City of Columbia Arts, Historic Preservation and Philanthropy Committee Meeting - October 27, 2026

The Arts, Historic Preservation and Philanthropy Committee met at 2:00 PM on Tuesday, October 27, 2026, in the Mayor's Conference Room at City Hall, 1737 Main Street, Columbia, SC. Chair Tyler D. Bailey presided with Councilmembers Edward H. McDowell Jr. and Tina N. Herbert present. The committee approved prior minutes, discussed the Disabled Veterans Memorial Monument application, and received the Columbia Poet Laureate's four-year update.

Approval of Minutes

• The agenda listed minutes from the August 4, 2026 and August 18, 2026 committee meetings. No minutes document was included in the provided packet, but the transcript shows the committee voted unanimously by voice vote to approve them.

Committee Discussion: Disabled Veterans Memorial Monument Application

• Michael Hale, commander of Disabled American Veterans Chapter 13, John W. Cruz Juniors, located at 511 Valley Street in West Columbia, presented the proposed monument with chapter members. He described it as a dedicated monument honoring disabled American veterans of all branches of service and all war eras, both living and deceased.
• The chapter has a concept and has obtained a quote and approximate timeline from vendor Fletcher Monument. The goal is a dedication ceremony in November 2027. Fundraising is ongoing through engraved 4x8 bricks at $75 and corporate sponsorship options at $75 or $150; chapter adjutant Adriana Flood is the contact for donations and applications.
• Hale said the mayor is on board and is looking into possible assistance.
• Committee members thanked the veterans for their service, and Councilmember McDowell said the monument is in his district and that he supports it physically and financially. The committee expressed wholehearted support for the project.
• The committee reached consensus to advance the application to One Columbia, which will work with ACM Simons on the next details.

Presentation: Poet Laureate Update

• Jennifer Bartell Boykin, the City of Columbia's second poet laureate and its first Black woman poet laureate, reported on her four-year term, which ends December 31, 2026. She has chosen not to renew, and the Poet Laureate Committee is selecting the next poet laureate, with an announcement expected in November 2026.
• She reported approximately 132 activities over four years, 87 paid poets from Columbia and across South Carolina, and $77,000 in fellowships and grants.
• She founded the Soda City Poetry Festival: a one-day festival in 2024, a two-day festival in 2025, and year-long monthly workshops in 2026 because grant funding was scarce. This year, eight local teaching poets have led workshops at Richland Library downtown, with 77 participants so far and two workshops remaining.
• She wrote 13 commissioned poems during her tenure. Highlights included Stargazers, set to music by the Sandlapper Singers and performed in May 2024, and the Finley Park poem, her only poem commissioned by the City of Columbia.
• Funding sources included $50,000 from the Academy of American Poets Poet Laureate Fellowship, of which she used $17,000 for the Soda City Poetry Festival; a $5,000 South Arts grant in 2024; a $7,000 South Carolina Humanities grant written with One Columbia; and approximately $5,000 per year from the City of Columbia for three years. A participant named Scott clarified that the city funding was hospitality tax money routed through Columbia Streams Art.
• Councilmembers Herbert and McDowell said $15,000 in city hospitality funds was not enough for a festival that brings visitors to the city. They urged the city to invest more hospitality tax dollars in the Soda City Poetry Festival and suggested examining another festival's application to see eligible expenses. They also encouraged Boykin to continue the festival after stepping down; she noted it is currently structured as an LLC and would need nonprofit status.
• Boykin's future considerations for the next poet laureate included fully funding the Soda City Poetry Festival at $15,000 to $20,000 or more, adding a poetry slam, installing more public poetry, offering the next laureate an annual honorarium of $1,000 to $5,000 as other South Carolina cities do, commissioning at least one poem per year for an official city event, and providing one public city reading.

Key Outcomes

• The August 4 and August 18, 2026 minutes were approved unanimously.
• The committee agreed to forward the Disabled Veterans Memorial Monument application to One Columbia, with ACM Simons to handle follow-up.
• The committee asked Boykin to write and read one final commissioned poem at the December 15, 2026 council meeting before her term ends.
• No formal vote was taken on poet laureate funding; the funding discussion was a committee recommendation for future consideration.