Alliance director sets priorities

The recently organized, self-funded Charleston Regional Alliance for the Arts has hired a director.

Jessica Solomon Bluestein served as external relations coordinator for the College of Charleston's Tate Center for Entrepreneurship until she took the helm of the Alliance in March. Last year she helped start the Charleston Arts Coalition, a network of artists and organizations.

Nella Barkley, who founded the alliance, said its role in the public forums is to help find a common language that both artists and business people can understand. Too often, she said, artists don't appreciate the details of budgets and bottom lines, while managers fail to comprehend -- and put to use -- the creative input of artists.

"We want to broaden the concept of what the (arts) constituency is in Charleston," Barkley said.

The alliance has "three areas of emphasis," Bluestein said.

The first is to stimulate participation and awareness, expanding the base of patrons and partners. The second is to offer leadership development training. And the third is to develop partner services through which organizations can find ways to collaborate on administrative projects.

The group is planning a "Fall Preview" event for September at Memminger Auditorium, during which Charleston area arts organizations can convene for two days and share their work with the community and with one another.