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USCB hopes to turn Beaufort campus into fine arts hub
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• A "narrow snapshot" of fiscal year 2008-09 that closed June 30 shows that the city's combined general and park funds dropped from $752,030 the year before to $244,084 this year, said Comptroller Mack Cook.
"The balance still allows the city going forward to provide services it wants to provide at the level it wants to provide them," Cook said.
Beaufort's cash reserve also shed more than $2 million, falling to about $8 million, Cook said. Business license revenue fell by $400,000, according to the preliminary, unaudited report.
Meanwhile, the city paid off $1.9 million in debt, bringing its outstanding debt balance to about $24 million.
The report covered police, fire, public works, parks, planning, management and council finances.
Officials will present a final, audited report in September, Cook said.
• City Manager Scott Dadson said Waste Pro is scheduled to take over city sanitation services Aug. 1. The city will work on keeping residents informed throughout the transition, he said.
The University of South Carolina Beaufort could offer a new studio art degree by spring 2010 at its Beaufort location, which could help lay the foundation for a full range of arts degrees and a new campus identity centered on fine arts education, Chancellor Jane T. Upshaw told Beaufort City Council members at a Tuesday workshop.
Upshaw and council members said they hope an energetic focus on fine arts, such as painting, pottery and sculpture, coupled with the area's natural beauty gives the Beaufort campus a unique identity that USCB's Bluffton location -- and many other four-year universities -- can't offer.
"Where better to have a fine arts campus than here in Beaufort," Upshaw said. "You can walk out the door and see beauty that you can't see anywhere else in the county, and, with all due respect, anywhere else in the state."
USCB won't offer or advertise the studio art degree until the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which is reviewing the degree now, approves the curriculum, Upshaw said.The degree has been approved by all necessary state agencies, she said.
Another part ofthe new vision for the Beaufort campus is boosting the campus' scientific research lab facilities and focusing more intensely on marine science, including coastal ecology and coastal environmental research, Upshaw said.
"We hope that by focusing on the arts and scientific research that we can grow a unique identity for the Beaufort campus," she said.
The university plans to use $200,000 of $480,000 in federal stimulus funding for art classroom upgrades and renovations. Another $25,000 will go toward a handicap lift in the Performing Arts Center.
USCB will open a Campus Center in Beaufort this fall that includes a workout facility, meeting space and a cafeteria that likely will serve breakfast and lunch, Upshaw said.
The efforts highlight a larger push to make the Beaufort campus a desirable location for students. USCB's Bluffton location offers a larger campus with newer facilities, Upshaw said. But the envisioned fine arts program would be offered only at the Beaufort campus, she said.
Council member Gary Fordham said many people want a reinvigorated USCB Beaufort campus and called prospects for an arts program exciting.
"It truly fits the energy of Beaufort," he said.
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