Arts council recommends cultural umbrella committee

At its January 24 meeting the Florida Keys Council of the

Arts recommended five arts-community leaders to the Tourist Development Council Cultural Umbrella Recommendation Committee:

Dr. Shirley Freeman, district 1

Dr. Shirley Freeman believes the arts are healthy for the environment, tourism, and the local economy. She supports positioning the Keys as a national and international arts destination. As a county commissioner Mayor Freeman supported Art in Public Places, the designation of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts as the official Local Arts Agency for Monroe County, the ordinance passed in 2001 mandating 1% for public art in new and renovated county buildings, Art Behind Bars, and art therapy for at-risk teens. Mayor Freeman sings in the Keys Chorale and is a regular patron of theater, music, visual art, literature, and historical culture. “The reason I support the arts,” she says, “is the arts are a vital part of the economy and ambiance of the Florida Keys and are a clean industry that does not impact our natural resources.”

David Ethridge, district 2

David Ethridge is editor of Solares Hill and editor at large of the Key West Citizen. He has worked with the Key West Literary Seminar for the last eleven years. A Keys resident for twenty-four years (twenty of those on Cudjoe Key), Mr. Ethridge is also treasurer of Reef Relief. “The purpose of art is art, not commerce,” he says. “Good art, and a strong reputation for it, will draw the people.”

Bill Shaw, district 3

Bill Shaw has served on the Florida Keys Council of the Arts executive board for two years. He has been a resident of Marathon for over twelve years, and he and his wife, Judy, own Shaw’s Home Maintenance and Landscaping. Mr. Shaw has been owner and president of two construction companies and is a member and former chair of the Monroe County Mosquito Control Board. He says, “My goal is to bring all citizens who are interested in the arts together as partners to promote cultural events in our community and to use our combined strengths and endeavors to ensure the arts prosper.”

David Cohn, district 4

Chicago native David M. Cohn has a liberal arts degree and Bachelor of Science in Commerce degree from Roosevelt University and was involved in graphic arts, direct mail advertising, and printing paper distribution for thirty-seven years. A Keys resident for over twenty years, Mr. Cohn created Art Lovers Gallery in 1992 in Islamorada and moved it to its current location in Treasure Village on Plantation Key in 1993. Affiliations include the Islamorada and Key Largo Chambers of Commerce, Mariners Hospital Community Foundation, Chicago Art Institute, Printing Industry of Florida, Key Players, and the South Florida Center for the Arts. Mr. Cohn supports the performing and the visual arts and looks forward to the building of an auditorium in the Upper Keys; he also supports the Village of Islamorada in its plans for Plantation Yacht Harbor property.

Rocky S. Hubert, district 5

Rocky Hubert is currently an account executive with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. He moved to the Upper Keys from Texas in 1988, where he had been a building contractor, inspector, and real estate broker. After moving to the Keys, he worked as a real estate appraiser, specializing in the evaluation of environmentally sensitive land, before being recruited into mortgage lending in 1998. Mr. Hubert has served in a leadership capacity for a number of community organizations including the Upper Keys Jaycees (president), Saint James Episcopal Church (vestryman and treasurer), the Monroe County Housing Finance Authority (current chairman), the Guidance Clinic of the Upper Keys, and the Florida Keys Council of the Arts. He was also a graduate of Class One of Leadership Monroe County and has served as a director of the alumni association, including a term as president. According to Hubert, "For someone remarkably untalented I've had a long appreciation for the arts, beginning in junior high, where I played drums and guitar in a county band. In high school a group of us would go to the Dallas Civic Theater, where I was introduced to Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Noel Coward. Dallas has a first-class art museum, and Fort Worth has both the Kimball and Amon Carter museums. Amon Carter has a great collection of Western and American art. People express themselves, both individually and collectively, through art. For most of us, our workaday world consists of numbers and deadlines and the pressures of dealing with difficult people. Art, whether visual, performing, or literary, allows us to connect with our higher selves. I am constantly amazed at how incredibly creative some people can be. When I travel, at home or abroad, I always look for museums or performances that help me connect with the local culture. Here in the Keys we are blessed with a tremendous variety of art, history, and culture, ranging from the Key Players in the Upper Keys to the Mel Fisher Museum in Key West. As a treasure hunter Mel Fisher appeals to the romantic in all of us. Yet one of the most moving exhibits I've ever seen of any kind was their exhibit of the slave ship Henrietta ." Mr. Hubert is concerned with art and culture for children and the community at large.