AIKEN --- Plans for the Center for African-American History, Art & Culture in downtown Aiken are moving forward as officials move to hire an executive director to help with design work and fundraising.
Candidates will be interviewed Monday. The person chosen will seek grants and other funding for the center, which is at the former Immanuel Institute on York Street.
The center's goal is to preserve and present black history, art and culture and recognize the contributions of blacks to Aiken.
Carla Cloud, the director of Aiken's Downtown Development Association, said having someone focused on fundraising would bring the 5-year-old idea closer to completion.
Already, volunteers have completed a first-phase renovation to the exterior of the Immanuel Institute, which officials say was Aiken's first school for freed African slaves.
The Rev. Douglas Slaughter, an official with the center and pastor of Second Baptist Church in Aiken, said the focus is now on the interior. He said the center recently received a grant from the South Carolina Heritage Corridor for renovation work.
"We're getting ready actually to start phase two. ...That renovation will also include the design phase for the exhibit," he said.
The Rev. Slaughter said the director will help in the second-phase design work and in fundraising for a third phase, which will deal with exhibits.
Ms. Cloud said the center will offer a history museum, possibly with a display representing the hull of a slave ship.
"Then there will also be African-American art," she said, and programs might be offered on dance or other performing arts.
The Rev. Slaughter said Aiken is a fitting place for such a center as "the founding of Aiken County was during Reconstruction by several African-Americans."
The Rev. Slaughter said the goal is to have the design complete by the end of the summer. He said there will be a major fundraising campaign in the fall, and he hopes to have the entire project finished in the next two years.
Reach Preston Sparks at (803) 648-1395, ext. 110, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.
JIM BLAYLOCK/STAFF
The Rev. Douglas Slaughter said work will start soon on the interior of the old Immanuel Institute, the history center's home.
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