Arts leaders gather to discuss a ‘crisis’ in St. Pete
Since St. Petersburg likes to call itself a “City of the Arts,” it’s only fitting that its homegrown arts community, which generates a serious economic impact, gets a decent return on the blood, sweat, tears and talents of its labors.
This was the opinion espoused by sculptor Mark Aeling at Tuesday’s panel discussion and form, Arts in Crisis & Resilience, on the Warehouse Arts District Association’s ArtsXchange campus.
Aeling, WADA’s board president, was one of a half-dozen speakers responding to Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ veto of all state arts appropriations for 2024-25.
“To drive culture here, and engage in culture, you also have to feed it and create sustainability for it,” Aeling said. “It’s not a County of the Arts, though we appreciate the county funding very much. And it’s not a State of the Arts – we’ve had that demonstrated very vividly by the veto we’ve experienced.”
St. Petersburg currently contributes .82 percent of its annual budget to supporting artists and arts organizations, councilmember Gina Driscoll said.
In the absence of state money, Aeling suggested, perhaps the City could look at additional ways to help out the arts, which has a total economic impact of $178 million annually.
“I think it’s important that the City puts ita money where its mouth is, in relation to the arts community,” he said. “Not just market the arts, but help to sustain the programs, and build the programs in the community.
“The arts community in this town right now is in crisis. And that crisis is happening largely because of cost of living. We are seeing a number of serious challenges, and we are hemorrhaging artists right now. I can name, off the top of my head, a number of artists – who are friends – who have left in the past couple of years. They all left because of the cost of living, and something needs to be done about that.”
Aeling suggested strong and consistent financial support from the City, and a commitment from the development community to create affordable housing for artists.
“If this is really a City of the Arts, it needs to have legislation that communicates and enforces and builds that commitment.”
Celeste Davis, St. Pete’s Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism.
Celeste Davis, St. Pete’s Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism, said her office is aware of the issues and has been talking with members of the arts community to develop a Cultural Action Plan. “Let’s not just look at the feel-good, emotional experience of the arts, which everyone agrees upon,” Davis said. “Let’s have a serious talk about artists as business owners, and their economic impact on this very wonderful City of St. Petersburg.”
Arts “experiences,” she told the audience of 40 or so, produce 2,852 jobs.
Creative Pinellas CEO Margaret Murray said her organization – the county-wide arts support group – is also hard at work on a countywide cultural plan, which she called a blueprint for supporting the arts for the next five to 10 years. “I’ve been in constant contact with local arts agencies around the country to see what their funding models are,” Murray said. “There are a number of different ways we can look at funding of the arts here.” She hopes to present the plan to the public in October.
The explosive growth of St. Petersburg, offered moderator Jason Mathis, is inexorably tied to the health of the arts.
“The decisions that corporations have to relocate here,” he said, “the decisions to build in St. Petersburg and move their life here, I think in most cases has something to do with art and culture. And it’s not just tens of millions, or hundreds of millions – it’s much, much more than that.”
Driscoll intends to recommend a budget policy that ups the City’s contribution to a full 1 percent. “The money problem existed before the governor made that decision,” she said. “So we were already behind in some cases. This has just exacerbated it.”
However, she suggested, “It does have to go beyond money. That collaboration needs to happen. The way that we work with developers has to happen.
“The biggest thing that we need to do is start working at ways that we can collaborate – how can we work with other arts organizations to share resources of any kind? If we can stick together, we can get through this and actually come out stronger than we were before.”
Coming Wednesday, July 31: Funding the Arts: A Call to Action, a panel discussion and town hall on sustaining the arts community in St. Petersburg and beyond, at the Palladium Theater. Participants will include representatives from the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, the Florida Cultural Alliance, Creative Pinellas and the arts community.
Registration is here.
Tom Tito
July 25, 2024at5:05 pm
It seems like the voters commenting here don’t want more tax money going to Arts.
Most homicides occur here on the Southside but victims are not a priority.
The County Administrator says we have plenty of money from the tourist development tax. The problem is the city council makes subsidizing the owner of our baseball team the only priority for this funding and not the Arts.
Actual Artist
July 25, 2024at9:38 am
Hey Donald – you feel good kicking people while they’re down, that your style?
Almost every single artist I know (including myself) works a “real job” – some of us, more than one. Artists don’t spend their days just making art and then whining because they’re not making enough $ off it. We weren’t born yesterday. We don’t expect handouts from a society that doesn’t value art, let alone its makers – even though it regularly steals and profits off us, often without even giving us any credit (true story.) You very clearly do not understand nor value art in your own life, so I don’t see how you think you have anything to contribute to this topic. You very clearly do not know any artists yourself. Their lives are actually much more “real” than yours, I promise. And I guarantee you their experience of this life is much, much fuller, too.
The point here is funding for nonprofits – who help raise up working artists, uphold the value of art generally, and actually employ some artists as well. Starving artists? It’s such a stupid and inaccurate cliche, but ok, if you want to bring it up then you might as well start saying Starving Nurses, Starving Teachers, Starving Gas Station Clerks. Want them to go get a “real job” too? Everybody’s suffering under the foot of this economy, so you’re not being smart (nor unique) by spitting on artists with your asinine comment.
Mike C
July 25, 2024at9:32 am
$178M in “Economic impact”? Please provide the math.
2,852 “Job Experiences”, what the heck is that? Please provide rationale.
Agree with comments… this is so absolutely insane its hilarious.
DONALD J COURTNEY
July 25, 2024at6:45 am
Total baloney. Get a job if you need money. Live a real life and maybe real “art” will happen
Dan m
July 24, 2024at8:29 pm
Starving artist are starving wow this is news ladies and gentlemen Must not mean anything to report today
Tatguy
July 24, 2024at6:42 pm
OMG
Great Art, pays for itself.
David B.
July 24, 2024at5:54 pm
1% of the budget is the minimum the city should be contributing to the arts in St. Pete. Individuals should also make sure to donate to your favorite arts groups. The arts groups in St. Pete do tremendous work with minimal budgets. This is coming from someone with no connection to the arts community, but one of the reasons we live here is because of our city’s vibrant arts and culture. It can’t be done for free.
Rbruce
July 24, 2024at5:01 pm
Cultural extortion. Give them money or else.
Steven Brady
July 24, 2024at4:08 pm
I guess the idea that art that is worthwhile will be paid for without Government subsidy would be too politically explosive an idea to broach.
There are many companies and extreme high net worth individuals and charitable foundations that put enormous sums of money into art – No subsidies or government bureaucrats needed. 😀
And of course people in my economic strata purchase art all the time without any subsidies…
I just came back from two months in Europe.
I wonder how all that great art was created without Government subsidies? Art that is frighteningly better than what we see being created today.
Steven Brady
July 24, 2024at4:01 pm
Now we are asking for subsidized housing for artists?
And who invented the number $178 million economic impact to Saint Petersburg for art?
Almost 2/10 of $1 billion just in our city? In one year?
I burst out laughing when I read that. No one should believe such a number.
Or anyone who repeats such an obviously made up claim.