Pinellas County artist on why grants go toward ‘investing in community’

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One Pinellas County artist says it’s “dismissive and disrespectful” how the county voted to defund a nonprofit organization that distributed grants to local artists.

This comes as Creative Pinellas closed its gallery at the Pinewood Cultural Park in Largo. That’s because the Pinellas County Commission previously slashed about $1 million for the arts agency with plans to instead award about $500,000 in grants for arts tourism. This was despite an outcry of public support for the organization.

ALSO READ: County defunds Creative Pinellas despite an outpouring of support by local artists

In making the decision, commissioners said Creative Pinellas wasn’t a good return on investment dollars for tourism.

“I mean no disrespect to the people sitting behind me or people in the other, but this really is not life or death,” Commissioner Chris Latvala previously said. “Arts will still be here. Pinellas County will still thrive. The sun will still shine.”

Creative Pinellas CEO Margaret Murray told WUSF’s Cathy Carter the organization continues to work with the county to develop new partnerships and is confident it will be able to continue distributing grants to artists.

On “Florida Matters Live & Local,” St. Petersburg-based visual artist John Gascot criticized the commission’s decision, the significance of grants for artists and more. Gascot is also the co-owner of Studios at 5663 and founder of Diversity Arts Inc, which is a group that provides materials and space to underserved adults and youth.

The interview below was edited for clarity and length.

Man holding mug near face with hand to his mouth looking shocked — John Gascot is a St. Pete area visual artist.

You’ve been a recipient of grants from Creative Pinellas, the National Endowment of the Arts and others. How important are these grants to the work you do?

These grants are very important for artists who are out there trying to make a difference in the community.

A lot of these grants go to not just work that happens within a studio, but work that is community-based.

So it goes beyond funding an artist; it goes towards investing in community and reaches out much further than just the artist.

Is the process of making the art as important as the finished product?

Oh, absolutely, the process of making the art is crucial to the finished product. It’s emotional, it’s physical, it’s a journey.

You’ve urged community decision makers to save murals and support Creative Pinellas. What goes through your mind as an artist when you hear someone like Commissioner Latvala saying, “It’s not life or death, art will still be here.”

It’s so dismissive. What they did was pure theater in my opinion. I believe they had the largest number of supporters in that room for any other meeting, and they just let those people go there and pour their hearts out. And they knew all along that they were going to defund the organization. There’s no doubt in my mind.

So I find it disrespectful and dismissive of one of our main — we call ourselves the arts coast. It is one of our main sources of attracting tourism and building community. So I find it just dismissive and disrespectful.

Man in lacy black shirt with say gay in letters behind him — John Gascot is a St. Petersburg-area visual artist.

What about the gallery for folks who hadn’t gotten the chance to visit it — What sort of experience did it provide?

That gallery was so much more than a gallery. It was a museum-level gallery. I mean, the shows that Creative Pinellas put on were top-notch, and I would say would stand up to any museum show that I’ve seen personally, and it’s going to be a real loss for the community.

It’s probably going to just sit there vacant now for however many more years.

Are there some alternative spaces that artists can gravitate toward in the community?

For example, here at Studios at 5663, I curate monthly or bi-monthly shows, and we invite outside artists.

So we do give opportunities for artists to still exhibit, and there’s a number of galleries that do that throughout the St Pete and Tampa Bay area, but they’re not to the scale of what Creative Pinellas had. It’s a lot different.

What do you think the future could be for Creative Pinellas?

I’m not sure. Because they’re now tying it to Visit St Pete Clearwater, which is a wonderful organization, but certainly more tourism-based.

So you’re taking that funding away and gearing it in a different direction, and now I feel like they’re under the thumb of something different, and they’re going to have to sort of go back to the board and reimagine what they’re going to do.

People like ourselves, who are lucky enough to have spaces, are open to collaborating with them. But again, what they can achieve in a space like ours, or many of the others, is not to the scale of what they were able to do in that space in Largo. And there’s less grants, obviously.

You’ve started the United Mural Project through your organization, Diversity Arts Inc. Tell us more about that. What are you doing in light of this funding going away?

So the United Mural Project started not only because of funding going away, but because of the erasure of inclusive and diverse murals like we saw in St Pete and all through the state and beyond.

I had the honor — the great honor — of being one of the artists to create the Black Lives Matter, Black History Matter murals at the Woodson [museum], and I was part of a group that was sort of fighting that battle in St Pete and spoke at city council, where, again, I feel like there was a lot of theater happening because our mayor just kind of buckled and went along with the erasers. And that was very disappointing when there were other cities, the mayors who were still fighting.

ALSO READ: Say goodbye to street art in the Tampa Bay area

And it’s not that I expected that the battle would be won, but I expected it to be fought so that we could see how he stood for the people and for diverse communities. So having this building, we had a number of fading murals, and I said, “We’re sitting on something here, so let’s just take it. Take this road ourselves.”

I assembled a group of amazing artists that come from as wide a range of backgrounds as I could, and we’re creating the United mural, which is literally going to say united.

Each artist will take a letter, and it’s sort of a nod to the Black Lives Matter, Black History Matters murals, which is what we did there.

We’re planning on creating a lasting landmark for the community where everybody can feel seen and heard and be a part of it. We’re literally inviting the community to have a hand in it.

This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Matthew Peddie for “Florida Matters Live & Local.” You can listen to the full episode here.