HUB-BUB's Refshauge Wins National Arts Leadership Award

While many people in the Spartanburg area are at least aware of the HUB-BUB as local arts organization, relatively few people seem to realize just how rare and unique the project and its goals actually are. Not only is the HUB-BUB a rare thing for Spartanburg — or even South Carolina — it’s actually something of a groundbreaking project at the national level. Of particular note is the Artists-in-Residence (AiR) program, which is one of only a handful of similar programs by small arts groups across the country.

Yesterday, one of the HUB-BUB’s key AiR organizers, Alix Refshauge, was recognized by the Alliance of Artists Communities as an “emergining leader” for her work in AiR programs.

The Alliance of Artists Communities in Providence, R.I., has named Alix Refshauge of Spartanburg’s HUB-BUB program its “emerging leader” in the field of artists-in-residence programs nationwide. She will be among 17 emerging leaders in the arts who will keep a regular blog this year for America for the Arts, the nation’s leading non-profit for advancing arts in America.

As part of the 50th anniversary of America for the Arts, Refshauge will serve as the ambassador for artist-in-residence programs as part of a new national “Green Paper” initiative that is collecting short, easy-to-read visions of the future meant to inspire a nationwide dialogue on the future of the arts. Refshauge, director of the HUB-BUB AIR program, will blog twice a month on the America for the Arts website.

Now in its fourth year, Spartanburg’s HUB-BUB Artists-in-Residence Program is quickly becoming a national model for residency programs and gaining national attention. Each year, three emerging young visual artists and one creative writer are invited to “live free and create” for eleven months in the HUB-BUB building. Their rent and utilities are underwritten, and they receive a stipend in exchange for up to 20 hours a week of service to HUB-BUB or the Spartanburg community.

More than 160 young artists and writers from across the country have applied for the next HUB-BUB residency, which will begin on June 15. In the past six months HUB-BUB has received prestigious national grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Warhol Foundation, the Dedalus Foundation, and the Nimoy Foundation.

Congratulations to Refshauge and the HUB-BUB for helping once again draw national attention to Spartanburg’s arts community.