---
title: "Arts Commission rejects grants for a Greenville chorus and Spartanburg theater"
url: https://www.heregreenville.com/2026/10/04/arts-commission-denies-greenville-grants/
date: 2026-10-04T12:53:17-04:00
modified: 2026-10-04T12:53:17-04:00
author: "Sloane Westmoreland"
categories: ["News"]
site: "HERE Greenville"
attribution: "HERE Greenville"
---

# Arts Commission rejects grants for a Greenville chorus and Spartanburg theater

*Source: [HERE Greenville](https://www.heregreenville.com/2026/10/04/arts-commission-denies-greenville-grants/) — October 4, 2026 by Sloane Westmoreland*

GREENVILLE, South Carolina — The board that hands out South Carolina Arts Commission grants has turned down money for two Upstate groups that an outside panel had already recommended: the Greenville Gay Men's Chorus, based in Greenville, South Carolina, and Proud Mary Theatre Company in Spartanburg.

The vote was Thursday. It split 5-3 against the awards. The chorus figure in both accounts is about $13,000, for ordinary operating costs such as security, bookkeeping, and storage. The theater figure is just under $4,000. A later local report rounds the chorus number as $13,000 of a possible $15,000 and describes the company's budget as a little over $100,000. The earlier report does not print that ceiling or that budget total. It does say each group received $4,750 last year. The later report does not.

The denial did not arrive on the first pass. In June the commission paused decisions. In August it funded a large slate of other organizations and pulled these two files for more review. The earlier report puts that other slate at a combined $3.7 million for more than 170 groups and says the extra questions were not about artistic merit. The board asked for line-item budgets, the names of employees and vendors paid with state money, and whether any of the grant would pay for programs inside K-12 schools. Both groups said no on the school question. The later report says the commission, before the vote, issued a statement that questions about the two applicants and the artistic merit of their work had been raised on the floor of the General Assembly.

Thursday's meeting was virtual. The earlier report says board members did not explain their votes out loud and that the public could not comment. Russell Parks of Easley, a commissioner, had written in June that he could not defend these awards to legislators who might pull money for the whole commission because of them. Both reports describe that email. A second commissioner, Jessica Rourke of Columbia, wrote that she would not send public funds to organizations built around sexual orientation or to drag performances. That email is in the earlier report.

The later report carries a statement from the South Carolina Freedom Caucus, after the vote, arguing that tax money should stay with roads, public safety, and basic services rather than private groups. The earlier report quotes a different caucus lawmaker, Rep. Thomas Beach of Piedmont, making a similar spending argument in an email after the meeting. The groups have said they are looking at legal options and that performances will continue. Proud Mary has listed a revue called Stage Frights among its upcoming shows. The chorus has a December date at the Greenville Theatre in the later report only.

This account uses the vote, the dollar figures that match, the delay, and the commissioners' emails. It does not adopt anyone's characterization of motive beyond those written remarks.