Savannah College of Art and Design
Its history, legacy, and cultural impact
The city of Savannah is a powerhouse of culture and Georgian individuality. Its storied history is evidence of this. Savannah's contribution to protecting American heritage in the South, accomplished through crucial efforts to preserve its built environment, created a unique and enchanting destination in the U.S. It's no wonder, then, that the city houses one of the foremost significant art institutions in the country, the Savannah College of Art and Design, or as locals call it, SCAD. The college and its impact on the community further prove the city's strength for preserving heritage while providing a cultural legacy of American artistic innovation. In Savannah and at SCAD, history is simultaneously preserved and in the making.
The Savannah College of Art and Design was founded in 1978 by Richard and Paula Wallace (formerly Rowen.) Both educators from Atlanta wanted to expand college education in Georgia that was previously not available in the Southern U.S. With the help of her parents, Mary and Paul Poetter, the Savannah College of Art and Design was founded as a specialized professional art college. In September 1979, the school started offering classes with four staff and seven faculty members, and 71 students. Since the beginning, the college has provided degrees such as painting, interior design, and historic preservation. The preservation degree is of particular notoriety, as Savannah's specific history serves as precise context for the study of conservation.
"Students live, work, and play in Savannah, one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the U.S. SCAD itself has restored nearly 60 historic buildings in the city, now filled with art, beauty, and technology for students to use for insight and inspiration. Outside the university, students collaborate on projects around the region, gaining real-world experience balancing business demands, local priorities, sustainability, and the importance of heritage." –
https://www.scad.edu/academics/programs/preservation-design
In 1979, the story of SCAD as a significant force for historic preservation began for the city of Savannah. At this time, SCAD acquired its first building, the Savannah Volunteer Guard Armor. It was renovated to serve as the first classroom and administration building for the college. Perhaps with the correct intuition necessary to thrive in a seminal American city, the acquisition of the Guard Armory set a precedent for SCAD to acquire, preserve, and reuse some of the most significant buildings in the principal squares of the city's famous Oglethorpe plan. The Savannah Volunteer Guard Armory, brimming with history, was renamed Poetter Hall to honor the two senior founding members. It is located on the south end of Madison Square. Designed by renowned New England architect William G. Preston, the building is made in the Romanesque Revival style. This style uses 11th and 12th century French, Spanish, and Italian Romanesque styles that often contain round arches, sturdy pillars, thick walls, and a massive sense of scale and weight, referencing the castles and churches of ancient Europe. The building's entrance also contains two cannons flanked on each side of the entryway that were discovered under the previous Guard's Armory site and believed to be the oldest cannons forged by the U.S. government in the country.
"Poetter Hall, SCAD's first building, illustrates the rich and complex historical narratives that lie hidden within any building's walls… While every building has multiple stories to tell, in Savannah, they are enriched by the role they play within the urban plan. The unique built environment of Savannah is like a symphony without a soloist, where the streets, squares, trees, and buildings work together in harmony without any building dominating the orchestration." – Robin B. Williams, Chair, Architectural History, SCAD.
In the 1950s, the legacy of Savannah's architecture was in disarray. The residents of downtown Savannah were fleeing southward. There was a high level of criminal activity, many historic buildings were empty and neglected, and the urban modernization that brought along cars and suburbs helped demolish historic squares to create parking garages. This last event sparked the movement for the conservation of the city's architectural past. Eventually, the Historic Savannah Foundation was found and grew to be an exemplary preservation organization, helping save and restore important buildings throughout the city. Independent actors also funded repairs and renovations of antebellum properties to their former architectural glory. With this preservation momentum in place, the late 1970s saw SCAD take this patrimonial mantle and begin acquiring buildings throughout the city as part of its extended campus. SCAD's principal building, Poetter House, is located in the National Historic Landmark District. Naturally, the campus contained many significant buildings in the city, saving at least 65 buildings to date. This preservation effort by the college has been recognized by the American Institute of Architects, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Historic Savannah Foundation. Examples of significant buildings include the first skyscraper in Savannah built in 1895, Propes Hall, a Renaissance-Revival style that houses the interactive services and technology department. The Student Center, housed in an Exotic Revival style of Moorish stylistic motifs, was built in 1909. The Anderson Hall, built in 1896, is a Classical and Colonial Revival style of architecture that houses drawing and design classrooms and a dining hall. And the Clarence Thomas Center for Historic Preservation, made in the Classical Revival style in 1908, accommodates the preservation department's activities. These are a few examples of over 60 buildings that SCAD has transformed and revived over its 40-year history. The SCAD campus is unlike any other in the country. It offers its students the opportunity to receive an elite creative education while traversing the historic, salient streets of America's southern heart.
"Instead of a traditional campus of buildings clustered around an open green space. SCAD's unique campus of formerly abandoned and disused buildings at multiple locations across the city reveals the influence of this orchestration. The college followed the city's historic urban patterns of distributed institutions. In effect, SCAD learned from Savannah." – Robin B. Williams.
The college doesn't only offer outstanding beauty through its facilities, its programming is one of the most dynamic and influential in the realm of secondary art institutions. SCAD's Savannah Film Festival offers an annual event that has gained notoriety for celebrating cinematic achievement from film professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Every year as the festival is held, over 60,000 people attend over an eight-day period. The festival offers a wide range of film screenings, panel lectures, and special access to the entertainment industry's leaders. The festival is the largest university-run film festival globally and receives a vast number of submissions annually. It is held at two historic theaters, the Trustees Theater and the Lucas Theater for the Arts. Celebrity appearances at the festival are common, and some of the most prominent names in the industry attend the event. The likes of Roger Ebert, Peter O'Toole, Tommy Lee Jones, Ellen Burstyn, Sir Ian McKellen, Oliver Stone, Liam Neeson, Milos Forman, Michael Douglas, and Woody Harrelson have been past guests. Recent honorees include Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Hudson, and Billy Crystal. Ultimately, for over 20 years, the film festival has established a reputation as one of the most refined and most dynamic gatherings of the emergent film industry talent in the country.
SCAD also hosts other events that have augmented and shaped Savannah's cultural substance. Since 2010, the deFINE ART show brings contemporary artists to the cities of Savannah and Atlanta annually to display new work and performances. The college also hosts the Sidewalks Arts Festival and Sands Festival, as chalk-drawing and sand art competitions. Also, each department at SCAD holds individual events to highlight student work and promote networking.
At last, SCAD's inheritance of the beauty and history of Savannah has been put to exceptional use. The college itself exists as a city-wide campus that breathes history and cultural lineage from the oak trees to the main squares to the historic buildings that state-of-the-art house facilities offer a brave new world of artistry where creativity is the core pursuit. That's the artistic side. The economic impact the college has had on Savannah is paramount, with estimates amounting to $577 million through its 40-year history, over 6000 jobs in the city, and local government revenues of $30 million. With this advancement of the arts, the economy, and preservation of unique heritage, it's no wonder Savannah can be considered a powerhouse of culture and as the renaissance capital of the romantic, picturesque South.
"The picturesque armory, a turreted medieval-looking structure overlooking the giant live oaks in Madison Square, became the first of thirty-seven subsequent buys. Art students flooded downtown, and though the locals may have disliked their "skateboards and purple Mohawks," as one put it, the teeming presence of SCAD's student body enlivened the once-crime-hobbled historic downtown." - Warren St. John, Sinister Designs. Writer for The New Yorker, The New York Observer, and other publications.
References:
https://www.scad.edu/about/scad-glance/community-impact
https://www.scad.edu/about/scad-glance/history
https://www.myhsf.org/about-us/our-story/
https://www.ajc.com/news/special-reports/selling-dream/VVfRSVilHliyrTe9LAd5hN/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Savannah_College_of_Art_and_Design#History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naCGPrhwM9k&t=483s
https://www.scad.edu/about/scad-glance/community-impact
