Creative placemaking: Opportunities for artists to work their magic

You can’t go wrong with adding more color to life, and Creative Pinellas is aiming to do just that by sending out another call for artists to be a part of the Lealman Mural Project. This project was designed to bring more art to the 28^th Street North Corridor of Lealman under Pinellas County’s CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency). 

One mural has already been completed as part of this project, which just started this summer: Cheryl “Jujmo” Weber’s colorful western landscape on the Warehouse at 28^th St. N. A second by Leo Gomez at the Lealman Exchange is in progress and scheduled to be completed by the end of the year.

“Pinellas County is always finding ways to encourage development and revitalization of the community, especially when it came to the transformation of the Lealman community. After a lot of experimentation, talking, and proposal writing, we settled on murals as a good starting point to start this partnership with Creative Pinellas and the Lealman CRA,” says Barbara St. Clair, CEO of Creative Pinellas.

As a pilot program, Creative Pinellas aimed for 3-5 murals for this first year. The site for this current open call is planned for the Mother Kombucha building on 28^th St., with hopes that this project will grow and develop further in the future. And for that to happen, St. Clair notes that it takes a team to make projects like this materialize, from the people at the Transportation Department to the folks that work with the County. 

“It’s really inspiring that people are working together to make these really good things happen here,” St. Clair says. “People are just ecstatic about the murals, and it’s been exciting working with the muralists. It would be nice for these artists to look back in hindsight and be able to say that they were part of the positive change we are seeing today in the community.”

The deadline for mural applications is Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. EST. The application and more information can be found at Creative Pinellas. 

Other local opportunities available to artists?

Files & Film is looking for photographers to submit works for their annual exhibition held at ArtLofts in downtown St. Pete. This year, the theme of the show will be “Architecture & Design.” The deadline to submit work is Nov. 14.

The City of Tampa recently put out the RFQ for Soul Walk: Gateways, Sculptures, and Wayfinding. They are looking to commission multiple artworks in highly visible locations to form a narrative cultural heritage trail that highlights the importance and strengths of Tampa’s African American community. The deadline for this call is Dec. 17. 

Artists can show their work just outside the Tampa Bay bubble at Brooksville’s Art in the Park on March 12 and 13, 2022, where they are looking for all kinds of artists, crafters, and makers to fill Tom Varn Park. The deadline to apply is Dec. 31. 

Many makers haven’t had many in-person opportunities to sell their work for the past few years, but now can plan on applying to sell their work at the 50^th Annual Mayfaire by-the-Lake juried art fair in 2022. Held on Mothers’ Day weekend, the fair traditionally awards $17,000 in prize money to artists. The deadline to apply is March 1, 2022.