Southport Magazine

Imagine an exciting night on the town with friends.  You meet up in a beautiful sculpture garden, aglow with white lights, and delight in the sound of a string quartet playing under the bows of a live oak.  You head inside a bit early to admire the museum quality artwork that adorns the walls of the brick foyer.  You climb a wide staircase to the Grand Hall, then take a moment to admire the crystal chandeliers, ornate tin ceiling and velvet draped stage before finding your seats.  You enjoy the performance (a play, concert or dance), then head across the hallway to grab a cappuccino in the café.  Before leaving, you linger to watch the artist in residence working on his current masterpiece.

A stimulating night like this would currently require a long, dark drive into Wilmington or Raleigh, but what if you could do it all right here in Southport?  Sounds like a dream, I know, but it’s actually more of a vision, a vision that’s now in plain sight.  It’s the end-goal of the “Save the Hall, Ya’ll” campaign, an effort to turn the old Brunswick County Courthouse on Moore Street into a community center for creative and visual arts.  The project is spearheaded by Southport’s Up Your Arts group and they are asking for public support to turn their vision into a reality!

What’s Up with Up Your Arts?

Up Your Arts is a non-profit organization, founded in 2017 to support and enhance the creative and performing arts throughout the greater Southport area.  According to its website, UYA “aims to weave a safety net of assistance and accessibility for artists and audiences alike to flourish.” 

“I was part of an emerging music community in the Southport area … and realized early on that there was not a great many ways to promote this emerging scene. Hence, I was a founding member of Up Your Arts, which I saw as becoming a unique organization to promote and support all of the creative and performing arts throughout the greater Southport Area. And we established very specific mission tenants to support the overall vision for Up Your Arts,” explained local musician and artist John Keiffer, one of the founding members of UYA.

Up Your Arts works to support the mission of the Southport Center for Creativity, a division of   Brunswick Community College located on Lord Street, and to promote individual artists and local art galleries like Franklin Square, Ricky Evans, and Lantanas.  They also support performers and musicians throughout our area.  You may be familiar with some of the UYA events, such as the annual Plein Air Festival, Open Mike Nights at American Fish Company, live music at the Fourth of July Festival, and last year’s Open Doors project, which challenged artists to transform antique doors from a historic home on Bay Street that were donated by Ginger Harper. The redesigned doors were displayed throughout town and later auctioned off as a fundraiser for UYA.

Save the Hall, Ya’ll

In 2019, members of Up Your Arts became aware that the City of Southport was struggling to decide what to do with the old courthouse, a historic building located at the corner of Moore and Davis Streets.

The building, owned by the City, is a large, two-story brick and stucco structure constructed in the 1850s. It was the original site of the Brunswick County Courthouse until 1977, when the county seat was relocated to Bolivia. The building later housed Southport’s City Hall, from 1979-2014. It was used as a site for public meetings for a few more years, but a leaky roof led to a serious mold issue, and concerns about lead paint and asbestos arose as well. Given its hazards and a lack of compliance with ADA requirements, the building was ultimately declared uninhabitable. But despite its problems, 201 E. Moore Street has good bones and no major structural decay. Although a new roof was eventually installed, the building has remained vacant since 2018.  

Inspired by the building’s history as a center of municipal and civic activity, as well as its prominent downtown location, Up Your Arts developedthe idea of turning the historic landmark into a community center for creative, visual and performing arts.  

Keiffer, the visionary of this project, said, “Envision an arts center in the historic heart of the city: an informal gathering spot for everyone in our community and a must-see destination for out-of-town families and visitors. We have a vision for a self-sustaining, state-of-the-art, performing and creative arts center that reflects the community we are. Informal, creative, responsible, caring.”

Since 2019, the City has signed a series of agreements with Up Your Arts to proceed with feasibility studies, architectural designs, and fundraising efforts. The group enlisted the aid of contractors, engineers, and architects and presented its findings to the City in 2020.  Although efforts were stalled by the pandemic, the campaign continued. Drawings for the proposed reconstruction were commissioned, and paid for, by UYA. Wilmington-based Lisle Architecture & Design, the firm that designed Edward Teach Brewery and the Southport Market, developed a stunning 3D architectural plan, which is available to view on the UYA website. You can also view the building in its current state, as mapped out by a local videographer (while wearing a hazmat suit!). At this time, the cost estimate for the remediation work, redesign and renovations is approximately $3.5 million. 

The Vision

In late January and early February, UYA held a series of town hall meetings to explain the project and solicit input from the public, ultimately garnering strong support for the proposed community-based art center. In an hour-long presentation, which included the 3D rendering of the architectural plans, Keiffer and other members of the UYA board shared their vision and provided details on the work to date. 

Although program ideas and building designs still need to be refined, the initial vision is exciting! The rendering includes a graceful sculpture garden with places to sit, hold informal meetings, and create.  UYA solicited help from the Southport Garden Club for the design.  The first floor of the building would hold a non-profit resource center, an arts resource center, a retail gallery for local artists and BCC students, a place for an “artist in residence,” and studio spaces available to rent. The second floor, formerly a courtroom, would be transformed into an elegant, open space where public meetings could be held, as well as concerts, shows, and receptions. Other possibilities on the second floor include a small broadcast booth, a commercial kitchen for culinary classes and catering, and a café.

Moving Forward

Bob Gentile, chairman of UYA, brings considerable knowledge and expertise to this project, having been  instrumental in the successful completion of a similar public-private project in New York. With a career as director of a non-profit education and recreation center, Bob is adept at securing grants and donations, and at leveraging public/private relationships.  

Other members of the UYA board also bring talent and expertise to the project, including President Tina Powers, a realtor with years of experience working with local non-profits, and Treasurer Bonnie Bray, who had a 25-year career as a CFO with various local governments.  Nonetheless, given the complexities of the project, UYA has determined a need to create a separate legal entity that will assume responsibility for financing, construction and on-going operations of the proposed art center. This new non-profit will be managed by a Board of Directors comprised of community members with expertise in areas that will ensure the project’s success.

“We will seek out individuals from the many existing civic, business, non-profit, and faith organizations that make Southport what it is,”  Keiffer said. “We believe wholeheartedly that the key to the success of this project depends on wide spread community support. Some of these folks may assume official roles on the new non-profit organization, while many more will be asked to join in a volunteer capacity.”  

Interested candidates should contact UYA at info@upyourarts.org.

While the landmark building will remain an asset of the City, UYA envisions it operating under a long-term public-private partnership. Furthermore, the group is committed to the notion that no taxpayer money will be used for the development or ongoing support of the arts center.

In addition to public and private donations, as well as support from the City of Southport, UYA will explore options for grants, tax credits offered for historical preservation, and funding from sources like the Main Street Revitalization Program and the Arts & Humanities Council.  The group will also seek corporate sponsors as a means of ongoing operational support to supplement anticipated revenues generated from studio rentals and fees for the second-floor venue space.

“I learned that it takes time (years), patience, and a very good transparent partnership with the municipality (City of Southport) to raise the money needed to achieve this goal…… we will need to first develop an honest, open, and transparent common goal with the City of Southport’s Mayor, Aldermen and Community” Gentile said. “Once we all know we are on the same page, nothing should stop us from having a vibrant, self-sustaining, creative and performing arts center in the City of Southport, that serves many people without it being a tax burden on the people of Southport.” 

To become a part of this incredible vision, consider making a donation to the “Save the Hall, Ya’ll” campaign.  Go to www.upyourarts.org for more information.