Creative Pinellas offering free work spaces – when power returns

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, the umbrella arts organization Creative Pinellas made an offer to artists: Come to our offices on Walsingham Road, we’ve got electricity and WiFi, and it’s all free – a co-working space for any creative types, or arts organization personnel, that might just need one.

So far, so good. Then came Milton.

“We have quite a few unused work stations at Creative Pinellas,” Executive Director Margaret Murray said Monday. “Once we get internet and full electricity back up, we’ll be able to get that up and running.”

There is a short application form at creativepinellas.org, which is in place for scheduling purposes, “in case anyone needs to double up.”

Pinewood Cultural Park, home to Creative Pinellas, Heritage Village and Florida Botanical Gardens, remains closed for the foreseeable future. There are, Murray reported, numerous trees down in the county-owned park.

The 2024 Arts Annual, Creative Pinellas’ fundraising gala, was rescheduled and re-christened a Hurricane Relief fundraiser.

Now it’s been moved again, to accommodate the inevitable recovery and cleanup period, post-Hurricane Milton.

“We’re looking at the first week of December now,” said a weary Murray. “Eighty percent of what we net will go back to the arts community.”