Catalyze 2026: Margaret Murray (Creative Pinellas)

We’re asking thought leaders, business people and creatives to talk about the upcoming new year and give us catalyzing ideas for making St. Pete a better place to live. What should our city look like? What are their hopes, their plans, their problem-solving ideas? This is Catalyze 2026.

To borrow from Mark Twain, reports of the death of Creative Pinellas have been greatly exaggerated.

Margaret Murray, CEO of the county’s arts support organization, was among those blindsided by commissioners’ September decision to discontinue $1 million in Creative Pinellas funding. “There was no way to see it coming,” she insists. “And it could not have been prevented.”

A fatal blow? Not exactly.

“I don’t think there’s a single person who doesn’t want to put 2025 in the rearview mirror,” Murray laughs. “But I will say this: We are really looking strategically at how we can use the arts to better serve residents. I’m looking at some healthcare initiatives that I put in place when I was with the Museum of Fine Arts, growing those and expanding those to the county; developing new partnerships outside of the arts and tourism worlds that I think will help us. Which I’m really excited about.”

The organization has been effectively evicted from its longtime offices and art gallery in Largo (it’s a county-owned building). The gallery closes next week, while Murray and her staff will be out Feb. 1.

Still, she intends to turn Creative Pinellas into a lean, mean arts supporting machine.

“We have a lot of really good stuff planned,” Murray says. “Although we are closing the gallery, we’re going to continue operations. We’re going to be a nimble, mobile organization. The staff will be working from home. I’m working with our HR consultant to craft a really well thought out work-from-home policy to make sure that everyone’s supported, and that we can continue to do our mission.

“We’re going to continue operations. It’s an exciting time. I realize that there’s so much potential here, just listening to people over the past few months talk about how important the arts are to them. And how Creative Pinellas has changed lives personally, and professionally. We’re not going to stop doing that.”

Murray stresses that CP is still the county’s designated local arts agency. “This is an arts community that deserves a really strong and active arts agency advocating for them. And that’s what Creative Pinellas is.

“We’re working with the county on five different public arts projects right now. We should be spreading the word about what an amazing arts community we have here. And we should be spreading that message out to everyone around the world.”

She expressed interest in working, as the group has in the past, with the county’s tourism agency Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, which is charged with getting the area’s message out to potential visitors.

It’s a time for looking forward, instead of the other way around. “I think that 2025 was, for many people, a wake-up call,” she says. “And I would encourage everyone to pay attention to elections at the local level, make sure that you know where your candidates stand on issues that you care about.

“And make sure that you’re an informed citizen. It’s really important, and these elections do have consequences.”