The Charleston Gaillard Center presents Raising the Volume, a conversation on music, race, art, activism, and more curated by Artists-in-Residence, Marcus Amaker and Charlton Singleton. In Raising the Volume, Charleston’s Poet Laureate Amaker and Grammy Award winner Singleton explore issues through open, honest dialogue. The series begins with Amaker and Singleton examining their own experiences with racism as artists. Each subsequent conversation is led by either Amaker or Singleton having in-depth conversations with local Black leaders, educators, business owners, and artists.

Each video will also be accompanied by a lesson plan for both middle and high school students. The Gaillard Center’s on-staff educator will facilitate cross-school virtual meetings for students in different areas to discuss the content of the interviews. Lesson plans will soon be freely available on gaillardcenter.org.

Filmed and produced by the Charleston Gaillard Center, each of the 30-45 minute videos will be available on gaillardcenter.org, Facebook, and YouTube. The first three episodes will be released together on Wednesday, October 28, 2020. An additional seven episodes will air at a later date.

Available to view on Wednesday, October 28:

• Episode I – A conversation on music, racism, art, activism, and more with Marcus Amaker & Charlton Singleton .
• Episode II – A conversation on Charleston activism, past and present with former Municipal Court Judge for the City of Charleston for 33 years, Judge Arthur McFarland.
• Episode III – A conversation on awareness and action with the Executive Director of YWCA, LaVanda Brown.

Additional episodes will feature:

• Dr. Thaddeus J. Bell, Founder of Closing the Gap in Healthcare
• Dr. Karen Chandler, Director of the Graduate Certificate in Arts and Cultural Management at the College of Charleston
• Andrea Davis, Founder and Owner of Motherland Essentials
• Herb Frazier, Charleston-based author

The Charleston Gaillard Center remains committed to enriching our community, whether through music, visual representation, or the written word. We stand up and will speak out in the face of any injustice. We stand against racism and hatred. Black Lives Matter.