Arts council director reflects on 27-year career

Over the past three decades, the face of Augusta’s arts landscape has changed, especially in downtown where murals and sculptures now abound.

And the Greater Augusta Arts Council, under the guidance of its executive director Brenda Durant, has played a role in helping the artists beautify the city. After 27 years, Durant plans to retire in October after one last Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival.

“Brenda has become an icon in Augusta and left a legacy which can clearly be seen in our currently blossoming arts community — all the mural projects, the artist workforce program, and I’ll keep saying, of course, the public art,” said Rhian Swain, previous arts council board president, on June 20 as she presented Durant with the President’s Award.

When Durant took over the helm in 1997, the arts council was different. Its main programs were an arts infusion program in schools and Arts in the Heart of Augusta, which is coming up this year Sept. 20-22.

 “We mainly interacted with visual artists,” said Durant, who took the job with three days of training which consisted of driving around town with outgoing director Missy deSouza and getting a tour of storage spaces as well as helping set up for the sports council’s annual meeting.

Durant relied heavily on mentors in those early days, she said. They helped catapult her career. One vision she developed early was expanding Augusta’s public art footprint. Later she was introduced to a concept called creative placemaking highlighting the importance of public art.

“That was very intentional,” she said of the public art projects the arts council has developed.

The idea for the arts council taking more of a role in public art came about after she attended a couple of national arts leadership conferences.

“The thing I was most jealous about was people who said ‘We manage public art.’ Whether it was a city department or a standalone agency. We were the Wild West of public art in Augusta,” she said.

At the time, if someone wanted to paint a mural, there was not anyone to call to get information. Buildings in historic districts fall under certain guidelines and someone in a city office might say “yes,” but there should’ve been more guidance.

In 2014, the arts council was designated in that capacity.

“We don’t police it. We don’t see a mural pop up over the weekend and call and ask, ‘Did you get permission for this?’ That is not our job. We can guide them and show them,” she said.

Other public art programs have included the sculpture trail, which is finishing up its second iteration. New sculptures should be installed in early 2025.

The other area that has seen tremendous growth under Durant is the annual Arts in the Heart of Augusta Festival.

Under Durant, it went from a small community festival to a national award-winning festival, and  she wanted it to not lose its heart in that process.

 “I didn’t want to make it where the locals didn’t think it was for them,” she said and recalled a comment while visiting a friend who lived in Charleston.

Intrigued by all the events of the Spoleto Festival, Durant mentioned Spoleto to her friend who responded “’Oh, it’s not for us.’ She considered it for the out-of-towners.”

Keeping the local feel means having community groups preparing food in the global village, giving the stages to dozens of school groups and local organizations and having local artists participate.

The fine arts show is juried, and artists go through an application process. The arts council offers a class on how to apply for a spot.

Attendance is about 100,000 over the three days; however, some people are counted more than once. If a person goes to the festival all three days, they are counted as three. Also included in the count are the hundreds of volunteers and performers who attend free.

About 150 artists will be part of the artist market this year.

According to Swain, it was Durant’s idea to add an additional market for artists under the age of 18, giving children the opportunity to sell their creations.

Durant said an important change in the festival occurred when it moved to Broad Street.

She recalls standing on Broad Street, viewing all the white tents that lined the Augusta Common and the street as the sun set and the lights came on. She remembered thinking, “We grew up. It was so beautiful, so organized, so exciting.”

 As she gets closer to her retirement date, Durant is excited about what the arts community has accomplished and wants others to know about what the city has to offer.  With its Sculpture Trail, murals, Golden Blocks art installations, Augusta has taken shape as an arts destination, and there’s more on the way.

“We already don‘t blow our horn enough…We say we’re going to be just like – and pick a town, whether it’s Savannah, Macon or whatever. We have to be just like us and celebrate what we have.”

After she leaves the arts council, she plans to take some time off and do some cruising in preparation for another career as a travel agent, specializing in higher-end cruise lines.

Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for 36 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.