The City of Key West seeks proposals for the new Douglass Community Center that will celebrate the vibrant and distinguished history of the Bahamian culture and generations of families who have worked and lived in the Bahama Village neighborhood. The new Center will be home to a spacious main hall, classrooms, recording studio and practice rooms for music students of the Bahama Village Music Program and more. The site of the new building, along with a garden and performance space sits on the land of the original 1870 school house named for the great African-American orator and abolitionist, Frederick Douglass.

The mission for the commissioned public art in the City of Key West is to enhance the character and identity of our island community through the aesthetic of original, site-specific public artworks. Artwork will strive to educate, celebrate and preserve our cultural heritage and diversity to reflect Key West's population.
 The total budget for this project is $75,000. 

All questions must be submitted in writing no later than September 10, 2024. Please contact: Elizabeth Young, Executive Director & Public Art Administrator, Florida Keys Council of the Arts: [email protected] No phone calls, please, as verbal communication regarding this art project is not allowed per the City of Key West ordinance. Please note that all proposals must be submitted on time and through the portal as instructed.
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While it is not mandatory, Artists are invited to a site visit with City of Key West staff on SEPTEMBER 9, 2024@ 4pm EST. Hard hat and closed toe shoes are required. RSVP to: director@ keysarts.com by 9/7/2024.

For more information, and to apply, please visit the City of Key West on DemandStar, link located here: https://www.demandstar.com/app/limited/bids/472326/details

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is seeking Monroe County arts & cultural organizations and artists of all genres (visual, music, dance, literary, etc.) to apply for three grant opportunities. The deadline for Art Builds Community, Artist in Schools and Special Project grants is June 30 at 5pm. Applications are accepted online, and can be found at www.keysarts.com under the grants tab or on the link on the homepage.

Art Builds Community (ABC) grant, is designed to support arts and culture projects that spark conversations, spur social change, generate cultural equity and make our community stronger. Grant funding​ is offered at $5,000, $7,500 and $10,000 for projects that support, build and broaden access to the arts and specifically address civic challenges and community issues through the arts.  Florida Keys artists, arts organizations and civic/community-based organizations are encouraged to form alliances and partnerships to strengthen communities through projects that connect the arts with local issues and opportunities for all people.

Artists in Schools Grant program invites teaching artists in the performing, visual, literary or historical arts into the classroom. Teachers and teaching artists are encouraged to collaborate on creative projects together to enhance the existing curriculum or to teach a new topic integrating the arts. All Monroe County public and private schools, as well as other organizations that serve children ages 5-18, are eligible to be partners for the teaching artist. This application is for the Fall 2024 semester. Artists in Schools grants are up to $2,000 per request.

Special Project Grants are intended for arts organizations or individual artists in Monroe County. The grant is to provide short-term support to vital, creative projects that do not fit into the other grant categories. Special Project funding is limited to once in three years, up to $2,000 per request.

Contact information: Please call the Florida Keys Council of the Arts for suggestions and assistance at 305-295-4369 or by email to [email protected].
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The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is the leading arts and cultural organization in the Florida Keys. As the non-profit local arts agency in Monroe County, it connects audiences from around the world to galleries, theaters, museums, festivals, dance, music and more from Key Largo to Key West. The Council makes grants, supports Art in Public Places, and promotes the destination for its rich and diverse history in art and culture. The Arts Council provides services to visual and performing artists, arts organizations, students and the public, striving to instill a passion for and participation in the arts.

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is accepting letters of interest for two openings on the Cultural Umbrella Committee of the Tourist Development Council. The TDC District 1 (I) appointee must live within the city limits of Key West, and for the TDC District 4 (IV) the appointee must live between the Long Key Bridge and mile marker 90.939.

The committee member serves a three-year term beginning on October 1st. The sitting committee member for that district may re-apply for the position. The district 1 seat is currently held by Scott Burau, and the district 4 seat is vacant.

The Cultural Umbrella Committee is composed of five persons representing the 5 TDC districts of the Florida Keys and is administered by the Florida Keys Council of the Arts. The committee works with the TDC’s advertising and public relations agencies to promote the Keys as an arts and cultural destination, and makes recommendations for the funding of cultural events.

To be eligible to serve on the Committee of the Cultural Umbrella, a person must:
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1. Currently reside in the Tourist Development Committee District to which appointed for a minimum of two years. (Boundaries described above).

2. Have demonstrated significant support and advocacy for art and culture or work as an artist (visual, performing, literary, historic).

3. Demonstrate an understanding of the prime importance of art and culture to the economy and to the quality of life of Monroe County citizens and guests.

4. Receive no income in an administrative capacity from an entity or individual that was awarded Cultural Umbrella event funding in the past fiscal year or that applies in the current year.
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Persons wishing to be considered may send a letter of interest and brief resume by July 15, 2024 to Elizabeth Young, Executive Director, Florida Keys Council of the Arts, by email to: [email protected] or by mail to: 1100 Simonton Street, Suite #2-263, Key West, Fl. 33040

FLORIDA KEYS — The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is proud to present “The Connections Project: Making Music in the Keys” opening reception on Thursday, March 28th from 5:00 till 7:00 pm at the Lower Keys Chamber of Commerce Event Grounds located at 31020 Overseas Hwy in Big Pine Key. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres & beverages sponsored by Lower Keys Chamber, Jolly Mon Pub & Grill, Pops’s Smoke Shed, Boardwalk Bar & Grill, Big Pine Rooster, and Winn Dixie. 
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This year, in addition to offering the beautiful canvases from local artists, the Arts Council is also focusing on Musicians of the Keys, and the Lower Keys reception will feature local musicians, Brian Roberts and also the Mike Bailey Trio, who will perform in a Nashville-style writers’ round, taking turns singing their own songs and telling stories of living and working in the Keys. This is a free reception, everyone is welcome to attend, and also 48 unique canvases will be on display. View our new version of the 2024 Connections Project canvases, and donate $100 to take home a canvas of your choice.
 
"The Arts Council is honored to have received a prestigious Community Foundation of the Florida Keys grant for expanding access to our essential workforce to experience music and art in the Keys. We are thrilled to highlight so many talented musicians living and working throughout the County." stated Joyce Burd, Chair of the Arts Council's Board.
 
“The performing arts enhance our shared experiences, we thrilled to highlight local talent from Key Largo to Key West to celebrate the longstanding connection between the community and local cultural initiatives,” said Elizabeth Young, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts, which spearheads the project.
 
Proceeds from the Connections Project benefit Keys artists and arts organizations through Arts Council grants. To participate in the Connections Project, or for more information: keysarts.com or 305-295-4369

​The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is proud to announce that Monroe County artists Beth Kaminstein and Tyler Buckheim Trosset have been named the recipients of the prestigious 2023 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artists Award. Beth Kaminstein of Islamorada, and Tyler Buckheim Trosset of Key West, were both selected to receive this esteemed, five-county artist fellowship.  
 
Tyler and Beth will each receive a monetary award of $7,500 and be included in an exhibition featuring the work of the 2023 recipients, which will take place at The Art and Culture Center/Hollywood at 1650 Harrison Street, Hollywood, FL 33020, October 14, 2023 - January 24, 2024. 
 
Beth Kaminstein graduated with a BA from Bennington College in Vermont, 1976 (Ceramics, Drawing, and Dance). Since then, she has enjoyed a rather diverse life living in Florence, Italy and then in NYC where she owned and managed her family’s hardware store, Kaminstein Bros. In 1989, she moved to Islamorada to have a family and continue windsurfing, among other things.  While living in Islamorada, she worked to create a playground in the park behind the library in Islamorada, worked with her late husband, Ron Levy, on creating the municipality known as Islamorada, Village of Islands, built and ran a private pre and elementary school which then became the Upper Keys first charter school known as Montessori Island Charter School. 
 
Tyler Buckheim Trosset lives and works in Key West. She received a BFA from Florida Atlantic University in 2012 with a concentration in painting. Her work focuses on the delicacy of graphite drawing and portraiture, using historical photos from the Florida Keys, layered with texture rubbings.  The work starts with transferring raised text, designs on glass liquor bottles, hand carved linoleum printing plates or textures from found objects. These unique textures give depth and detail to what will become the background.  Then, Trosset layers into the rubbings drawn portraits of people from the past, working from an archive of military pass photos, passport photos and other portraits taken in Key West from 1917 through the 1980’s. The photos are from a time before photography was part of everyday life and give a more honest portrait than are often seen in modern life.   
 
The Consortium, an alliance of the arts councils of Broward, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties has conferred the artists with awards at either the $15,000 or $7,500 level. These awards are among the largest such honors accorded by local arts agencies to visual and media artists in the United States. Celebrating 35 years in 2023 (established in 1988), the SFCC has awarded over $4 million in grants to more than 300 artists. In addition to receiving the grant, the artists take part in an exhibition hosted and organized by a visual arts institution in one of the five counties.  
 
The recipients were selected through a two-tier panel process which included the participation of regional and national arts experts. The 2023 regional panel, whose adjudications are based on the evaluation of the artists' work as evidenced by the work samples submitted, included: Ariella Wolens, Bryant-Taylor Curator, NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale (Broward); Carrington Ware, Artist, SFCC FY 20-21 Recipient, Professor, Florida International University (Broward); Véronique Côté, Galleries Director, University Galleries, Florida Atlantic University (Palm Beach); Helena Gomez, Curator, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, (Miami-Dade); and Elvis Fuentes, Executive Director, Coral Gables Museum, (Miami-Dade). 
 
The South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists is a cooperative project funded in part with the support of the Boards of County Commissioners of Broward, Miami-Dade, Martin and Monroe Counties and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County.