Learn about the Designation
In 2015, the S.C. Arts Commission awarded cultural district status to the City of Spartanburg for Downtown Spartanburg. The district is about four square blocks from Barnet Park to Spartanburg Community College's downtown campus on Kennedy Street, west on Kennedy to the Grain District, and bordered on its northern edge by the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium.
A “Cultural District” is designated by the South Carolina Legislature as a specific geographical area in a city or town that has a concentration of cultural facilities, activities, and assets. With the help of the Chapman Cultural Center’s Culture Counts initiative which began in 2013, the Spartanburg Downtown Cultural District was approved by the City of Spartanburg and South Carolina Arts Commission in 2015.
This area includes 21 indoor live performance venues; nine outdoor performance venues; 43 galleries or exhibit spaces; 38 murals and other public art displays; five museums; 64 studios and workshops; six historic sites; 15 green spaces and arboretums; 251 creative industry and cultural jobs; and 1,335 events and festivals open to the public.
Cultural District Launch is Funded in Part by: Ten at the Top -Elevate Upstate Grant and the Hughes Investments as well as by a generous award from the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC; the SC Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts; Chapman Cultural Center, and City of Spartanburg.