In celebration of the New Year, the Cultural Council of Indian River County hosted the season’s first Art of Networking event at Kitty Wagner’s new Blue Star Bourbon Bar & Southern Kitchen, recruiting several new members and laying the groundwork for a new downtown “cultural village.”
“It’s so good to have Kitty downtown at her new place and I’m thrilled it’s right here on 14th Avenue,” said Barbara Hoffman, Cultural Council board president to the roughly 50 people in attendance.
Wagner previously owned the restaurant Undertow on Old Dixie before rebranding herself on the beach with her hip Blue Star Wine Bar.
She has now returned to the mainland, offering an extended food menu, a full bar and live music to the delight of her fans.
“We did two other Art of Networking events and I have been a member for a lot of years,” said Wagner. “The Cultural Council is really good about letting you know what is going on around town and it’s really nice to be on the inside track on those.”
Members and non-members are welcomed to attend the quarterly networking events, which are free to members.
Peg Witte, who assists Hoffman in the Cultural Council office, said three new members joined that evening.
“People come in from outside for networking because the group is very diverse,” said interior designer Angela Speck. “We all have a common bond in support of the arts.”
Ashley Franke, who opened a new public relations firm, attended with her associates and joined for just that reason.
“The Cultural Council and its members are all about everything that is happening in Vero Beach and helping it grow and we certainly want to be a part and help do that.”
Reminding everyone of a special meeting the following Wednesday at the Heritage Center, Hoffman said, “We are going to be talking about our downtown arts center, where we are going and we have a surprise that we are going to share with you. We hope you come because we have some pretty exciting ideas.
“We have a new concept that we want to float to the public,” she told Vero Beach 32963.
“Our leadership team traveled around Florida looking at other centers this summer and learned so much. We started thinking about what would work best for Vero.”
The new idea is to build a cultural village in the downtown area extending behind 14th Avenue, out to 20th Avenue and south of State Road 60.
It would include several properties, connected with walking areas between buildings and residences, with space for rehearsals, small concerts, meetings and art exhibitions.
Vero Beach City Manager Jim O’Connor said it would require only expanded rezoning as the surrounding area already allows mixed use of residences with light commercial use.
“It’s very doable,” said O’Connor. “It will also give landowners more flexibility to allow residents to have a small commercial space in their homes. It’s really just an expansion of what seems to already be working in our downtown area.”
Hoffman stressed that the idea is only in the discussion phase; the council wants to first determine how the community feels about the project before moving forward.
