Columbia Fashion Week and the ColaFW Alliance is proud to be partnering with The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center to present ARTfusion: Where art meets fashion,
a groundbreaking event that merges the worlds of fashion and art in an extraordinary celebration of creativity and talent.
Date: Friday, June 23
Time: 7pm-9pm
The Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center
1510 Laurens Street, Columbia, South Carolina 29204
Drinks and light hors d'oeuvres will be served.
If you are an artist interested in participating in this event, please email hello@columbiafashionweek.com no later than Friday, June 9.
about
ARTfusion is a unique and vibrant event that aims to bridge the gap between fashion and art, providing a platform for the exceptional artists and designers within our city to showcase their extraordinary work. By seamlessly blending the realms of fashion and art, we invite you to witness the breathtaking fusion of two powerful and expressive industries.
Experience a visual feast as the event transforms into an immersive art gallery, showcasing an array of captivating art installations, paintings, and mixed media pieces. Explore the intersection of fashion and art, where traditional mediums are reimagined and transformed into wearable art forms.
COLAFW ARTfusion is more than just a display of talent; it is an opportunity to engage with the artists and designers, fostering connections between the creative community and the audience. Engage in insightful conversations, learn about the inspirations behind the designs, and discover the stories that lie within each brushstroke or stitch. That's not all! Join in on the experience at our interactive art stations, giving you the opportunity to create your own fashionable art piece!
With live music, interactive experiences, and pop-up exhibitions, ARTfusion invites you to immerse yourself in an atmosphere where creativity knows no bounds. Whether you're an art enthusiast, fashion aficionado, or simply seeking an unforgettable experience, this event promises to be a feast for the senses.
Join us at ARTfusion and witness the magic that happens when fashion and art collide. Be part of a community that embraces innovation, expression, and the extraordinary talent within our city. Let the fusion ignite your imagination and leave you inspired to explore new horizons of creative expression.
Get your tickets now and secure your place at this groundbreaking event that will redefine the boundaries of art and fashion. Together, let's celebrate the remarkable talent that resides within our city and embrace the power of collaboration between these two artistic realms. ARTfusion: Where art meets fashion awaits you!
If you are an artist interested in participating in this event, please email hello@columbiafashionweek.com no later than Friday, June 9.
Columbia Fashion Week launched the COLAFW Alliance in August of 2022 as a division of Columbia Fashion Week. The COLAFW Alliance mission is to highlight and strengthen the impact fashion plays in our local community and bring visibility to the talents of our members.
The COLAFW Alliance welcomes all creatives from, Fashion Designers, Fashion Stylists, Models, Beauty Artists, Photographers, and Media professionals. Membership and sponsorship go towards creating spaces that provide sustainable access to opportunities and resources, such as:
- Access to participate in Columbia Fashion Week as a creative,
- Creative and business workshops,
- Business and career-based development,
- Assists with personal and business Branding
- Mentorship, Internship and Volunteer programs
With the support of our local sponsors and participants, Columbia Fashion Week will continue to serve as a platform of collaboration and helping creative further advance their careers in the fashion industry.
Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center
Nikky Finney
Poet
Director of the Ernest A. Finney, Jr Cultural Arts Center
"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 new center is home to African American culture, art, and expression. It is also a long-awaited gathering place for community conversations. The new center is in the historic Robert Mills district and just across from the historic Waverly Community, and 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 beings age or background.
While we understand that the full expression of art includes performance and exhibition, and we will 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., the grandson of Black Virginia farmers and the progeny of two historically Black South Carolina colleges, Claflin University and South Carolina State University. Finney was a tireless advocate for justice and equality in South Carolina during the middle and late 20th century. He 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. Finney is remembered as “the Black Fox” for his uncanny ability to get people from all walks of life to sit at the table together, look each other in the eye, and grapple with the uncomfortable but necessary creation of a more justly aligned world.
We believe that Columbia, the capital of South Carolina, a major city in the southern hemisphere of these United States, has hungered for a space like the Ernest A. Finney, Jr. Cultural Arts Center. As governments and private business and passionate citizens plan for the future of our deeply interconnected world – we believe our new arts center will be one place of endless human possibilities."
-from www.finneyjrcac.com
