ACLU-SC responds to Arts Commission further delaying grants
August 20, 2026 2:30 pm
COLUMBIA – At its August 20 meeting, the South Carolina Arts Commission's Board of Commissioners voted in a split decision to further delay a grant funding decision for two arts organizations that produce art by and about LGBTQ people. At the same meeting, the board unanimously adopted a vague prohibition on giving arts funding to organizations that promote "ideology."
Jace Woodrum, Executive Director, ACLU of South Carolina, gave the following response:
“The Arts Commission is forcing only two organizations in the entire state to defend their artistic merit, and they are both organizations that create art about the lives of LGBTQ people. Nobody believes that is a coincidence.
“LGBTQ people have always lived in South Carolina, and we have always found ways to express ourselves. Our existence is not an ‘ideology.’ The Commission can claim they're choosing not to fund ideology all they want, but all they're doing is discriminating against LGBTQ people and attempting to silence ideas they disagree with.
“At the same time, a vague rule against ‘ideology’ in art cannot stand. All art conveys ideas — and if an arts commission doesn’t support art about ideas, it doesn’t support art at all.”
The newly adopted resolution against "ideology" is available below. With its vote today, the Commission voted to further delay its decision on grant funding for two arts organizations whose work involves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people: the Greenville Gay Men's Chorus and the Proud Mary Theatre Company in Spartanburg.
ACLU of South Carolina Legal Director Allen Chaney previously sent a letter to the Arts Commission on August 12 urging the board to continue judging grant applications on artistic merit rather than the anti-LGBTQ viewpoints of certain board members or of the Trump administration.
The ACLU-SC letter, written communications by board members, and further details about the grant funding process are available in a previous press release, "ACLU-SC to SC Arts Commission: Respect the First Amendment."
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