The South Carolina Arts Commission announced Monday that Board Chairwoman Flavia Harton will resign her position next week, two weeks after the board denied two LGBTQ+ groups public grant money.
Gov. Henry McMaster and Secretary of State Mark Hammond were both informed of Harton's upcoming resignation, the commission said.
Harton, who said she is leaving for "personal time restraints," will resign from the board effective Oct. 16, the day after the board's next meeting in Greenville.
Last week, the board voted 5-3 to deny grant funding requests from the Greenville Gay Men's Chorus and the Proud Mary Theatre Company in Spartanburg in a special-called Oct. 1 meeting.
The pair of LGBTQ+ organizations were the only potential grant recipients that had their requests denied. The board approved $3.7 million in other grant requests for about 180 other organizations.
As chair, Harton only votes in the event of a tie and did not need to cast a vote in the Oct. 1 funding decisions.
Although the actions will come within a short timeframe of each other, a commission news release from Communications Director Jason Rapp said Harton's want for more personal time motivated the move.
Asked for further comment, Rapp referred to the official release.
As of 12:30 p.m. Monday, the governor's spokeswoman Michelle LeClair said Harton had not yet sent the office an "official letter of resignation."
Shannon Wiley, spokeswoman for the Secretary of State's Office, said the office had only received an emailed letter from Harton on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 8:09 p.m. that shared her intent to resign.
"It has been an honor to serve in the Arts Commission board, however due to personal time restraints I found that I must resign as Chair of the Board of the Arts Commission and as a board member of the Arts Commission. I have truly enjoyed working with the Arts Commission," she said in the email.
McMaster appointed Harton to the board in June 2022. She began her role as chair in May 2025.
Harton was reappointed as chair earlier this year.
In a March meeting of the Senate Education Committee, which vets commission board appointees, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, R-Edgefield, criticized how the commission had spent taxpayer dollars in the past when awarding grants.
Harton said the board had implemented new policies to better align with state interests.
In the Oct. 1 board meeting, she said the grant decisions came with a packet of pressure.
"The commissioners have been under a lot of pressure. There is pressure from the arts world. There is a lot happening. This has been a difficult process," she said during the meeting. "I just want to thank again the two organizations for all the work that you've done and resending us the documentation."
The board is expected to vote on a new chair at its Oct. 15 meeting.
