design and the arts to celebrate their history and build community.
The viewing on Saturday will be followed by a discussion facilitated by Mayor Buddy Johnson. Light refreshments will be served. The film and history harvest are funded in part by a grant from the Humanities Council of South Carolina. For more information Lindsey Moore, representing the S.C. Design Arts Partnership, can be reached at (803) 734-8622 or lmoore@arts.sc.gov.
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