WHO WE ARE

Mission Statement, Vision, Values

The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center, a 501c3 organization located at 1510 Laurens Street, Columbia, South Carolina (formerly the Southern Electric building), officially opened in the summer of 2022. This center is home to African American culture, art, and expression. It is also a long-awaited gathering place for community conversations. Located in the historic Robert Mills district and just across from the historic Waverly Community, the Center is a stone’s throw from the one-hundred-year-old railroad tracks that have long defined small-town southern life in America.

The focus of this Cultural Arts Center is on the making of art, the keeping of community, living Black history, and the ongoing generational celebration of music, visual art, poetry, dance, theatre, the culinary arts, and other community building and life sustaining activities.

We know that art and culture can powerfully shape and reshape a community. Therefore, we begin our work at the intersection of historical Black cultural expression and modern creative artful ideas, in hopes of building conversations and alliances in our many communities, while also spreading the word about the power of art to inform and bridge our 21st century world. The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center wishes to be an incubator for progressive notions of what it means to be an involved, informed, and engaged creative human being -- no matter that human being’s age or background.

While we understand that the full expression of art includes performance and exhibition, and we certainly engage in those activities, our priority is to honor and recognize the illuminating power of creating art, in order to invite our beloved community into art’s minute and monumental capacity to transform and create the individual and the world we wish to live in, a world guided by truth and beauty even in the face of catastrophe and hard-headed trouble.

Our name is graced by the life and work of Ernest A. Finney, Jr., who began his career as a civil rights attorney in 1955 and ended his legal career as Chief Justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court in 2000. Throughout his life he was also, quietly, an avid jazz listener and a passionate believer in the indelible and often untapped power of the Black community.

Our Story

PAST

In the Summer of 2021, Frances Close and Kevin Gray, partners at Railroad BBQ, had an idea for a new cultural arts center in the building next to the restaurant. And The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center was born.

The Finney Center, founded in 2022, is located at 1510 Laurens Street in Columbia, SC. it is housed in a former tobacco warehouse, which was repurposed in the 1960s for the Southern Electric Company's headquarters, a stone's throw from the one-hundred year-old railroad tracks that have long defined small town southern life in America.

The Finney Center was born during the COVID epidemic when the Southern Electric Company closed. The owners of Railroad BBQ, a thriving commuity gathering place with Columbia's best BBQ, adjacent to the Center, saw the possibilities of the building and pulled together a small group of artists and community builders to buy the building.

PRESENT

The Center is home to African American expression, cutlure, and art. Located at the border between historic Robert Mills District and the Waverly Community District, the Center will serve as a much-needed gathering place for community conversations and the making of art of all types, including: living Black history, community builidng, visual art, poetry, dance, music, theatre, and the culinary arts.

Benedict College and Allen University, two significant HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities), are our neighbors, and we will seek active and mutually reinforcing relationships with them in our program development. Such institutions have nurtured generations of influential African American leaders like South Carolina's Chief Justice Finney. Cultural centers like ours have long invogorated HBCU communities and benefitted from their dynamic energy.

FUTURE

In the Fall of 2024, we are breaking ground on a state-of-the-art renovation of our building using a plan developed by the Boudreaux architectural firm. The renovation will include transformed workspaces and studios, presentation, and multipurpose spaces. The renovation plans consist of a stage and 200 seats, which can be opened to the outdoors and exhibition space with 360-degree views. We have raised over half the nearly $2 million needed for the renovation.

The Finney Center also recently purchased the nearby former residence and office of Dr. Matilda A. Evans (2027 Taylor Street), the first female African American licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina. The Evans House is a site on the National Register of Historic Places. Dr. Evans's legacy of community health, philanthropy, and contributions to African American culture will guide our vision for the historic property.

Like the Finney Center, the Evans House will prioritize creating spaces for artists of color, enabling them in their creative work and contributing to community life. Our initial concept for the Evans House is to offer accessible studio spaces for Columbia's emergent creatives and serve as the site for a Waverly Community Historical Center. Our vision is currently evolving and responsive to the community and our partners.

Historic Waverly Neighborhood

The Waverly District is four-square-blocks in the middle of downtown Columbia. After the Civil War, Waverly was the only place in Columbia where Black citizens could own land. By the early 1900s, the neighborhood was a self-sustaining community featuring bustling businesses - theaters, doctors' offices, beauty and barber shops, restaurants, night spots, and grocery stores. It was home to many middle-and upper-class African American residents, among whom were artisans, professionals and social reformers who made significant contributions to the social and political advancement of African Americans in Columbia, South Carolina, and the nation.

Among those who lived and worked in the Waverly neighborhood were South Carolina civil rights icons Modjeska Monteith Simkins, John Henry McCray, Reverend James M. Hinton, and Judge Matthew J. Perry. Numerous African American religious, social, and educational institutions were established here including Allen University, Benedict College, and dozens of the city’s oldest Black churches of varying denominations.

COUNCIL OF ELDERS

Our
Locations

1510 Laurens Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29204

2027 Taylor Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29204