The record

The Monroe Council of the Arts introduced Dolphins on Parade, a public art project spanning the Florida Keys in which businesses and individuals sponsored almost life-sized wooden dolphins for Keys artists to turn into original works of art. Sponsors chose where their finished dolphins stood, and the pieces were slated for auction at gala events across the Keys, with maps of the locations planned for the winter season.

Released September 11, 2000

The Monroe Council of the Arts announced an inaugural celebration of Art in Public Places at Key West International Airport, recognizing the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners for sponsoring public art and celebrating the Florida Keys artists whose work was on display there. The gathering was also set to name the winner of the Key West International Airport Mural Competition, a commission to paint a mural on the air-conditioning tower at the east entrance to the main terminal building, and to invite visitors on a self-tour of the airport's permanent and revolving art exhibitions.

to celebrate the Florida Keys artists whose work adorns this distinctive public location

Released October 10, 2000

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts named Key West pianist Franko Richmond the winner of the 2001 Renaissance Award, given that year to an emerging performing artist, for Concerto Latino, the scoring, recording, and performance of a world premiere piano concerto blending jazz, Latin, and classical music with the Key West Pops Orchestra. A panel of arts professionals from the Upper, Middle, and Lower Keys and Miami met in Marathon to select him, the Council's board of directors approved the recommendation, and the award reflected the generosity of an anonymous private benefactor; the 2000 Renaissance Award had gone to wood sculptor Duke Rood.

The Renaissance Award reflects the generosity of a private benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Released October 02, 2001

The Monroe Council of the Arts closed its Dolphins on Parade campaign with three gala auctions of the dolphin statues, held at the Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada, the Banana Bay Resort in Marathon, and the Custom House in Key West, followed by an online auction. Proceeds supported local artists through Council grant programs including ArtReach and Artists in Schools, and the artists who created the individual dolphins received ten percent of the sale price.

The artists who created the individual dolphins receive ten percent of the sale price.

Released March 27, 2001

The Monroe Council of the Arts offered a free four-panel brochure and map, "WPA and FERA Key West and the Florida Keys: Federally Subsidized Works and Arts Projects of the 1930s," then available from the Arts Council and at local libraries. It mapped historic WPA and FERA artworks at sixteen sites from Islamorada to Key West and carried biographies of nineteen artists, researched by Florida Keys Community College art professor Malcolm Ross, created by Solares Hill Design Group, and sponsored in part by the State of Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council.

A detailed map locates historic WPA and FERA artworks in sixteen sites from Islamorada to Key West.

Undated in the document, filed under 2001

The Monroe Council of the Arts and Key West High School established the annual Glenn Casselman Memorial Scholarship Fund, created to send a promising student to the Florida summer music camp of the student's choice. The fund honored the memory of Glenn Casselman (1984-2001), a Key West High School band percussionist who was killed in an accident on U.S. 1.

Released June 4, 2001

At its May 16 meeting in Key Largo, the Monroe County Board of County Commissioners passed an ordinance setting aside one percent of the construction costs of qualifying county construction, with sewage treatment excluded and stated cost thresholds applying to new construction and to renovations, for the acquisition, commission, installation, and maintenance of works of art in public buildings. Under the ordinance the county commission was to establish an Art in Public Places Committee to review proposals for art to be acquired and installed in public projects, with one voting member appointed by each commissioner from that commissioner's district, one voting member from the board or staff of the Monroe Council of the Arts, the remaining voting members representing the art, architecture, and design communities and the general public, and two nonvoting members appointed by the county administrator on a project by project basis.

One voting member will be a board or staff member of the Monroe Council of the Arts.

Released June 1, 2001

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts announced the installation of Music in the Airport!, playing original recordings by local musicians in the arrival and departure areas of Key West International Airport, with a sound engineering team compiling the recordings and installing the broadcast system and support credited to the county commission and the airport's management. Dozens of local musicians and bands were on the air in the opening rotation, with featured musicians set to rotate over time, and the release presented Music in Public Places as the newest addition to the Art in Public Places programs the Council managed.

Undated in the document, filed under 2003

The Council announced the first project of the Monroe County Art in Public Places program, with permanent works by Debra Yates and Rick Worth of Key West and John David Hawver of Islamorada selected for the new Roth Building in Tavernier. The first project to come before the program's board covered the Old Mariner's Hospital, the new sheriff's substation, the public defender's offices and other county facilities on Plantation Key, under the county ordinance proposed by Mayor Dixie Spehar and established by the Board of County Commissioners in 2001, which allocated one percent of the construction cost of qualifying new county buildings and restorations for the purchase or commission of artworks.

Undated in the document, filed under 2005

The Council notified its supporters that a recommended county budget would reduce its funding from $120,000 to $75,000, a cut of 37.5 percent put forward on the day of a budget hearing in Key West. In response the Council described the reach of its work at the time: rotating art exhibits in ten public buildings, cultural information supplied to news media every week, music in the airport, lunchtime concerts in senior citizen centers, and grants such as Artists in Schools, ArtReach and Hurricane Emergency Grants.

Released September 11, 2006

The Council announced that Key West filmmaker and multimedia artist Rock Solomon had won a South Florida Cultural Consortium Fellowship for Visual and Media Artists, the only Monroe County recipient among twelve artists honored that year by the Consortium. Solomon, who had received an ArtReach grant from the Council in 2004 and screened short films at the Tennessee Williams Fine Arts Center and the Waterfront Playhouse, was selected through a two tier process involving regional and national arts experts, with the regional panel's selection made anonymously and based solely on the quality of the work submitted.

Winning this award modifies all my plans in every way

Rock Solomon

Released January 31, 2006

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts opened reservations for the 2007-2008 Florida Keys Gallery Guide, a compact full color brochure that folded down to rack card size and opened out to a map and listings of Keys galleries. Galleries on the map were required to offer at least 60% original art, individual artist home studios could be listed off the map as by appointment only, and each listing carried up to 300 characters of text and a photograph.

Undated in the document, filed under 2007

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts circulated an appeal from the Key West Art in Public Places Board after the City Commission voted on November 21 to reject a sculpture of seven figures, four adults and three children, created for the Southernmost Point by sculptor Seward Johnson. Johnson then offered to lend the work to the city for a year to gauge community response, and a new proposal sponsored by the mayor was set to go before the commission at its January 3 meeting.

Released January 1, 2007

The Council announced that Elizabeth Young had been named Interim Executive Director and that Michael McCabe had joined the staff as Information Services and Community Development Coordinator. Andrea Comstock continued with the Council as Business Manager.

We are very happy to have Liz and Mike joining our staff.

Andrea Comstock, Business Manager

Released February 5, 2008

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts, with the Key West Writers Guild, announced Marathon writer Richard de Grasse as the winner of the 2008 Key West Writers Guild Award for an excerpt from his novel in progress, Road to Havana. It was the fifth annual award, its cash prize supported by an endowment administered by the Council, and the winning manuscript, identified only by a number, was chosen by judge Jennifer O'Lear, a local novelist, with the announcement made at a May meeting of the Guild.

delighted and humbled

Richard de Grasse

Released June 1, 2008

The Council created an endowment held by the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys to support its long term sustainability, funded by a grant the Council received from the Leadership Success Academy combined with a donation from the private sector. Executive Director Liz Young said being a Community Foundation donor gave the Council more visibility and kept the money invested locally.

There are so many benefits to investing locally.

Liz Young, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts

Released April 24, 2009

The Council announced that Key West International Airport had become the newest venue in its Art in Public Buildings program, which placed rotating exhibits in twelve public buildings and several commissioners' offices across the Florida Keys with the help of volunteer curators. Key West artist Helen Harrison installed a twelve foot sculpture titled Cohune Spire, depicting a gold leafed palm frond mounted on a coral pedestal, in the secure departure area of the new terminal.

The spirit and energy of living things has always intrigued me

Helen Harrison, the artist

Released November 11, 2009

Lois Giffen, a member of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts Advisory Board, was honored at the Community Foundation's Unsung Hero Luncheon on January 22. The Council noted that she was one of its founding board members and had contributed over many years, particularly to the Artists In Schools grant program.

Released January 23, 2010

Monroe County's Art in Public Places Committee announced the installation of another phase of the public art at the Key West International Airport, where Key Largo artist Nan Thurn Kitchens completed phase one of her hand sculpted glazed ceramic project "Island Tide Portal I & II" for the first floor elevators located in the main parking lot, an island inspired work depicting rolling waves and leaf forms. The release said Kitchens was one of eight artists selected from a field of fifty proposals submitted for permanent exhibition in the new airport, chosen by the committee on behalf of the Board of County Commissioners for the county's 1% for Public Art program.

Released April 23, 2010

The Cultural Umbrella Committee and the Keys co-op advertising program promoted Culture 2013, the annual Keys cultural magazine, which was to feature a yearly calendar of cultural and artistic events, articles on Drive By Art (public art and historical monuments) and on Voluntourism, and a cover pictorial from a resident Keys artist. The four color magazine was to be inserted into a publication placed in Keys guest rooms, with additional freestanding copies planned for chambers, galleries and for domestic and international trade shows, and advertising space was offered to local artists, galleries and theaters.

For the fourteenth straight year, the Cultural Umbrella will publish its cultural magazine.

Undated in the document, filed under 2012

The Council opened listings for the 2013 edition of its Gallery Guide and invited Keys gallery owners and artist studios to join or renew. The Council described the guide as a countywide directory with a map, distributed from Key Largo to Key West and carried by the Tourist Development Council to travel trade shows, with a listing that also carried a business partner membership in the Council.

It is time to join or renew your listing in our Gallery Guide.

Elizabeth S. Young, Executive Director

Undated in the document, filed under 2012

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts announced an opening reception for "Then and Now," a retrospective show at the Historic Gato Building in Key West that gathered South Florida Cultural Consortium fellowship recipients from Monroe County, spanning award years 1989 through 2014. The artists listed included John Martini, Roberta Marks, Carol Munder, Debra Yates, Michel Delgado, Rock Solomon, Anja M. Marais and Jon McIntosh.

Released Friday, February 6

Monroe County's Art in Public Places program installed a turquoise bench and a sky blue loveseat, made by California artist Colin Selig from salvage propane tanks once used to heat homes, in the courtyard of the Marathon Courthouse under the county's one percent public art program, which the Florida Keys Council of the Arts administered on behalf of the county commissioners. The Art in Public Places Committee received eight proposals within budget and recommended Selig's, the Board of County Commissioners approved it, the committee chose the ocean and sky tones, and local artist Robert D'Antonio, hired by Selig, oversaw the uncrating and installation.

These benches create a lovely, quiet space for people who visit and work at the Courthouse

Elizabeth Young, Executive Director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts

Undated in the document, filed under 2016

The Council launched the fourth annual Connections Project road show, opening at the Murray Nelson Government and Cultural Center in Key Largo with a 24 foot mosaic mural made from small canvases painted by local professional artists and artistic residents. The mosaic traveled from Key Largo to Key West for six art receptions and exhibitions open during the regular business hours of Arts Council business partner locations, with proceeds supporting Council grants including Artists in Schools, the audience development grant known as ArtReach and a Special Projects grant.

People of all abilities and skill levels are encouraged to participate

Elizabeth Young, Florida Keys Arts Council Executive Director

Undated in the document, filed under 2016

The Council announced that it had awarded $67,000 in emergency relief grants to Monroe County artists and arts organizations affected by Hurricane Irma, and said the funds helped more than 140 local artists. It credited the National Endowment for the Arts, the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys, The Miami Foundation, the Helmerich Trust and many individual donors, and reported that all of the 2017 hurricane relief funds had been distributed.

Released 6/14/18

The Council brought its traveling exhibit, The Connections Project: A Mosaic of the Keys, to Islamorada for an opening reception at the Roberto Russell Gallery at Ocean Sotheby's International Realty, showing a mural assembled from nearly 400 canvases measuring six inches square that were provided to Keys artists and arts minded local residents and returned in mediums ranging from oils and watercolor to photography, mixed media and quilting. The Council announced a road show of six exhibitions running from Key Largo to Key West and ending at its Gato Building headquarters in Key West, with proceeds from the project benefiting Keys artists and arts organizations through arts council grants.

The mural's 'road show' tour from Key Largo to Key West celebrates the longstanding connection between the community and local cultural initiatives

Elizabeth Young, executive director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts

Released 02/08/18

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts launched Art Builds Community (ABC), a grant program supporting arts and culture projects that address civic challenges and community issues in the Keys. It was open to Florida Keys artists, arts organizations and civic or community based organizations, encouraged partnerships among them, and was funded in part by The Helmerich Trust and private donations.

We believe the arts have the power to change hearts and minds and inspire social change.

executive director Elizabeth Young

Released 03/22/19

The Council announced "Liberty, in the shadow of silence," a collective exhibition of contemporary Cuban art curated by Alaen Ledesma Fernandez, to open July 1, 2021 at the Historic Gato Building in Key West, a building that was originally a Cuban cigar factory. The show was set to continue through October 1 as part of the Council's Art in Public Buildings program, which gave artists a chance to exhibit their work beyond a traditional gallery space, and it was sponsored in part by the Council and the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs.

Released 6/17/2021

The Council and Mote Marine Laboratory announced a free virtual program to unveil Gaea, a monumental concrete sculpture by Italian born artist Gaia Grossi, newly sited at Mote's Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration on Summerland Key. Gaea had been displayed in New York City's Riverside Park through the Model to Monument program, a partnership of the Art Students League of New York and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, before Key West philanthropists John Padget and the late Jacob Dekker selected it for the Florida Keys Sculpture Trail, which the Council curated.

It adds an element of beauty in the bustle of hard ground-breaking scientific work happening at Mote.

Elizabeth Young, executive director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts

Released 3/01/2021

The Council and the Monroe County Art in Public Places Committee opened a call for visual artists to become qualified as public artists under the county's Art in Public Places Ordinance, which sets aside one percent of qualifying new county construction and renovation costs to fund public art. Artists approved through the process became eligible for five years to apply to county calls, including the Key West International Airport expansion and Monroe County Library branch renovations, as well as the City of Key West's public art program.

Released 01/18/2023

The Council and the Key West Writers Guild named Mary Lou Condike the winner of the twentieth annual Key West Writers Guild writing award for her manuscript "The Doll from Dunedin." The award was supported by an endowment under the Council's administration, and the winning manuscript was chosen from an anonymously reviewed field of submissions by three judges: artist and Monroe County Art in Public Places Committee chair Susann D'Antonio, theater director and producer Richard Ericson, and creative producer and writer Juliet Gray.

Released 6/14/23

The Council, working with the Key West Writers Guild, named Brian "B.J." Condike the winner of that year's writing award for his manuscript "Murder in the Family". The award, then in its twenty first year and supported by an endowment administered by the Council, was decided by three judges from an anonymously reviewed field of submissions.

Released 5/30/24

The Council announced a City of Key West call for original, site-specific public art at the new Frederick Douglass Community Center in Bahama Village, a building planned to hold a main hall, classrooms, and a recording studio and practice rooms for the Bahama Village Music Program. The site was the land of the original 1870 school house named for the abolitionist and orator Frederick Douglass, and the call said the new Center would celebrate Bahamian culture and the generations of families who lived and worked in the neighborhood.

Released 8/27/24

The Council announced its 2023-2024 grant awards to Monroe County artists, arts and cultural organizations and performing groups, naming recipients that included theaters, a museum, library and school partnerships and individual artists from Key Largo to Key West. The Council said it awarded more than $65,000 that cycle, through grant funds raised from memberships and from individual and business donations.

Released 03/25/24