Arts Alive! podcast: Maggie Duffy, Creative Pinellas

Our guest today on Arts Alive! is Maggie Duffy, managing editor at Creative Pinellas.

The county’s umbrella arts support organization has had to re-think and re-configure many things since Pinellas County commissioners chose to de-fund it, almost completely, in September 2025.

But good seeds always find a way to poke through, and today’s Creative Pinellas is working hand-in-hand with Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, which supplied a much-needed infusion of county tourism money, to put together a monthlong, multi-discipline celebration of the arts. It’s a concentrated effort to show visitors what a wealth of talent and idea-making we’ve got.

Starting Nov. 1, “Art Everywhere” combines art, music, dance, theater, movies and more, from one end of Pinellas to the other. There are 30 events; some will even carry over into December.

Sunday’s screening of the romantic comedy 50 First Dates (2 p.m. at Green Light Cinema) is a collaboration between Creative Pinellas and the Common Thread Yarn Shop & Café; it’s the first in a monthly film series just for crafters, knitters and others who like to watch movies while they’re working with their hands. There will be special tables and lighting.

Then there’s AMPED, the Creative Pinellas fundraising party at FloridaRAMA.

Duffy has been an arts journalist for more than a decade; she covered art, music, theater, restaurants and more for the Tampa Bay Times. Today her byline appears in The Gabber, Artisan and other local publications.

Click on the arrow to listen to the conversation.