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| Fine Arts Center Next Step in Folly Beach Transformation Folly Beach Mayor Vernon Knox and other city officials met Thursday with leaders of The Actors' Theatre of South Carolina and The Folly Beach Arts & Crafts Guild to announce the creation of the Folly Beach Fine Arts Community Center. The new center could open by spring of 2004. City Administrator Toni Connor-Rooks, city liaison for the project, said the venture reflects a change in this beachfront community. "Over the past 10 years, we at Folly have gone from a laid-back, unstructured community to a much more organized, structured place. Today, there are more dollars circulating in the community than ever before, and more people have moved here who have a desire to enjoy art, theater and culture than ever," she said. It also is yet another sign of how Folly is transforming from a summertime beach rental hot spot to a place where people live - and seek things to do - year round. "It used to be that in the winter, we would just turn the traffic light off completely because there were so few folks around," said Tom Hall, a Folly resident since 1976 and the city's building official and zoning administrator. Hall noted Folly's 1960 population was 1,137. By 1990, it had increased slightly to 1,398, but Hurricane Hugo's 1989 strike caused an even more rapid spike. By 2000, the permanent population reached 2,116. "Hugo freed up a lot of insurance dollars and some people fixed up their houses and some built new ones that people bought. It used to be that most of the homes out here were small and many had been built in the 1950s," said Hall. "Now, we have some beautiful houses, some costing nearly $1 million, as more people live year-round at the beach. This has brought in a whole different type of person, the type who appreciates and wants to contribute to the arts," he added. Hall said that between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Folly's population swells to about 10,000 and even to about 25,000 during the Fourth of July weekend. The idea for attaching an arts center to the top of the existing Folly Beach Community Center and Library, at 55 Center St. on Folly's main drag, came from actress Chris Weatherhead of the Actors' Theatre of South Carolina. She and her husband Clarence Felder founded the company as an Actors' Equity Guest Artist professional theater company. Two years ago, they moved to Folly, which really appealed to Weatherhead, a former Malibu surfer. Weatherhead, a Los Angeles native, and Felder, a native of St. Matthews, have each spent 30 years performing on television, in movies and on stage in New York, where they met. For more than a year, The Actors' Theatre has worked with the Folly Beach Arts & Crafts Guild on assorted Folly community projects, and leading members of the two organizations had discussed the project. The Folly Beach Community Center and Library, a one-story brick building with a playground in the back, is owned partly by the Folly Beach Civic Club and partly by the City of Folly Beach, Knox said. On July 23, the City Council of Folly Beach voted unanimously to join with the theater and the art guild to construct the arts center. It is expected to have two arts groups in residence: The Actors' Theatre of South Carolina and the Folly Beach Arts & Crafts Guild. The Actors' Theatre of South Carolina plans to stage four productions that would run a combined total of 26 weeks a year in the theater space. Also, The Actors' Theatre will maintain the theater's lighting and sets. The art gallery within the center will be managed by the Folly Beach Arts & Crafts Guild to showcase the work of local artists and also for the teaching of art classes. "We now have 80 members in our group, and this new center will give local artists a place to show and to sell their work," said Jim Watson, president of the arts and crafts guild. The 5,000-square-foot combination theater and art gallery would have a stage 32 feet wide, 25 feet deep and 2 feet high. Removable seating could handle up to 250 audience members. As of now, no architect has been assigned to the project. The cost is projected at about $500,000. Appeals for funding began Thursday and will be made to federal, state and county agencies to help pay for construction work. Organizers also plan fund-raisers and solicitations among private donors and local businesses. Weatherhead said the art center also would be used for plays for children, for training actors, directors and writers and for local festivals, such as the Sea & Sand Festival and The Tides March Festival. It also could be rented for civic meetings, wedding receptions and other events. "There's no doubt this (center) will benefit absolutely everyone on Folly Beach, and I am so proud of City Council's total commitment to this project," Knox said.
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