Mark Plessinger is the owner of the Main Street eyewear boutique Frame of Mind and founder of First Thursdays on Main in Columbia SC, a monthly event designed to promote the arts in the SC state capital:

Can you tell us a little about the history of First Thursdays and talk about the street performance aspect of the event?

I was first introduced to street performance in other cities like Asheville and New York City, but was more formally introduced to it here in Columbia through Alternacirque, which is a collaboration of fire eaters, fire spinners, hoopers and belly dancers.

Then, when I started first Thursdays on Main, which originally was an art show that I did in my boutique, Frame of Mind, it eventually bled out to two or three art shows side by side in the other spaces along the street. At some point we started to do outdoor performances, and of course the first people I went to was Alternacirque.


Mark Plessinger in Front of Frame of Mind on Main Street, Columbia, SC

The idea behind First Thursdays is to use the street as a stage for all types of performance, professional and non. One of the key cogs, though, has become busking or the traditionally “nonprofessional” street artist, the self promoters. Our strongest emphasis at this point is fire. Fire eating, spinning with poi and staff, fire hula hoop. We’ve also incorporated some spoken word, which is kind of a different take, I think, on street performance. I don’t think you see much of that on the street.

Alternacirque, Performance Group in Columbia, SC 

In Columbia we don’t necessarily have the strongest street performance heritage or tradition. We’re trying to introduce a lot more of it in and when First Thursday started we only had about fifteen or twenty people involved, and three years later we’re at around a thousand. So the idea is that we use this platform for street performers to be able to access a large audience who, for the most part, may not have been introduced to much busking in the past.

Why is it important for a community to support busking?

It gives more people the opportunity to get their creativity out there. Not everyone is going to be a ballet dancer. Not everyone is going to be an acrylic painter. So there are alternate forms of what you traditionally view of as art, and to me that’s what spoken word, fire spinning, and belly dancing is. Alternative art.


Chris Carney of Columbia’s Performance Group Fire in Motion

That’s what First Thursdays are all about it. We do a lot of traditional art inside in the gallery spaces along Main, which is also important, but we want to take people’s minds and expand them out so they’re not thinking art is only painting or traditional forms of music.

Art is really something that impacts your life. It doesn’t have to be on a piece of paper, in a frame, or on a pedestal. It’s something that makes you feel. It’s often something you can interact with.

What about the public or community aspect of street performance? What’s important about that aspect of street art?

Well, kind of like what I was saying. It exposes people to things they may not know of. It expands people’s perception of creativity and art. If you put things in a box and keep them private, how is it going to change anyone’s life?

Gina Wolfe of Columbia’s Fire in Motion and Performer for Alternacirque

Any personal stories about busking?

The first time I was exposed to busking was in New York. It touched me in a way I didn’t expect. But here in Columbia, what’s been important to me is interacting with the culture. Getting to know the people in Alternacirque kind of changed me. The way I look at the world is a little bit different. To learn that these street performers are everyday people doing what they really love to do. It had a massive impact on me. It freed me up a lot in my life. I learned what matters and what doesn’t.  I learned not to stress over the things I used to stress over. When I watch a belly dancer who doesn’t necessarily have a formal job but lives for her dancing and loves what she does and feels passionate about it, kind of places values in the right order.

To find out more about Alternacirque see their website.

For more about Fire in Motion see their facebook page.

Find out about First Thursdays here.