Meet Celeste Davis, the city’s new ‘arts liaison’

She’s been in the job for barely two weeks, and Hurricane Ian’s interruption meant she still hasn’t finished moving things into her City Hall office, but Celeste Davis is raring to go.

St. Petersburg’s new Director of Arts, Culture and Tourism has a vested interest in seeing those things work together and succeed. And Mayor Ken Welch’s recently-announced initiative to bring more and better arts opportunities to area youth is high on her priority list, too.

Davis is a St. Pete native and a graduate of Lakewood High; her father was Vyrle Davis, a legendary educator (he was, among other achievements, also the county’s first Black superintendent of schools, from 1986-1995).

With an undergraduate degree from Spelman College, Davis moved to Washington, D.C. where she earned an MFA from George Washington University and operated her own wildly successful interior design business.

After 22 years in D.C., she moved back home in 2011 to care for her ailing father, and in short order began volunteering at the Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum. This led to curating art exhibits, producing events and ultimately to “The Curious Collector: A Conversation Cafe,” a longtime, virtual monthly art discussion (she was producer, director and host).

In 2021 Davis was named Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts (TBBCA).

Her new position, she agrees, is most easily described as “a liaison between the city and the arts community.”

St. Pete Catalyst: Tell us about Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture and the Arts (TBBCA) and what it does.

Celeste Davis: It’s a non-profit affiliate of American For the Arts. It takes no public money, it’s all private. It’s businesses uniting to promote arts and culture in the Tampa Bay area. We give $15,000 in scholarship money every year to students who are interested in pursuing the arts, through six art disciplines. And we have the Impact Awards, where we recognize businesses that have had an impact on arts and culture. And we partner with the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts for Chalk Walk.

Is that what led Mayor Welch to offer you this position with the city?

Yes, I think so. That and the work I do with the Carter G. Woodson Museum.

What, to your understanding, is this new job all about?

This job is all about the city supporting arts and artists – and in addition, with Mayor Welch, we’ve added that pillar of education to it, as well as tourism. You know, there’s this big connection between St. Petersburg being a destination, and all of the arts and cultural venues and opportunities that are here.

By “destination,” you mean the beaches and the Dali Museum, the things that “sell” the area to visitors?

Yes, but the SHINE Mural Festival is here, we’ve got all of the glass galleries and museums – we have a hub of the arts here in St. Petersburg. Which of course influences the economy, which brings visitors in to see what St. Petersburg is all about. That’s kind of a natural connection, the arts and culture and what we bring to the economy of the city. That’s where I think the tourism piece comes in.

And then with education, one thing that I’m looking to do is begin to build a partnership with the arts organizations, the museums, the galleries, local artists, to reach out and build a bridge with the youth in the city. I know from my work with TBBCA that students who are interested in and study the arts … not everybody’s going to be a Beyonce, but that ability to pursue what you love, and to get recognition for what you love, builds confidence and actually can usher you into other avenues where it doesn’t have to be necessarily your fulltime job … but becomes something that makes for an enriched life. And I think that’s really important.

Our local artist community, by and large, is unknown once you get out of the county. What are you going to do to change that?

One of the things I’ll do is reach out to leaders in the community – many voices at the table always help. So we’re all partners in getting that message out. So I would look to partner with everyone, from the larger museums to the one-man shops, to figure out what do we do to let people know the ‘big secret’ that we have here.

There’s a lot of diverse factions, of course, and they don’t always get along. How do you bring everybody in and get them to work together?

As soon as you find a common goal, then people can put aside any necessary issues they may have and begin to just focus on the common goal. I found that (to be) a really successful tactic to use, to not be distracted by any other things. Of course, every organization has its mission, but when St. Petersburg succeeds, everyone succeeds. And that’s a common goal.

In years past, why hasn’t that happened? Why hasn’t it all coalesced?

I’m not really sure why it hasn’t happened. We’ve got the different art districts within the city, and I think with a purpose we can pull it all together. I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and someone recently wrote ‘seven districts, one destination,’ and it’s that kind of thinking that can help to move things forward.

Remember when people used to call St. Petersburg ‘God’s waiting room’? Well, you’ve got this very organic thing that happened, which was wonderful  – artists came in and they felt welcomed, and valued in some way, and so that community built. I think we can begin to make that turn kind of almost in the same way. Not that you go from A to Z. You from A to B to C to D … and then when you look up, you’re already to K.

I think there’s this very gradual movement toward what is the common goal.

What’s needed in St. Petersburg? Obviously, everybody getting on board the same train, but what could be better here?

I think partnerships are key. I learned that a lot from TBBCA. And as I said before, when you have a shared goal, it’s easy to build a partnership. So that’s one thing that I would like to really strengthen and emphasize, partnerships.

I think the mayor’s initiative with youth is a partnership that’s going to be easy to build with the different organizations, businesses … everybody wants young people to feel valued and appreciated. And in my mind, it’s not going to take a lot.