'Play Me, I'm Yours' pianos appear on the streets of Florence

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) – Something noteworthy is happening in Florence: dozens of pianos decorated by local artists are "tuning" up on streets around the city, and everyone is invited to sit down and play!

Florence is joining the list of cities all over the world that have set up decorated pianos in public spaces for people to play for free.

Reynolds Williams came across the project called 'Play Me, I'm Yours' that British artist Luke Jerram started in 2008 and decided to bring it to Florence, the first southeastern city to host the event.

For the past few weeks, local artists have been decorating the pianos is a wide variety of styles, each with the phrase "Play Me, I'm Yours" visible somewhere on the piano.

Everyone is invited to join the opening celebration on Friday evening at 5 p.m. at the 200 block of West Evans Street in Florence. The event will feature "Dueling Pianos" with Marty Richardson and Greg Cloninger, as well as local pianists.

The goal is to unite communities around the instruments.

"Everywhere it's been done it's built up a terrific sense of community across all what would otherwise be gaps of knowledge and that's really what excites everybody I've talked to," Williams said.

To find out more, and to see a map of where the pianos are placed around Florence, head the "Play Me, I'm Yours Florence" website: http://streetpianos.com/florence2015/ and Facebook page.

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