This year’s recipients of the Arts Impact Fund, who were awarded between $2,000 and $5,000, are producing innovative projects in film, music, performance, writing, and visual arts. Their work is transforming local communities, inspiring engagement, and showcasing the diverse talent of Pinellas County.
William Leavengood
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Writing or Composition: To compose, write, and workshop the new musical “Florida Man” that celebrates many wonderful quirks of our state… Read More
Suzanne Elizabeth Murphy
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Writing or Composition: To publish the illustrated children’s book “Mirabelle and the Sea Green Bathtub, Journey to the Coral Reef” that inspires Children to save corals… Read More
Kyle Ransbottom
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Writing or Composition: To write a fun, immersive education game about Florida ecology, so children study the natural world and care for the planet… Read More
Jae Alexander The Poet
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Writing or Composition: To showcase, encourage, and celebrate youth poets in “Voices in Motion: A Youth Poetry Play”… Read More
Ashley Gierke
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Writing or Composition: To complete and publish a memoir of the Artist’s experience with breast cancer at age 30, to reflect and act as positive art therapy… Read More
Tina Piracci
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create awareness of oyster population decline through clay 3D printed sculpture… Read More
Noelle Mason
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create new art in the “X-Ray Vision vs. Invisibility” body of work to be shown at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art to increase awareness of human migrations around the world… Read More
Kristin Eschenroeder & Ani Pelucarte
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create a public mosaic mural with community members to bring attention to urban wildlife and how we may live in harmony… Read More
James Hartzell
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To install a mural on the side of Al Lang Stadium to illuminate the deep cultural history of the stadium, honor the importance of sports and arts in our lives, and reduce vandalization… Read More
Sam(ira) Obeid
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Performance: To produce performances of “Tell My Puppy I’m Coming Home,” so people on all sides of immigration debates learn and share beyond typical talking points… Read More
Kanica Him
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Performance: To produce a dance performance to trace the anthropology of jazz movements back to the African Diaspora… Read More
Milosz Gasior
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Music: To tour musician Milosz Gasior, a 21-year-old pianist with autism who communicates through his music, to challenge stereotypes about autism and promote an inclusive understanding of neurodiversity… Read More
Markus Gottschlich
By Shanna DiNobile
Arts Impact Fund – Music: To produce a free concert at ArtsXchange and workshop in South St. Pete that immerse youth from Jordan Park, Job Corps, and the Deuces Corridor in World Jazz… Read More
John Gattis
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Music: To create and host “Modern Voices,” a two-concert series featuring newly commissioned works for horn, violin, and piano that challenge traditional perceptions of classical music… Read More
Joseph Terrana
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Film: To produce a film of international musicians and culturally significant instruments that celebrates the varied and rich communities of Pinellas… Read More
Heidi Brewer
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Film: To film professional dancers performing athletic movements in a sports setting, inspiring common ground between arts and sports, with the film to be screened at BEACON25 and submitted to festivals… Read More
Christa Boarini
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Film: To make, screen, and distribute a 15-minute dark fantasy horror short film that explores wealth and the disenfranchisement of the less fortunate… Read More
Merritt Horan
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create a weatherproof Miniature Art Gallery to safely host a rotating collection of miniature artworks… Read More
Latonya Hicks
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To complete a 20-portrait series inspired by personal memory, collected stories, and a DNA test, all to better discover the self through the body of work… Read More
Wendy Bruce
By Creative Pinellas
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create and present “VISIBLE: Seen AND Heard,” an exhibition of Artists Beth Belaschky, Katie Pavone, Lori Vinesett and Wendy Bruce, at Gallery 5663, that encourages viewers to know it’s never too late to make art… Read More
Ashley Rivers, The Nature of Fire
By Ashley Rivers
Arts Impact Fund – Visual: To create and display a 3D public art sculpture of a Bird of Paradise flower to increase viewer happiness and vibrancy… Read More
Victoria Jorgensen
By Victoria Jorgensen
Arts Impact Fund – Film: To draft, film, and test-screen a documentary of the artistic collaboration of photographer David Audet, Poet Laureate James Tokley, and Cuban composer Alfredo Rivero… Read More
