Tourist Development Council hears county’s art plan

Funding for the Creative Pinellas arts support organization, withdrawn by Pinellas County Commissioners, is being re-routed.

In September, commissioners decided the 10-year-old Creative Pinellas wasn’t doing enough to support tourism in the region, and re-assigned the organization’s yearly stipend of $1 million to Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, the county’s tourism marketing agency.

Speaking to the County’s Tourist Development Council Wednesday, VSPC CEO Brian Lowack laid out the tentative plan for a “Month of the Arts,” once per year, with contributions from Creative Pinellas, the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and the Clearwater Arts Alliance.

Working with Margaret Murray, the CEO of Creative Pinellas, along with Arts Alliance directors Helen French (St. Petersburg) and Beth Daniels (Clearwater), Lowack said, the question in the air was “How can we come up with a program that really highlights our creative community, while bringing awareness to the destination?”

Since early October, Lowack told the TDC, “We’ve had a number of meetings where we have come up with how we can combine our resources, as well as our expertise, to really put together a great work product … as a group over the last month, we’ve worked together to come up with this.”

With a budget of $500,000, the unnamed, monthlong celebration (starting, most likely, in November 2026) will be essentially overseen by Creative Pinellas, with managerial contributions from the city arts support groups.

Cost for awards and event production ($400,000) will break down as up to $25,000 for larger experiences, and up to $10,000 for smaller experiences. Those terms were not defined.

Although many other details have yet to be worked out, participating artists (both visual and performing) will be chosen by a seven-member selection committee comprised of representatives from VSPC and the arts groups.

Program administration costs will be $75,000 for Creative Pinellas, $15,000 for the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and $10,000 for Clearwater Arts Alliance.

The yet-unnamed Month of the Arts, Lowack said, will be aggressively marketed to potential visitors.

“We hope that the effect is other arts institutions, museums, the creative community can get behind this and plug into this Month of the Arts,” said Lowack. “It’s something that we can celebrate, and something we can really brand and push out to the world.”

Daniels, of the Clearwater Arts Alliance, suggested at Wednesday’s meeting that the “Month of the Arts” idea be modified to include previously-existing events that are proven crowd favorites.

“You ought to be Oct. 15 to Nov. 20 or something – and it’s a month of music and art,” she said. “That way, you’re not tying yourself only to November, you’re playing off of some of the things you already have that are highly successful.

“And then you’re asking creative people to find ways to get our own citizens and our visitors connected.”