YEARS IN THE MAKING

The Shelby County Arts Council is excited to announce its collaboration with the city of Columbiana and Shelby County for the opening of Old Mill Square. Old Mill Square will not only serve as Columbiana’s new municipal complex, but as the new home for the Shelby County Arts Council. A dream several years in the making will now come to life with an opening date of Spring 2019. This space will not only be a place of art and culture, but a space for the city to enjoy in the heart of downtown Columbiana.

The Shelby County Arts Council was established in 2005 with a definitive mission to support, nurture and promote the arts, as well as support cultural organizations and local artists in Shelby County. This new arts facility will help the SCAC to continue to promote those values.

“It is worth noting that most of what we do as a non-profit organization is indeed outside of our four walls,” SCAC Executive Director Bruce Andrews says. “We offer several community arts programming for ‘at-risk youth’ and special needs students in Shelby County. We will continue to grow that aspect of SCAC. That said, we are very excited about our new space and the opportunities that lay before us.”

One of the SCAC’s goals with Old Mill Square is to promote South Shelby County as an arts and cultural destination for years to come. With an area rich in artistic talent the SCAC hopes to provide unique opportunities for artists and the local art community. “We believe that the infusion of arts and cultural opportunities into the community raise the value of that community at conceivably every level,” Andrews says.

The designers of Old Mill Square have gone to great lengths to make sure this will be an arts center unlike any in the area. “We want to be supportive and synergistic in our existence with other arts venues, dance companies, art studios and educational institutions in the area,” Andrews says. “It is our goal to fill a distinctive gap in the landscape of arts and cultural happenings in Shelby County and beyond.”

The new complex will feature a 200-seat state-of-the-art Black Box Theater performance venue, a large formal art gallery, multiple art and music instruction classrooms, expanded pottery and sculpture space, new metal arts foundry, an over 500-seat multi-use indoor pavilion, and an outdoor space for performances in the surrounding park.

The SCAC invites the community to learn more about the organization at Shelbycountyartscouncil.com. Until Old Mill Square is completed, the SCAC will continue to provide quality entertainment and art classes from the 104 Mildred Street location. For information on upcoming classes and events, visit the website or call (205) 669-0044.