ArtFields
ArtFields is an organization that hosts an annual arts festival of the same name in Lake City, South Carolina. It is the largest art competition in the southeastern United States. Since its inception, the organization has grown to include year-round exhibitions, educational opportunities, artist studios, and a public art program.
History
ArtFields competition and festival was founded by Darla Moore in her hometown of Lake City, South Carolina. The town had previously been a major producer of agricultural products like tobacco, green beans and strawberries. The town experienced a decline after it lost its agricultural prominence and was bypassed by the interstate highways. Moore created the festival to reinvent the town as a cultural hub, and its success led to an expansion of programs that now represent a year-round arts organization. The festival was founded with support from the Darla Moore Foundation. Moore cofounded the festival with a group of other women from Lake City, including the organization's program director Carla Angus, Karen Fowler, Sharon Askins, Carlie Lynch Baxley, and Taronda Barnes.The festival began as a 10-day festival and was first held in the spring of 2013. It has since become a 17-day festival that occurs every April. The first festival had an estimated 10,000 attendees. A study found that the first festival had an estimated $5 million impact on the surrounding community through tourism, employment, and construction.
Since the festival's creation, the town has also seen growth in public art installations and local businesses like hotels and restaurants. New art studios and galleries have been established in Lake City, and artists have relocated there in recent years. The Jones-Carter Gallery, located in the renovated historic Jones Carter Feed and Seed store, was opened for the inaugural festival, and the TRAX Visual Art Center was opened in 2018. The festival has also increased foot traffic for local institutions like the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center, commemorating the Lake City astronaut who died in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. The festival's impact on the town has been recognized in publications like Garden & Gun, The State, and The Post and Courier.
In 2024, ArtFields opened Acline Studios which provides artists with individual studios, gallery and exhibition space, and art equipment.
Competition
The festival holds an art competition offering over $100,000 in cash prizes, including a $50,000 grand prize as well as various juried and people's choice awards. The festival places an emphasis on contemporary artists living and working in the 12 Southeastern United States. Competitors must reside in the southeastern United States, specifically Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Art from the competition is exhibited in local venues like restaurants, barbershops, and warehouses throughout the city during the festival.The top four winning artworks are kept in the permanent ArtFields' collection. The collection of past winners of the festival have been held at various institutions including the 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, South Carolina. Between May 31 and September 21, 2025, the Franklin G. Burroughs-Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach hosted an exhibition of artworks that won the festival's Grand Prize, Second Place and People’s Choice awards since its inception.
In addition to the public art exhibitions and competition, the festival includes city-wide workshops, food, concerts, games, book signings, and other programming.