Over 50 years ago the public broadcasting service (PBS) was created to champion the principles of diversity and excellence of programming, responsiveness to local communities, and service to all. Before I joined The Nick in January, I spent over two decades as a content creator in the public media industry. One of the great joys […]
News
Leadership
It’s been a busy year – Growth and Progress at The Nick
May 16, 2023
It’s been a year since Nickelodeon Board of Directors announced that Sumner Bender was coming aboard as executive director. She joined the team as it was facing a trio of big challenges: It still was far from fully open after more than two years of pandemic. Many doubted the future of the whole industry in […]
Announcement
Leading The Nick – past, present and future
April 27, 2023
David Whiteman, newly-elected president of The Nick’s board, has been involved with the theater and its mission almost since the very beginning. The Nickelodeon was started in 1979. Two years later, David came to Columbia to teach political science at the University of South Carolina. He’d heard about the theater, then located just south of […]
Announcement
End-of-year Capital Campaign more than doubles its $50,000 goal
January 5, 2023
Dear members and friends, I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude for your membership and support of The Nick. Your engagement, involvement and support are essential to our success and ability to remain your local neighborhood theater. As members, donors and customers, you are the foundation of our community. Your generosity helps us […]
Leadership
For Charmaine Clowney, chairing The Nick’s board is ‘just the thrill of my life’
October 19, 2022
When Charmaine Clowney was growing up in Columbia, she developed an early love of music. She saw her first performances of opera and jazz. She saw the great Dizzy Gillespie play in person, right here it her hometown. “The arts were a way of escaping, living in the segregated South,” she recalls. But here in […]
Local News
Free Times names our own Sumner Bender to its Power List for 2022
July 27, 2022
Sumner Bender, our new executive director, has been named to the Free Times Power List for 2022, as one of “25 people who continuously reshape and define Columbia’s culture.” The newspaper says “Bender, a longtime board member of Trustus Theatre, has stepped in with enthusiasm and a penchant for the right messaging.” Read more here. […]
Programming
The Nickelodeon to host double-feature of films by South Carolina documentary filmmaker, Emily Harrold.
July 5, 2022
The Nickelodeon Theater in Columbia, South Carolina will host two screenings of documentary films by Orangeburg native Emily Harrold on the evening on Wednesday July 13, 2022. The first screening will be of Harrold’s current work-in-progress documentary, IN THE BUBBLE WITH JAIME, which follows the 2020 Senate run of Democrat Jaime Harrison who challenged Lindsey […]
Announcement
A Note From Sumner
June 6, 2022
It is officially my first week as Executive Director and I wanted to let you know that The Nickelodeon and its members have been on my mind. I want to get to know as many of you as possible and make sure you know how much you are appreciated. It is the membership base that has […]
Leadership
Sumner Bender named executive director of The Nickelodeon
April 28, 2022
Sumner Bender, an educator in Lexington-Richland School District 5 and president of the board of Trustus Theatre, will become the new executive director of The Nickelodeon arthouse theater on June 6. She is the first named permanently to the position since last August. The Columbia native has been the theater teacher at Spring Hill High […]
Leadership
The Nickelodeon board has a change of leadership
April 20, 2022
Due to unavoidable but exciting developments, The Nick has just experienced a change in board leadership. Our president since August 2021, Xavier Blake, started a new job in the Albany, NY, area on April 18 as Content & Engagement Manager for WMHT Public Media, the public broadcasting outlet for eastern New York state and western […]