Another wonderful Beaufort holiday tradition unfolds this December with scenes from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker performed by local ballerinas and guest artists at USCB Center for the Arts on December 13 and 14.  Beaufort’s Community Nutcracker will be directed by Melissa Derrick, who a studied classical ballet in Brazil, South America for over 15 years and has taught ballet in Beaufort for just as long.

Local artist Louise Hall has been painting pet portrait commissions for over 20 years, but this is the first time that several of them will be gathered in the same place at the same time. 

Jessica Handler learned creative writing from the late Pat Conroy when he served as a guest instructor at the Paideia School in Atlanta, just prior to the publication of his first novel, The Great Santini. Handler, the author of two memoirs, published her debut novel The Magnetic Girl in April of this year. The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center (905 Port Republic Street, Beaufort) will host Handler for a reading and discussion of her novel on Tuesday, August 6, at 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public, the discussion will be followed by a book signing.