St. Petersburg Arts Alliance presents a report that offers possibilities for St. Petersburg’s future. We offer recommendations along with practical and possible processes to preserve and enhance our arts placemaking and cultural impact, as well as our Arts Districts.

St. Petersburg is a city of beautiful beaches, sunshine, sports and lively activities. St. Petersburg is also a vibrant City of the Arts.

St. Pete’s thriving arts and culture scene with outstanding museums, scores of independent galleries, a successful and close-knit community of working artists and crafts-people, and a stellar performing arts community is one of the best in the southeastern United States.  

St. Petersburg is growing and changing rapidly as it attract those who want to join us. Five-plus years ago, you would find boarded up buildings and little activity along Central Avenue. Thanks to creative businesses moving into the 600 Block, the Central Arts District emerged as a vibrant, bustling city center.

However as a result, rents are rising, displacing vulnerable small creative businesses – some relocating, some disappearing entirely from our arts and cultural community. The pattern is repeated in our arts districts and enclaves as well.

The arts have impact. The arts in St. Petersburg not only improve the city’s quality of life, they are an economic powerhouse through cultural tourism. Fine art, theatre, music, dance, film and literary arts, along with the established and emerging Arts Districts play significant roles in our vibrant City of the Arts.

Our goal of presenting “Preserving our Cultural Spaces” is to provide context and suggestions that may inform those who shape the way our city is growing. We want to keep our arts and cultural community prospering.

Explore this downloadable proposal
Preserving Our Cultural Spaces

We welcome your input
You can email comments to john@stpeteartsalliance.org and randi@stpeteartsalliance.org.