BIG ARTS is built to last.
“BIG ARTS has been here for 40 years,” noted Gallery Director Wilson McCray. “But about eight years ago they levelled the old buildings and, on the same footprint, built this amazing new facility.”
It’s a multifaceted complex.
“We have three galleries, all of which are flooded with natural light,” McCray added. “We have an amazing performing arts program, a film program as well, a Monday night film series that's all internationally acclaimed films, and we have an educational program too with classes and workshops. So, there's just an enormous amount of great artwork and exhibits and performing arts that take place here.”
The building weathered Hurricanes Ian, Helene and Milton largely unscathed. The outdoor sculpture garden wasn’t as lucky.
“It's just coming back,” McCray stated. “I've been working for three years trying to build it back. We had a lot of damaged work and some really large pieces that took a lot to rebuild. But they're back in place, and I have a few new acquisitions that were donated, some marble works by John Bauer.”
McCray hopes people will check out the improvements this season and is busy preparing a map that will facilitate self-guided walking tours.
“Particularly right now when it's so beautiful out, it's a really good time to come out and look at our sculpture garden,” said McCray.
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When he speaks about BIG ARTS’ galleries, McCray beams with pride.
“They're big. They're spacious. They're really well lit,” said McCray. “And it's such a really nice bucolic environment all around them.”
The 410-seat theater is also state-of-the-art.
“It's beautiful. The acoustics are amazing. And there isn't a bad seat in the house,” McCray said. “It's really a great place.”
McCray also took pride in BIG ARTS’ response to Hurricane Ian.
“Our director, Lee Ellen Harder, turned BIG ARTS into a community center,” McCray pointed out. “For the first four or five months, we had a community gathering once a month. It was amazing. Maybe 300 people would show up who were all literally working on their houses all day and appreciated having a place to gather. So, it was good to play that role.”
Despite brief setbacks following Hurricanes Helene and Milton, BIG ARTS has restored virtually of all its visual, performing arts and educational programing.
“We’ve been slowly, slowly, slowly getting back to business and back to our usual programming.”
BIG ARTS was formally known as the Barrier Island Group for the Arts.
Its founding principle remains to this day: to experience and celebrate the artist in all of us and to remind us of our shared humanity. Each year BIG ARTS offers performing and fine arts, films, workshops, classes and community events.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
