The Charleston Antiques Symposium, benefiting the School of the Arts at the College of Charleston, is proud to announce its business benefactors for the 2003 Symposium, March 13 through 16, with a special satellite program on Kiawah Island on March 12. The Charleston organizations collaborating with this year’s event are: Saks Fifth Avenue, Charleston; Estate Antiques; the Gibbes Museum of Art; the Holiday Inn Historic District; Helping Hand; Tiger Lily Florist; and Charleston Travel.

With “About Charleston” as its theme, the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium’s first day’s sessions will be in private homes on Kiawah Island. The remaining sessions will be in venues in downtown Charleston and at Drayton Hall. In celebration of the launch of the book entitled “The Furniture of Charleston, 1680 – 1820,” the Symposium will feature author Bradford L. Rauschenberg in three sessions, which will address the book’s three volumes. The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), the book’s publisher, has selected the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium as the first venue through which the book will be available outside of MESDA.

Saks Fifth Avenue, Charleston, will host a book signing with Susan Sully, a Charleston Antiques Symposium speaker, as the featured author. Sully is the accomplished author of “Charleston Style: Past and Present” and “Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners.” A condensed version of “Charleston Style: Past and Present” has been recently published. The above titles will be available for purchase at the book signing, together with other selections. The event will take place at the 5th Avenue Club on Friday, March 14, from noon until 4 p.m. Additionally, Saks Fifth Avenue, Charleston, will donate ten percent of the amount of purchases made by Symposium participants between March 12 through 16 to the School of the Arts. Participants are asked to identify themselves as Charleston Antiques Symposium participants in order to insure proper credit for the School.

Admission to the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium ranges from $25 to $75 per session, with admission packages available at attractive rates. To obtain a full roster of speakers, session schedule, or other information about the Symposium, please visit www.cofc.edu/sota/symposium/aboutchas or telephone Michael Haga at (843) 953-7766.

Jean Y. Helms, Chairwoman of the Charleston Antiques Symposium Committee, announced that the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium will take place March 13 through 16, 2003, with a special satellite program on Kiawah Island on March 12, 2003. The Symposium will take place at the College of Charleston's School of the Arts and other venues, and the theme will be "About Charleston."

In recognition of the significance of the new book, "The Furniture of Charleston 1680 - 1820," Bradford L. Rauschenberg, Senior Fellow at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, N.C., and co-author of the book, will be the opening night speaker, the keynote speaker, and the first speaker during Saturday's sessions. Each of his lectures will correspond to one of the three volumes of the book. This publication, which is to be released in March 2003, is the result of twenty-five years of research sponsored by MESDA. Like his co-author, the late John Bivins, Jr., Rauschenberg has been a prior speaker for the Symposium.

Other Symposium speakers include Ted Landsmark, President of the Boston Architectural Center; Robert Leath of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Maurie McInnis of the University of Virginia; George Williams of Estate Antiques; and Robert Russell, CoDdirector of the College of Charleston's Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program. The event on Kiawah Island will feature author Susan Sully, who will present a lecture focusing on the differences between "Charleston Style" and "Savannah Style." She will be joined by Graham Long of the Charleston Museum, who will speak about objects in the Museum's collections, and Jan Goin, an appraiser, who will discuss Charleston Renaissance prints.

Admission to individual sessions is available, as well as packages which have significantly reduced rates for those who wish to participate more comprehensively in the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium. Proceeds from the Symposium will benefit the School of the Arts and its programs. For more information about the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium, contact Michael W. Haga at (843)953-7766 or hagam@cofc.edu.