Syd Blackmarr has had over forty years of experience in advocating for the arts across not only Tifton, but southern Georgia as well, and many of the programs and organizations that have been formed in support of the arts across South Georgia are at least in some part thanks to her efforts. It's for these reasons that the Tifton Council for the Arts saw fit to honor her work by renaming their arts center after her.

TIFTON—What was once a church in disrepair became a hub to celebrate and represent the arts in Tifton. Now, that center has evolved further to honor the efforts of one of the most prominent supporters of the arts in southern Georgia.

Twenty-five years to the day after its opening, the Tifton Museum of Arts and Heritage reopened its doors as the Syd Blackmarr Arts Center April 28, taking a new name to honor the efforts of the titular Syd Blackmarr, an advocate for the arts that has been instrumental in overseeing the formulation and success of several art programs across South Georgia.

A gala was held on the 25th anniversary of the museum opening to celebrate the renaming, with residents of Tifton and art advocates coming out in droves to celebrate the storied history of the museum, the woman whose name it now bears, and the next stage of life for a structure that has been a part of Tifton for more than a century.

Initially a Methodist church hardly used by the community and planned to be demolished, in the early 1990s, a group of Tifton citizens, including former Tift County Board of Commissioner Chair Charles Kent, local physician Clay Dorminey, and the Tifton Rotary Club, rallied together to campaign for its preservation.

Through their efforts, a grant was written to help refurbish the building, with local architect Roy Rankin, a descendant of Henry Harding Tift, the founder of Tifton and the original builder of the church, assisting in the restoration effort. From there, the building slowly began to take a new shape as the Tifton Museum of Arts and Heritage.

“They didn’t know exactly what it was going to be,” said Joy Yost, the Executive Director of the arts center. “But they’d always had the vision it was going to be an arts and culture center.”

However, as the museum continued to grow and expand what it offered the community, the board of organizers behind it realized it had begun to transcend being but a mere museum. 

In addition to holding various art exhibits, the museum also offered classes and workshops to the community on a regular basis, much more than they held exhibits. Thus, they decided it was time to move away from the title of museum and more towards a broader range of art celebration.

“We realized the original vision was for this to be some type of arts and cultural center; they just put ‘museum’ in the name because they thought it might become a museum and have a permanent exhibit,” Yost said. “That never really came to fruition; we do hold exhibits in the museum multiple times a year, but it’s expanded into more than that. Now we offer classes, we do workshops, we go out into the community and offer classes at other locations as well. We realized we’re really becoming more than just our building.”

With this rebranding from art museum to art center came a renaming as well, and the executives behind the new center thought it only fitting to christen the new facility after the person who worked so passionately to help it thrive.

“Syd Blackmarr’s name has been synonymous with the arts in Tifton since 1976,” Yost said. “Before this building was even thought of as an arts center, she was promoting the arts in Tifton and in South Georgia as a whole.”

Indeed, Blackmarr has had a hand in getting several art programs in the southern regions of the state off the ground and keeping them in the air.

In addition to serving on the first board of directors for the museum and remaining heavily involved with it by serving as chair of its Exhibits Committee, Blackmarr also oversaw the Arts Experiment Station, the predecessor of the Arts Connection Program at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, and helped found the South Georgia Arts Alliance, an eight county organization that works to promote art events and tours across the allied regions.

“One of the most satisfying parts of my work is how I was able to encourage other people to collaborate,” Blackmarr said. “Other organizations, cities, and counties, even, to do something that had not been done on any major scale in our towns.”

Blackmarr states much of her appreciation for the arts comes from her family, who deeply treasured the value of the arts and raised her to do the same. She credits her mother most with instilling this love and appreciation for the arts, as well as the power they possess.

“The reason I have such a passion for making the arts happen is that I really believe they have a transformative power,” Blackmarr said. “The arts reach people on a deep level, they bring people together in a non-political way, and they can enrich our community by giving us a way to celebrate who we are from the perspective of creative peoples. I believe in the power of the arts to make a difference in our lives, in very subtle, but important ways.”

In regards to such a cornerstone of Tifton’s history receiving her name, Blackmarr has expressed her bottomless appreciation for the gesture, admitting it is a bit of a surprise, but that it is nonetheless one she is honored to receive.

“It’s very humbling to have my name on it, because I realize so many people love that building–they went to church there, they grew up there, they married there, or they had memorial services for their loved ones there,” Blackmarr said. “There’s a lot of deep attachment to it, personal attachment, so that makes me even more humbled that my name is on the building. I never want to forget the attachments that people have to it personally.”

Moving ahead, the newly christened Syd Blackmarr Center for the Arts, referred to as “The Syd” by many of the members of the newly renamed Tifton Council for the Arts, will continue to offer classes and programs to bring art expression to Tifton, starting with several events taking place throughout June.

Blackmarr herself also plans to continue her involvement with the arts center, not only remaining in her position as Chair of the Exhibits Committee, but continuing to advocate for art recognition and appreciation wherever she can.