COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina Arts Commission is announcing that it will recognize six distinct and deserving recipients of the 2025 South Carolina Arts Awards during a special streaming presentation Sunday, May 18 at 7 p.m. EDT.
Executive Director David Platts will introduce viewers to six arts practitioners, advocates and organizations who come from locations across the state via the Arts Commission’s YouTube Channel and its Facebook page.
Platts will present five recipients of the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts—the state’s highest honor for outstanding achievement and contributions to the arts in South Carolina. They are:
- Wade Sellers, Columbia (Artist category).
- Dr. Gail V. Barnes, Columbia (Individual category).
- Engaging Creative Minds, Charleston (Arts in Education category).
- Koger Center for the Arts, Columbia (Government category).
- Sumter County Gallery of Art, Sumter (Organization category).
There is one recipient of the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award: Mary “Caroleen” Sanders in the artist category for Catawba pottery. The award is presented posthumously; Sanders passed away in February just after learning she would receive the honor. She was a member of the Catawba Nation and lived on the Catawba Indian Reservation in Rock Hill.
Helping to tell the stories of the award recipients are South Carolina filmmakers Rick Fitts, Yulian Martínez-Escobar, Gavin McIntyre, Johnathan Rabon, and Shae Winston, who produced short films to document the recipients’ contributions.
The 2025 South Carolina Arts Awards streaming presentation is an in-house production by the SCAC communications department.