July 1, 2015
For Immediate Release, Please
Contact: John Collins, 727.518.5142 john@stpeteartsalliance.org
The St Petersburg Arts Alliance is pleased to announce our recipients of the inagural
Individual Artist Grant Program.
The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance partnered with the City of St. Petersburg’s Office of
Cultural Affairs and the Arts Advisory Committee to establish an Individual Artist Grant
Program. The grants are intended to provide financial assistance to resident artists for
projects that support public engagement of their work in the Visual Arts, Dance, Music and
Theater disciplines.
The artists will begin their artful projects in July. The grant panel was comprised of
professionals from the St. Petersburg Public Arts Commission, the St. Petersburg Arts
Advisory Committee, and the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.

Betty Soto will conduct a free dance workshop for women, incorporating modern
dance techniques, that will create, rehearse and perform two choreographed dances
based on the women coming of age, injustice and empowerment, as portrayed in “for
colored girls who considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf” and “Cypress,”
based on books by Ntozake Shange.

Jennifer Zoellner will create and distribute positive, free art at Bay Pine’s Veterans
Affairs Hospital that will brighten our service men and women’s hearts and minds.
Jennifer’s artwork uses various artistic mediums in acrylic, watercolor or colored
pencil and often mimics Russian dolls.

Tom Sivakwill present two staged readings of a new musical theater work entitled
“Sunshine City,” Featuring a cast of ten, the live performances are an essential step
in the development of any new musical. Performances will be held in September at
the Palladium and the St. Petersburg Opera Company.

April Hartley will transform children’s drawings into embroidery on fabric from
children who have experienced hardship and trauma in their individual lives in their
homes. The work will later be featured in an art book format and serve as a
fundraising project for the Florida Guardian ad Litem Program.

Melissa Yungbluth will present a pop-up sale and exhibition at The Studio@620
showcasing her ceramic art. During the free opening reception, Melissa and three
nationally recognized artists plan to lead a discussion and demonstrate how the use
of handmade ceramics is important to one’s quality of life.
100 Second Avenue North, Suite 150, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 727.518.5142

David Manson has composed 12 original compositions fusing jazz with various
Brazilian styles. He will present a concert that will be videotaped. This project
enables a free showcase/scholarship event to assist music students.

Mark Stevens will present the St. Pete Robot Exchange, an art event that features
robot inspired entertainment. Attendees bring their own robot creations for a themed
art show, live music, a robotic contest and new this year: a wearable art fashion
show.

Ya La’ford will present “The Known Unknown Project – People Passages and
Destinations.” This project will be composed of a new entangled
photographic/video series intended to explore the human sphere of interconnectivity,
in preservation of life’s existence conditioned upon conventions of reciprocated
coexistence. . Scenarios will be generated along with participant observation,
interviews, and photography into a final project collage. The artist aims at
substituting the gallery settings to promote extended artistic exposure to capture
more diverse audience.

James Oleson will produce a new mural that will be added to a corner of the Bloom
Arts Center warehouse at 910 5th Avenue North in St. Petersburg. This new largescale piece will complete a vibrant corner that commuters can see on their daily
drive and the visitors can enjoy as part of a self-guided, free public mural tour. A
free public event will conclude the completion of the piece and a free temporary wall
will be featured so any visiting artist can paint.


Helen Hansen French
“The Movement Love Letter to St. Petersburg” will be a dance program in three
phases that will include community interaction. The research and development
phase will bring together professional artists of varied mediums to work and create.
The community engagement phase will hold dance workshops with a professional
dancer. The last phase will be a performance of the new work.

Elizabeth A. Baker will compose “In Our Own Words: A Sonic Memory Quilt.”
This project embraces the rich tradition of story telling while reaching beyond the
stereotype that black music is only blues or jazz music. A series of stories from a
wide cross-section of St. Petersburg residents of African-American descent will be
compiled and woven together with the spoken word will form a “sonic quilt,”
providing a backdrop for the pianist to create a musical painting. The final piece will
be a sound installation presented at the Carter Woodson Museum.
The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance strives to be the community voice for the arts -empowering artists, arts organizations and creative businesses to work collaboratively. As
an umbrella arts organization, we advocate for the arts, facilitate the growth of the arts
community, and drive arts-related economic development in St. Petersburg.
100 Second Avenue North, Suite 150, St. Petersburg, FL 33701 727.518.5142