Editorial Our View: Restaurant now serving art, culture
Go to any decent size city in South Carolina and it’s likely you’ll find some sort of art gallery or museum. Thanks to the foresight of local artists and restaurant staff, unincorporated Lake Wylie now has an art gallery of its own.
International artist Jonay di Ragno, now living in Lake Wylie, and The River Rat event planning staff Gerry Woods and Alesandra Randazzo teamed together months ago to organize a monthly Art Night where local artists could show and sell their works. Since that first night in May, the restaurant has embraced a new addition – now serving an official art gallery.
We hope Lake Wylie and all residents in the area will support this endeavor, visiting Art Night, the gallery and buy the art. We also hope artists will answer Woods’ call to join them at both art events. Works at Art Night have ranged from mixed media to photography and paintings and sketches to style creations of their own.
Charlotte’s Arts and Science Public Art Program views public art as integral to a community’s fabric by recognizing the potential of art to create livable cities, enhance neighborhood identity, strengthen economic development and tourism, educate children and adults and enrich the spirit and pride of its residents, according to artsandscience.org/public-art-program.
In January, the town of Clover opened its first Community Art Gallery at the Clover Community Center on Bethel Street. Clover artist and curator Angie Yelvington Clinton said then she felt a community art center was yet another avenue of opportunities for Clover to offer.
It’s not just a nice thing to do for us as residents and artists. There is an economic effect of supporting arts in communities. The arts create jobs, generate government revenue and is key in tourism industry. Charlotte, for instance, in 2003 recognized this and adopted ordinances that appropriate 1 percent of eligible capital improvement project funds for public art, according to artsandscience.org/public-art-program. “The ordinance helps ensure that artworks enhance our public spaces and become an integral part of urban and economic development efforts.”
According to a 2012 by American for the Arts (americansforthearts.org/), nationally, the arts industry “generated $135.2 billion of economic activity – $61.1 billion by the nation’s nonprofit arts and culture organizations in addition to $74.1 billion in event-related expenditures by their audiences. This economic activity supports 4.13 million full-time jobs and generates $86.68 billion in resident household income.” The industry also generates $22.3 billion in revenue to local, state and federal governments every year.
When Rock Hill’s downtown was designated earlier this year by The South Carolina Arts Commission as the first state-recognized cultural district, arts commission executive director Ken May said non-arts businesses also are key to success, because as creative enterprises also will bring patrons to dine out and shop, “so nearby retail and other businesses benefit from that increased economic activity.”
With this first step by The River Rat in Lake Wylie to establish a location for artist’s to showcase their work in our community, perhaps it will lead to a path of growing cultural ideas to explore here. Lake Wylie is full of artists, as shown by the bi-annual Visions of Art show held at River Hills Country Club and works we can now see at Art Night and in the gallery. We hope cultivating creative culture here at home will lead to additional pursuits.
So let’s feast on the art being served at a local restaurant. And, don’t forget to make a point to see di Ragno’s painting he dedicated to Lake Wylie and its residents hanging on iconic River Rat’s wall.
This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 12:55 PM with the headline "Editorial Our View: Restaurant now serving art, culture."