We’re lucky in Columbia. We live in a community robust with a cultural scene that invigorates our living. Films, plays, readings, concerts, dances, gallery shows, festivals – you name it, we seem to have it and we seem to have had some of the world’s premier artistic talent grace our stages. And that’s just at the community college! Yes, we are lucky.
Since 2006, we’ve benefited from the College’s wonderful Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center and its three main venues: Smith Theatre, Monteabaro Recital Hall and Studio Theatre. But the story doesn’t start there.
In the latest episode of HCC’s In Focus TV show, we learn of how the College has been working with arts organizations for decades, bringing works of the highest quality to student and community audiences. It’s the kind of behind the scenes work that gets taken for granted until someone spells out what’s been going on, then it’s just plain impressive.
In the show, Dr. Kate Heatherington, president of HCC, talks with others about just that, the Hororwitz Center, its artists and programs, as well as its partnerships with an array of local arts organizations that really make it special. “They bring in incredible talent!” Valerie Lash, chair of the Arts and Humanities division, says in regard to groups such as,
- Columbia Film Society
- HoCoPoLitSo (the Howard County Poetry and Literature Society)
- The Candle Light Concert Series
- Howard County Center for African American Culture
- Columbia Festival of the Arts
- Howard County Arts Council
…among many others that have worked with the College and its venues. In the video, Janelle Broderick, manager of the Center, discusses just how students of the two year school benefit from all that happens at there with the proximity to professional artists, faculty performers, even groups in residence, not to mention all the performances. It is a tremendous resource, one shared whole-heartedly with the community at large. Bravo! Encore! We love it!
Columbia really is lucky to have the College and such a rich, existing arts experience, an experience due to grow more robust in the future as the cultural health of the community develops with the revitalization of downtown.
To check out what’s on at the Horowitz Center, visit its webpage calendar.
To view the 24 minute episode of HCC’s In Focus, click here.
