St. Lucie County has a new champion for the local arts and culture scene – the St. Lucie Cultural Alliance. The County Commission recently re-established the local arts agency, which will allow the county to collect an estimated $5,000 annually from specialty license plates.
As the designated local arts agency, St. Lucie Cultural Alliance will be the recipient organization of revenues generated through the Florida Arts License Plate sales in St. Lucie County. Funds collected through the sale of these specialty plates are distributed to the counties where the plates are sold, and each county designates a recipient organization to administer funds to support arts activities within that county.
What, exactly, the Cultural Alliance will use the funds for remains to be determined.
“We certainly have ideas,” said communications manager and spokesperson Lisa Fitz-Coy. But those ideas will ultimately be vetted and selected by the board of directors.
The alliance’s mission is a simple one – enhance St. Lucie County as a cultural destination, provide workshops and networking opportunities for those in the creative arts industry, and develop arts and education programs. Fitz-Coy said the alliance is like a Chamber of Commerce, but for the arts and culture sector.
Outgoing Cultural Alliance board chair and artist Glenn Ryals presented to the County Commission a painting he created called “Dual Purpose” valued at $10,000.
“We have worked for more than 12 months to put a focus on culture and art in our community,” Ryals said in a prepared statement about the piece and its donation. “Collaboration and cooperation will enhance St. Lucie County as a cultural destination. ‘Dual Purpose,’ in a playful manner, is an abstract that should be relatable from a youthful to older perspective. The name conjures infinite thoughts of purposes that are in line with others. For a young reader, the painting spells out purpose, twice, across the canvas, so it literally says purpose twice.”
Part of what the Cultural Alliance will be working toward is bringing awareness to the numerous offerings throughout the county, not just the culture scene well known and well established in Fort Pierce.
Port St. Lucie, too, has a burgeoning arts and culture scene, including a community theater. Both the theater and the Port St. Lucie Arts League have already become members of the alliance and the organization is working to add the groups’ events to the cultural calendar. “There’s a lot on offer,” Fitz-Coy said. “We’re trying to keep up.”
The public is invited to learn more about the St. Lucie Cultural Alliance at www.ArtStLucie.org. The website is a digital hub for artists, and arts and cultural organizations, and includes an arts and cultural events calendar, virtual gallery and arts marketplace, member directories, grants and job opportunities, workshops, calls for art, and more.
The Cultural Alliance is governed by a board of directors comprised of local business leaders and arts advocates. Board meetings are typically held monthly and are publicly noticed at www.StLucieCo.gov. The public is invited to attend. The next scheduled meeting is April 17 at 3 p.m. in Conference Room 3, at the County Administration Complex, 2300 Virginia Ave., Fort Pierce.