City Council approves $350,000 in St. Pete arts and culture grants

The St. Petersburg City Council voted Thursday afternoon to approve cultural grants totaling $355,000, to be divided among 31 local arts and culture nonprofits, for the 2018/2019 fiscal year.

The planned distribution of funds, covering the period from Oct. 1 of this year through Sept. 30, 2019, was created through a study, ranking and recommendation by Council’s Arts Advisory Committee, which has been helping fund local arts groups annually since the mid 1990s. Council approved the grants recommendation unanimously, although Council member Brandi Carlisle was absent.

“It had been on the Consent Agenda, but they pulled it for the ‘Good News’ section of the meeting, at the beginning, because it’s a good, happy thing that we’re doing,” said Wayne Atherholt, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

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Flagship Community Bank CEO on what’s next after failed deal

Flagship Community Bank in Clearwater has given up on its plan to buy BankMobile, a digital banking operation.

Flagship decided not to pursue the deal any further on Thursday, three days after BankMobile’s parent company, Customers Bancorp Inc., said it wanted to keep BankMobile for the next two or three years.

Instead, Flagship will put a new push behind growth in the Tampa Bay area, said Frank Burke, chairman, president and CEO.

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These Tampa Bay Tech award contenders know the secret to attracting and keeping talent

Workplace culture trumps pay when it comes to hiring and retaining top talent.

That’s why the strategies AutoLoop, Nextech and Tech Data are models to learn from in a competitive hiring environment.

All three companies are finalists for Tampa Bay Tech’s “Workplace Culture Program of the Year” award, which recognizes an organization whose culture is unique, inclusive and ever-evolving, with a demonstrable impact to the business, programs or projects undertaken.

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