Guide to the Charleston Spoleto Festival
Charleston Spoleto Opening Ceremonies
Every spring, the entire bustling city of Charleston, South Carolina comes to a screeching halt for a 17-day period to pay homage to one of the most sacred fine arts festivals in the world: Spoleto. Many people probably don’t even know what the term is, but know simply that it brings the masses to Charleston to celebrate everything that’s beautiful about both the fine arts and the city itself. Since curiosity killed the cat, the festival began in 1977 to be an American rendition of the European Festival of Two Worlds, which takes place in no other than Spoleto, Italy.
The Spoleto Festival in Charleston in all seriousness, is literally comparable to the Olympics. 17 days long, with multiple events everyday and both opening and closing ceremonies, this is what the city of Charleston looks forward to every year. It not only celebrates the genius of art, music and theater, but it celebrates the charm and history that makes Charleston such a unique city. So how do you fit it all in? Well just like you don’t go to everyday and every event of the Olympics, you’re not going to every event at this Charleston festival. I recommend picking a weekend and giving 3-4 days to getting a full experience. I’ll go ahead and tell you that since it starts on Memorial Day weekend on May 28th, that it will be the busiest weekend of the festival, and therefore the toughest to reserve Charleston accommodations.
Like planning for a trip, do some research before committing to specific performances at Spoleto. This isn’t Woodstock, where you eat, drink, sleep and smoke the festival for three straight days. This is a celebration of fine arts, so you’re not likely to know many of the musicians and performers. Check out some of the performer’s information and websites when making a decision of what performances to see.
Unless you’re in Charleston just for the day, don’t go to consecutive shows, like three back to back performances. Break up your days, so that if you do go to a couple performances in one day, go to the first early in the day, then go check out Charleston for the afternoon and grab a nice dinner, before heading to your nightcap. Each day is split up with a wide-range of different performances throughout the day, ranging from opera to dance to music to drama.
Check back in a couple weeks when I talk about my first Charleston Spoleto Festival experience.
Photo from Charleston’s TheDigitel on Flickr.