Six Months Back...And...Forth

I thought I'd take a look back at the last six months. Last December we re kick started the Friday Morning Group. Can you believe it has been six months already? I know I can't. Back on December 8th we got the 2006 / 2007 version of the Friday Morning Group off to a rousing start. We reviewed some of the accomplishments from the past. The Manhattan Casino restoration was one of the first projects the group took on. Also, the idea and practice of artists being able to live and work in the same location was spearheaded by the Friday Morning Group. The Studio@620; The new, more casual look of the Orchestra's catalog is a direct result of the groups' conversation with the Orchestra. My favorite little passage is this

A couple of years ago, a reporter from Creative Loafing sat in on one of the meetings of the group. We were discussing the Chamber of commerce brochure that proclaimed on its cover that St. Petersburg was the "City of the Arts". Well, our artists particularly thought that was just pretentious as hell and were pretty contemptible of the whole idea. Yes St. Petersburg is a good place for artists. It could be better. But to proclaim St. Pete as The City of the Arts? Hello.

So we were discussing this foolishness and kicking around ideas. One of our members came up with this:

St. Petersburg is not the City of the Arts, the city is the art.

That comment wound up in print. I think that's a pretty good explanation of the Friday Morning Group. The beautiful City of St. Petersburg is the canvas that is our art work in progress. We continue to put more creative touches on it all the time.

Moving on to January 2007, we talked about this

Our main focus again was how to support artists in St. Petersburg. It was suggested that one way to do that would be to try and get the City and the County to market us as an art buyers destination. The tie ins with economic and tourist development became rapidly apparent.Michele Tuegel of the County Cultural Affairs Council suggested that for St. Petersburg, it would make sense to approach Mayor Rick Baker. Herb Snitzer indicated he would contact Pinellas County Commission Chair Ken Welch.

Later on in January, we had this happy news to report

Last Friday we welcomed back some old faces and greeted some new (to me anyway) faces. Bob Devin Jones brought us up to date on the goings on at the Studio @ 620. The Studio currently is showing a very interesting photography exhibit by Zachariah Thompson. The photographs are of laundromats reminding all of us of the good old (or maybe not so good old) days. The show has been very well received, perhaps because we all can relate to the subject in one way or another.

The multi-faceted Peter Kagayama, current President of Creative Tampa Bay, another old familiar face also joined us last Friday. Peter just returned from some more of his Creative Community globe hopping to Singapore and other interesting far off places. Being the ever so deft communication specialist that he is, Peter dropped the phrase "creative competitiveness"on us. That has a ring to it doesn't it?

Len Neff also joined us. Besides Len's well known work with beaded glass, Len talked about his work with public art in Pinellas County.

And our old friend Nancy Loehr dropped by with County Commissioner Ken Welch in tow.

Moving on into February, we had this

This past Friday, February 2nd, may have been a watershed mojo moment for the Friday Morning Group. Not only were we honored to be joined by Pinellas County Commissioner Ken Welch, we were also able to extend a Friday Morning Welcome to St. Petersburg City Council Member Leslie Curran.

Ken must have asked at least three times, if not more, for the group to tell him what it is we wanted him to do for us. ... After Ken left us, Leslie Curran took out her hammer and beat us over the head, gently. She admonished the group to make sure and follow through to deliver our wish list to Ken. It was clear to Leslie, and she made it clear to us that Ken wanted to help us, but he needed guidance on exactly what we wanted him to vote on.

Well that little session morphed into OMG - We Have a Plan . A group of volunteers got together and came up with the Friday Morning Group Concept Paper which included plans for the "Pinellas Prize" and a Creativity Center.

As time went along, we continued to work on bring the Friday Morning Group Concept Paper to life. But we also talked about the Art of the Homeless and about Attitudinal Change . And we even had time to be wowed by Irish Eyes. That happened when Peter Kagayama brought us a very special guest indeed, Roisin McDonough, the Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the equivalent of our National Endowment for the Arts. Boy did we get an earful about what respect for artists looks like there.

Moving along into April, we began a conversation about implementing the Friday Morning Group Concept Paper at a very tough time for local governments in this climate of tax reform. We talked about being leaders instead of followers and The Value of Art Education .

Lately we have been Looking at the Long Term nature of attitudinal change. Last week we talked about group life cycles and dynamics.

And that is the point. This is your group. It will be whatever you want it to be. Or not.

Soliciting Your Ideas and Support

It was a quiet week this past Friday at the Friday Morning Group, my favorite event of the week. That does not at all mean it was not interesting.

The main topic of discussion was how to increase attendance at the Friday Morning Group. Since we tried to re-kick start the Group just before the end of last year, we have had mixed results. We had very good attendance after the holiday break. We have had good attendance when we have had special guests, such as County Commissioner Ken Welch or Roisin McDonough, Director of the Northern Ireland Arts Council. But attendance at the FMG when there is no such guest on the agenda is spotty at best.

Various thoughts about group dynamics and life cycles were discussed. There was some discussion of what the focus of the group ought to be. We have lately narrowed the focus somewhat by focusing a lot of attention on the FMG Concept Paper with the Pinellas Prize and the Creativity Center. While those are important topics, it was suggested that they should not be the only focus of the FMG.

There was also a discussion about the every week nature of the meeting. Some thought was given to the idea that an every week meeting loses some of its feeling of speciality. The idea was floated that an effort should be made to make at least one meeting a month more of a special event, perhaps with a guest speaker or some other event type meeting.

Please let us know your thoughts on these or any other ideas you might have on increasing interest and attendance at the FMG. I can be reached by email at gatordem@verizon.net, or by phone 727-823-3074.

There was some discussion of the efforts to move the FMG Concept Paper proposals towards reality. I spoke before the County Commission twice last week on the subject of supporting artists in the community and the Concept Paper proposals specifically. I also attended a planning meeting of the Pinellas County Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). It has been suggested to us by at least two County Commissioners that the CVB's funding is not subject to curtailment under the property tax proposals currently being debated in Tallahassee. Also, the CVB is geting a new director, D.T. Minich. While the CVB Director in Lee County, Mr. Minich used the community based artists there to market his community and as a way to break through the "clutter" of other beach communities in Florida. This seems like a promising line to pursue.

Speaking of things getting curtailed in the current tax cutting environment, I attended a very interesting City Council workshop in St. Petersburg last week. Ann Wykel presented a very interesting study on how to improve the Public Arts program in St. Petersburg. While the Council Members who attended were impressed with the plan, they were hesitant to even have it formally presented to them at a televised meeting. The City is facing some very severe revenue shortages under any of the property tax reduction plans currently being debated by the legislature. As you might suspect, programs supporting arts, cultural and charitable activities of the City are prime targets for cuts. Please let your local elected officials know how you feel about these possibilities. It wouldn't hurt to let your state legislators know either.

And please try to attend a meeting of the Friday Morning Group in the near future. Bring a friend and let other interested folks know about us. We can use your help.

Irish Eyes

WOW!!!

That about describes our Friday Morning Group meeting last week for me. For those of you who weren't there, well you can follow along below.

Peter Kagayama brought us a very special guest indeed last Friday. Roisin McDonough is the Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the equivalent of our National Endowment for the Arts. Boy did we get an earful about what respect for artists looks like there.

Peter and Roisin had been touring some of the cultural hot spots in our country. They had been to Washington, DC, Austin, Texas, and of course here in the Tampa Bay area. Roisin is in this country to help promote an Irish arts exposition at the Smithsonian and on the Mall in late June and early July.

Roisin regaled us with some of the things the government of Northern Ireland is doing to demonstrate respect for artists there. The Northern Ireland Arts Council provides an apartment in New York City for a Resident program. There is a similar program in Banf in Canada. Perhaps the most telling sentiment espoused by Roisin is that these programs allow artists "Time and Space" to explore their art without being tied to a specific output. WOW!!!

There is also an artists colony that is supported by both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland governments. The only requirement for these artists is that they have dinner with their fellow artists every evening. Cross-pollination don't you know.

Roisin indicated to us that the single most important thing that we could do to advance the conversation about valuing artists would be to survey the community regarding their attitudes towards artists and the arts. Perhaps we could get the Pinellas County Cultural Council to spearhead that effort?

Another valuable tool would be an artists survey. Northern Ireland did one of these about five years ago and is preparing to update this study. Not surprisingly, the two key findings from this prior survey are:

• Artists do not feel valued;
• Most artists live in abject poverty at about 20% of the average income in Northern Ireland.

I could ramble on for quite some time about this fantastic FMG meeting. However, I am going to stop here. If you would like more context and to hear different viewpoints, I am providing a list of the participants below. If you want to learn more about Roisin, Peter has provided her CV which is also posted below.

I look forward to seeing you all next Friday.

Partial ist of participants last week:

• Peter Kagayama
• Michelle Teagle
• Bob Devin Jones
• Bob Barancik
• Bill Moriarty
• Cindy McFerrin
• Patrice Pucci
• Grace-Ann Alfiero (and her sidekick Jenny)

Roisin McDonough

Roisin McDonough is the Chief Executive of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland which is the government body charged with supporting artists and arts organisations across the region. It distributes public subsidy to both artists and arts organisations and is the main agency in Northern Ireland for the arts. It advocates the value of the arts to wider society; it seeks to build audiences and participation in the arts and to strengthen the capacity of arts organisations and artists to pursue their objectives.

It supports projects in hospitals, schools, youth centres, local communities and internationally. The current Rediscover Northern Ireland Programme which is being rolled out in the run up to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival on Washington’s Mall, where Northern Ireland’s folklife culture is being presented, is but one example.

Roisin has extensive experience in local government, central government regeneration initiatives and in community development as well as the arts.