Spring focus groups aim to shape the future of Pinellas County’s art scene

News of Pinellas County’s new cultural plan landed like a ton of bricks last month. Pinellas County had just hired a cultural planning group, with offices in California, South Florida, and Pennsylvania, to help shape the future of Pinellas County’s art scene. And artists wanted to know why the county was giving this money—about $248,000—to a group of perceived outsiders and not directly to Pinellas County artists.

This spring, Cultural Planning Group receives direct input from these artists, along with Pinellas County arts organizations and community members, at a series of focus groups and community outreach events held January through April.

Creative Pinellas’ new CEO, St. Pete native Margaret Murray talked to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about the new plan and why Pinellas County artists, arts organization, and community members should take part. Here’s what she had to say, in her own words, with light editing for length and clarity.
What did we already know about the needs and wants of Pinellas County artists and arts organizations going into this?

Artists want a way to sustain and grow their practices, and the rapid growth we're seeing in Pinellas County isn't always aligned with those goals. We know that arts organizations, like many businesses, are still shaking off the impact of the pandemic. Artists and arts organizations want to grow their audiences—that’s become very clear to us. Those are the major needs and wants. People want to know how they can sustain themselves as artists or members of the creative economy at this time.

What would you say to artists who maybe don't see why this money went to a cultural planning group and not directly to Pinellas County artists through grants or other means?

I understand those concerns. But this plan is built on the belief that we're going to create a long term, strategic and sustainable framework for supporting the cultural sector for the next 10 years and beyond. We’re using this money to plant seeds that will support artists long term, that will allow everyone in the county to benefit from this plan. Creative Pinellas does a wonderful job of providing funding to artists, but this is a way to provide a future for artists.

I noticed that you have these focus groups coming up. What are Creative Pinellas and Cultural Planning Group planning to discuss in these focus groups? And what are they hoping to learn?

One of the things that we want to discuss is how we can help artists be and remain artists. The funding needed to grow and support the artists who have chosen to build a career here needs thoughtful investment, long term investment. And this plan will, with the artists’ input, create the narrative that we can use to seek that support. We want to look at the current state of the arts. What successes and what challenges are there? I think we need to be very frank about both of those.

What are the obstacles to success here?

And we want to take a very frank look at what we can do, and exactly what needs to be built, to ensure that artists can overcome these obstacles and build a sustainable career in the arts.

What pathway can we create for everyone to experience the arts here that includes visitors as well as people and communities who have historically been shut out of the arts?

How can we make sure that we take the data we know, which is that the arts enrich people's lives, and make sure that we can do that as broadly as possible?

And I think the other thing that I'm looking forward to seeing come out of this is a defining of what makes Pinellas County's arts and cultural landscapes so unique. Some of that has bubbled up in conversations. And it was nice to see that the cultural planning group picked up on that immediately. So I'm looking forward to having more conversations and seeing what comes out, because if we know it, we can measure it, and then we can build on it.
Speaking of community involvement, I feel like it's a greater challenge to get people outside of the art community to participate. Do you have a plan in place for that or are you still working out where you're going to have your pop ups and how you're going to get people to show up?

Yes, we're still working on those details. And because I want this to be available to as many people as possible, we've actually moved it to April so that we give ourselves some more time to plan. Cultural Planning Group is going to distribute a countywide survey through a number of different mechanisms—digital and in person.

And we're looking at hosting these community gatherings in places where people already are—churches, community centers, places where people are gathering, where they are primed to make changes in their communities. So we plan on having them throughout the entire campaign in north, mid and south county areas.

What are some of the areas where the community will be able to provide input? Will people in the community be able to offer specific types of entertainment options they're interested in?

Absolutely, that's exactly what we want to hear. What sort of arts experiences do people want in their community? What sort of arts experiences did they have at one point that they don't have any longer? What are some successes that we can help build out even further?

What would you like to say to artists and arts organizations as to why they should join these focus groups?

We need their voices. Who better to tell their story and who better to articulate their needs than themselves? We need to know their struggles and successes because if we don't know them, we can't solve for them.

I've been through a lot of strategic plans with organizations, and I've been researching different strategic plans for communities in this process. And I have never come across a plan so driven by the belief that the community knows what they want. There is a trust in our community to tell us what they envision for the future. And that is such a rare opportunity. I hope that every artist and every arts organization can understand that and put their trust and their belief in this process.

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UPDATED 01/24/23 9:24 a.m. Updated monies Pinellas County’s new cultural plan sent to planning group.