The Studios of Key West

The Studios' new home: the former Scottish Rite Masonic Center at Simonton and Eaton Streets.

The Studios of Key West (TSKW) serves as the cultural center of the arts in Key West, an island community at the very end of the Florida Keys. TSKW is a nonprofit organization established in 2006. The organization promotes multidisciplinary arts, provides artist-in-residency opportunities for artists worldwide, and maintains long-term studio spaces dedicated to Florida Keys artists.^[1][2] Through classes, performances, lectures, gallery exhibits, partnership projects, and special events, the Studios unites Pulitzer Prize-winning authors and world-renowned artists with local audiences and art practitioners at all stages of their creative careers.

Campus and Facilities

533 Eaton Street

TSKW has a new home at 533 Eaton Street in downtown Key West. The building, constructed in 1951 in the Art Deco style, is the former Scottish Rite Masonic Center.^[3] The renovated building will include Key West's largest exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art, a wine bar/cafe, a box office and information center, a 200-seat auditorium, nine artist studios, and classrooms.^[4]

In addition to the new Eaton Street space, TKSW will continue to use its Ashe Street artist-in-residence cottages, its 610 White Street Studios, and its Mango Tree house space to anchor the Artists in Residence (AIR) program. The cottages also provide a setting for outdoor events, while its Sculpture and Nature Garden serves as an oasis of native plants and art.

Sculpture and Nature Garden

Adjacent to and surrounding TSKW's former home at the White Street Armory is the Sculpture and Nature Garden, a landscaped area that is home to an ever-changing series of sculptural works and outdoor art. The garden presents installations by established and emerging artists, including John Martini, Susan Rogers, Lauren McAloon,^[5] CRGray, Anja Marais, and many others.

610 Studios

In 2010, to meet the growing demand for additional work space for artists, TSKW expanded its studios program by adding several studios at 610 White Street.

Ashe Street Residency Cottages

In mid-2011, TSKW began renovation on two nearby Conch Cottages located at 607 and 609 Ashe Street for use as residency live/work spaces for visiting artists. Completed in early 2012, the cottages now include three suites with two attached working studios and an outdoor area for small gatherings. With the cottages and an additional live/work space in the Mango Tree House, the Studios can accommodate up to five artists at one time for one-month residencies.

Programs

TSKW's mission emphasizes partnership and collaboration, community interface and involvement, and cross-cultural exchange.^[6] Its programs work to build on the creative legacy of past and present Key West residents such as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Richard Wilbur, Judy Blume, Meg Cabot, Mario Sanchez, Henry La Cagnina, and Annie Dillard.

Artists in Residency

The Studios of Key West launched a residency program in 2007 based in the Mango Tree House. As part of the Artists In Residence (AIR) program, this Southard Street space has since hosted dozens of artists, musicians, and cultural figures from all over the world, including Madison Smartt Bell, Nemo Librizzi, New York street artist MOMO, Coleman Barks, Helsinki-based photographer Curt Richter, Herbert Weissberg, Sandra Kopp, Helen Whitney, Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, Barbara Hammer, Eric Dyer, Victoria Reynolds and Jeffrey Vallance, Jiayin Shen, and Cheryl Tan.

From several hundred applications per year, up to forty artists working in the literary, visual, and performing arts are selected by jury to spend a month drawing inspiration from the colorful sights, fascinating people, and remarkable culture of the island.^[7] In turn, they give back to the community by offering workshops, concerts, readings, performances, and exhibitions during their stay. In 2014, to expand TSKW’s collaborative efforts, AIR included two-week residencies for three Art Students League of New York artist/instructors.

Exhibitions

TSKW hosts 30 to 40 exhibitions and installations each year. Proposals for exhibitions are accepted from local and visiting artists and are installed for one-month periods. The Studios is now planning its 2014/15 season and will post details of upcoming programs as they are confirmed.

Workshops and Classes

Each program year, between October and May, TSKW offers a full season of weekly classes, workshops, and longer-term courses that cater to local island residents and visitors. TSKW's largest program serves over 1,000 people each season, with more than 50 distinct classes in a range of media for artists from beginners to professionals. Instructors include year-round local artists and artists visiting from across the globe, either to live at TSKW for a month as Artists in Residence or just to teach what they know. Notable among the list are American cultural figures including painters Mike Rooney, Charles Reid, and Robert Burridge, writers Roxana Barry Robinson and Robert Stone, photographer Alan Rokach, and mixed media artists Thomas Mann and Roberta Marks.

Weekly classes and courses provide opportunities for study with artists like Rick Worth, Karen Beauprie, Jim Salem, Rosalind Brackenbury, Richard Grusin, Mike Rooney, Roberta Marks, and others. TSKW also offers many multi-day workshops in the visual, performing, and literary arts each year. These workshops are taught by instructors like Frank Francese, Robert Burridge, Charles Reid, William Welch, and Susan Sugar.

Concerts

TSKW also hosts a diverse range of music programming each season, including a contemporary singer-songwriter series. Past performances have included Peter Mayer, Emily Saliers, Livingston Taylor, Susan Werner, Noel Paul Stookey, Carrie Newcomer, Tom Rush, Mishka, and Ben Harrison. And in 2011, TSKW began presenting classical and chamber music concerts each year with esteemed musicians from around the world.

Performances

Cutting edge performance at TSKW includes dance, performance art, small-scale theatrical productions, and burlesque and circus arts. Highlights of 2014 included "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and "Naomi’s Flight" by Mara Neimanis.

Lectures

The Studios presents a number of speakers of note each year. For example, it recently hosted American newspaper columnist and former assistant managing editor of The Washington Post Eugene Robinson and 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner Ayad Akhtar.

Since 2008, The Studios of Key West has partnered with The Friends of the Library to host the Friends' free lecture series every Monday evening from early January to late March. The series hosts leading writing and cultural figures and in the past has included presentations by Calvin Trillin, Jean Carper, Lee Smith, Lou Harris, former U.S. Poet Laureate Maxine Kumin, poet Billy Collins, and authors James Gleick, Barbara Ehrenreich, Judy Blume, and Meg Cabot to name just a few.

Community Engagement

TSKW embraces the goal of breaking down barriers to art and being an integral part of Key West life. Central to our community programs are youth education programs in out-of-school settings, presented in collaboration with other institutional partners. In 2014, TSKW expanded on recent initiatives by sponsoring a Spring Break art camp at the Douglass Center in Bahama Village and, in collaboration with the Key West Art and Historical Society, a summer ArtCamp.

History

Former New York journalist and local artist Peyton Evans first conceived of The Studios as an artist-in-residence program that would proceed from the traditional approach to the artist colony established by the likes of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony and expanded more recently by the Anderson Ranch, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts.

Between 2001 and 2006, along with civic and arts leaders throughout the community, Evans helped develop the initial ideas for the organization. The Studios of Key West was officially founded in 2006 as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization cultural organization, with a mission to support the island's creative community, the development of artists and audiences in the Conch Republic, and new partnerships near and far.

Founding Board members were Peyton Evans, Lynn Kaufelt, John Martini, Ken Domanski and Ann Henderson; and the first home for The Studios of Key West was the Historic Armory on White Street, originally built between 1900-1903 as the drill hall and armory for the Florida state militia.

Founding Executive Director Eric Holowacz took the helm in early 2007 and was responsible for developing and implementing a strategic plan for the organization, resulting in three years of growth in programming, community engagement, and patronage. In early 2010, Jay Scott was appointed Executive Director and oversaw the growth of broad-based financial support for the organization by expanding the membership base and developing strong ties within the local business community.

Rosi Ware was appointed Board Chair in 2008. Before moving to Key West, Ware was the CEO of the world’s largest advertising research firm, Millward Brown, and still works as a part time consultant for its parent company, the world’s largest Marketing Service firm, WPP.

In September 2012, after having served for 13 years as the Artistic Director of the Creative Alliance in Baltimore, Jed Dodds took the reins as Executive Director of The Studios. Under the leadership of Dodds and Ware, and with the support of the board, staff, and community, the organization has emerged as a pillar of the Key West arts community and in 2015 opened a $5.6 million art center at the corner of Eaton and Simonton Streets.

In July 2015, The Studios welcomed local businesswoman Janet Hinkle as incoming Board Chair. Hinkle was Chair of Southern Shakespeare Festival in Tallahassee before moving to Key West.

The Studios of Key West mission and vision continue to grow, with an increasing emphasis on partnership and collaboration, community interface and involvement, cross-cultural exchange, and wholesale support of the creative process. It works to build on the creative legacy of past and present Key West residents such as Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, Elizabeth Bishop, James Merrill, Richard Wilbur, Judy Blume, Meg Cabot, Mario Sanchez, Henry La Cagnina and Annie Dillard.

Mission and Management

TSKW's mission is to build audiences and sustain the advancement of established and emerging creative people in the Florida Keys now and for generations to come.^[8] The mission is pursued under the guidance of the current staff, board of directors, advisers, and a cadre of dedicated volunteers.

Staff

Executive Director: Jed Dodds

Deputy Director: Elena Devers

Artistic Director: Erin Stover-Sickmen

Gallery and Facilities Manager: Lauren McAloon

Office Manager: Diane Savicky

Board of Directors

Rosi Ware, Chair

Kerry Shelby, Vice Chair

Roger Emmons, Treasurer

Rita Linder, Secretary

Sandra McMannis

Directors

Lucy Barker

George Cooper

Deborah Goldman

William R. Grose

John Hammond

Janet Hinkle

Ashley Kamen

Guillermo Orozco

Bonnie Piceu

Anne Sunkel

Advisory Board

Margo Alexander, Lynne Bentley-Kemp, Judy Blume, Jacob Dekker, Peyton Evans, Susan Henshaw Jones, Lynn Kaufelt, Lee Sider, John Martini, Holly Merrill, Claudia Miller, Jay Scott, Fred Troxel, Elaine Weitzen, Marguerite Whitney, Judith Zabar

Artist Advisory Council

Eric Anfinson, Cynthia Crossen, Michel Delgado, Helen Harrison, John Martini, Marky Pierson

Notes