a professional oriented non-profit organization, embracing a philosophy of education and competition for its members and a policy of community service through arts education for the public. It endorses no particular style or esthetic philosophy, but seeks to help its individual members realize their full potential in the mediums and styles of their choice.
Arts & Entertainment
Experience the culture of Spartanburg, SC through the myriad arts and entertainment options. Our list of entertainment options will help guide your optimal experience.
Ballet Spartanburg’s mission is to promote dance appreciation in Spartanburg County and surrounding areas by providing quality dance presentation, education, and outreach. Ballet Spartanburg produces a four program season that includes “The Nutcracker”, a fall program, a spring program and a guest company.
Following in the footsteps of such outstanding professional teams as the Spinners, Spartans, Braves, and Bombers, your new World Champion Red Sox affiliate team, Greenville Drive, is here to provide baseball at it finest for a community that knows and appreciates what the game is all about.
The UPSTATE Gallery on Main officially opened its doors in February of 2015. Showcasing the permanent work of artists Andy Warhol, Jerry Uelsmann and Beatrice Riese, the Gallery offers its visitors the opportunity to see a variety of contemporary, original exhibitions in downtown Spartanburg. Visitors can also enjoy guest exhibitions and student work.
The Art Lounge is an award-winning art gallery, professional framing, and gift shop where you can find one of a kind pieces, from local artists to uniquely sourced products from around the country.
Greenville Theatre (formerly known as Greenville Little Theatre) is the Upstate’s oldest and largest producing professional theatre. As an organization, we strive to inspire, educate, entertain, and connect our community through necessary art and storytelling.
The Milliken Art Gallery at Converse College hosts visiting exhibits, as well as exhibits by the students and faculty of the Converse Department of Art and Design. The Gallery maintains approximately six shows per year.
The Spartanburg Repertory Opera provides accessible cultural community enrichment and educational opportunities through professional quality experiences in the various aspects of opera, operettas and musicals, thereby developing area talent and promoting community appreciation in the Upstate.
When the subject is conferences, tradeshows, or meetings, we’ve got plenty of room to talk! Long known as one of the largest exhibit halls in the country, Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville, SC is also one of the most elegant, flexible and well-equipped meeting sites.
South Carolina Children’s Theatre combines local talent and the magic of the stage to provide the finest family entertainment and live theatre experience to the Upstate community. Sit back, relax and let our totally professionally and delightfully immature casts entertain you.
Hollywild Animal Park is located near Inman in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, one of the most scenic and culturally diverse areas of South Carolina’s Upcountry. Nestled on over 100 acres, Hollywild is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to providing an interactive and enlightening experience for our visitors as we continually improve the lives of our animals in an enriching and respectful environment.
The Peace Center, located in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, is the premier performing arts center in the Upstate. Come in, explore, and enjoy.
Hatcher Garden is a community supported urban garden located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Started by a man with a dream, the garden has grown to become a beautiful woodland preserve that provides a home for wildlife and a display for the nature’s beauty. The mission of Hatcher Garden & Woodland Preserve is to be a place for the public to come for inspiration, enjoyment and education through the study of nature. The Garden is home to over 10,000 trees, shrubs and flowers. Admission is free.
Spartanburg’s grand old lady, the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, reopened after an extensive $10.5 million renovation, and is a great venue for entertainment. The new renovations include a new lobby, complete with custom carpeting, a specialty coffee bar, copper chandeliers, and arched skylights. The concession stand has rich oak cabinets behind the counter, and just around the corner is a new souvenir booth.
The mission of the Spartanburg Little Theatre is to activate, cultivate, and educate our community by providing quality theatrical experiences for children and adults alike. They stage at least four productions a year including comedies, dramas, and musical theatre. Performances are at the Chapman Cultural Center.
Lawson’s Fork Creek is accessible to paddlers who want to put in at Whitney and float to Lawson’s Fork is now accessible to paddlers who want to put in at Whitney and float to the Cottonwood Trail, a distance of 4.5 river miles. A crew from V. Palmetto Builders has completed work on the “put-in” just below the dam, along U.S. Highway 221.
The Cove Lounge and Club
9112 Greenville Hwy. 864-576-2683
Hoozers Lounge
4895 S. Pine Street 864-582-7381
Magnolia Street Pub
261 Magnolia Street 864-948-1777
Twisters
179 E. Saint John Street 864-585-0088
Providing cultural leadership for Greater Spartanburg County. Chapman Cultural Center provides major funding and education for many of Spartanburg’s arts and cultural organizations. But we’re more than a destination. Honoring our vision of providing cultural leadership, we branch out into Spartanburg County to advocate for the arts and culture of our region. Several partner organizations make up Chapman Cultural Center. We are proud to serve as the central driving force in our community’s dynamic, vibrant cultural life.
In 1957 the Spartanburg County Historical Association was founded with a mission to promote and encourage interest in all aspects of the history of Spartanburg County. FestiFall, a colonial living history festival, is held at Walnut Grove Plantation the first weekend in October each year. Taste of the Backcountry, a cooking festival, is held the first Saturday in April at the Price House.
A typical concert season at the Petrie School of Music at Converse College features over 150 events each year, including student and faculty recitals as well as performances, lectures and master classes by some of the world’s most gifted musicians.
The Greenville County Museum of Art offers its visitors a way to sample the very best in American art through traveling exhibitions and exhibitions drawn from its own collection. It also offers art classes, evening programs, and information for teachers and school classes.
Located just off bustling Main Street, Café And Then Some brings you folksy satire and music and great food, blended with a personal touch by proprietors Bill and Susan Smith. He’s better known as “Bubba” on stage. She’s best known as “Norma Jean, a big ole country and western star”, but she has also introduced Café And Then Some regulars to a host of characters—from cosmetologist Joenine Whitehead to Mary Louise Earle McDaniel Hampton Pinckney.
The State Theatre of North Carolina, and one of the finest local playhouses in the United States. Highly acclaimed throughout the theater world. The Playhouse’s dual mission of producing the performing arts and providing education in the performing arts includes a ten-show professional series; a summer and fall college apprentice and intern program; performances and cabaret series by the YouTheatre; year-round classes and workshops for students from kindergarten through adults. Flat Rock Playhouse now hosts over 90,000 patrons annually and is a major contributor to the local economy and the Arts in North Carolina. Check the web site for schedule: www.flatrockplayhouse.org.
See the cars, the speed, the innovation – all for free in the only BMW museum in North America. The BMW Zentrum is part meeting and events center, part café, part gallery, and part time machine. Located next to the only BMW manufacturing plant in the US, this museum of motion offers something for everyone.
The Warehouse Theatre is a professional theatre organization dedicated to the concept of theatre as a serious art form; to high-quality, diverse and challenging productions; to the training of theatre professionals; to community outreach; and to student education. The theatre chooses plays to stretch the imagination of Upstate audiences, to energize and excite the community with Intimate, Intense and Unexpected performances that explore and celebrate the complexities of our time.
Cowpens National Battlefield, in Cowpens, SC, commemorates a decisive battle that helped turn the tide of war in the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. The battle at the “Cow Pens,” one of only a few successful double envelopments in history, is recognized by historians as one of the most important of the American Revolution.
Walnut Grove Plantation is on land granted in 1763 by King George III to Charles Moore when the area was known as the backcountry. The documented collection of antique furnishings and accessories vividly portrays living conditions in Spartanburg County prior to 1805.
The black-box theatre in Wofford’s Campus Life Building offers performances by the Wofford Theatre Workshop, a campus organization dedicated to showing students how playwrights express ideas through drama.
The Peace Center, located in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, is the premier performing arts center in the Upstate. Come in, explore, and enjoy.
For over 90 seasons, Spartanburg Philharmonic has been delighting audiences of all ages.
The mission of the Proud Mary Theatre Company, a 501(c)3 non-profit and non-professional theatre, is to present LGBTQ+ voices and stories in Spartanburg and the entire Upstate region through theatrical plays: compelling dramas, rib-tickling comedies, musicals, and local original works and avant-garde pieces that celebrate diversity and tolerance.
Currently we have 5 displays running which include O, HO, N, and G scales, a 1400 sq. ft. children’s play area featuring wooden toy trains, coloring tables, a basketball arcade, corn-hole game, etc., and a museum artifact room. We now have our birthday party room available for rental. Please call or visit our website for availability, hours, and prices. We are a non-profit 501c3 organization.
TJC Gallery, located in the heart of downtown at 154 W. Main St. (next to Starbucks), is open to the public, and always free of charge. Gallery hours are Wednesday through Saturday from 12pm to 4pm. In addition, we are pleased to participate in the city’s ArtWalk, held on the third Thursday of each month from 6pm to 8pm. Upcoming events and gallery programming can be found on our homepage under “What’s Happening.”
The Hub City Bookshop in Spartanburg, SC, is a revolutionary independent bookstore. With each book purchased at our store, we and our customers nourish new writers and help launch authors into the literary world.
Spartanburg Art Museum is a regional museum promoting contemporary visual arts by inspiring and engaging people of all ages through exhibitions and education. Always free because art is for everyone.
Centre Stage-South Carolina! has as its focus and primary purpose the nurturing of a culturally and ethnically diverse not-for-profit theatre with broad participation by both professional and non-professional artists.
In service since the fall of 1969 and named as one of the “Outstanding Buildings of the Year” by the South Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the The Sandor Teszler Library at Wofford College was dedicated in 1971 and named for Sandor Teszler, a well-known textile leader. The downstairs gallery houses art collections with a changing schedule of exhibitions through the course of each year.
Since its inception more than ten years ago, Music on Main has been embraced by the Spartanburg community as a favorite after-work social gathering. What began as a plan to re-introduce the business community and the local residents to the downtown area is now a destination point where you can meet your friends and colleagues, hear great live music, enjoy food and beverages in an outdoor setting, and just have plain fun! Free concert are held Thursday evenings April through July from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Morgan Square.
More than a rock, Chimney Rock Park in Lake Lure, North Carolina is a mountain of possibilities. Enjoy a leisurely walk or a challenging hike out to 404-foot Hickory Nut Falls. Sign up to take a rock climbing clinic or spend a half or full-day taking rock climbing instructions. Bring a picnic or pick up a Hiker’s Lunch and savor the views. Take the kids and the dog on the Great Woodland Adventure trail. There’s no shortage of ways to find yourself breathless. Check out our special events and group activities. Just 60 miles north of Spartanburg. Open all year. Live it up!
The Science Center offers programs in natural history and science to schools, scout troupes, summer camps, parks and recreations centers, and other interested groups. It also has a portable Star lab planetarium available for programs.