St. Pete 2.0: Arts As an Economic Driver [Part Two]

The St. Petersburg renaissance has been in full swing for more than a decade. We’ve excelled in many areas and struggled in others. In our series St. Pete 2.0, we’re partnering with the St. Pete Catalyst to explore what lies on the other side of our potential – what will it take to move to the “next level” as a city? Through this series, we’ll dig into specific topics with the hope that you, our thoughtful citizens, will share your insight, experience and wisdom.

The Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on so many segments of St. Petersburg’s economy, but the arts have been hit especially hard in 2020. Galleries went dark. Concerts were canceled. Museums shut their doors for months on end. As we move toward our new normal, artists and art organizations are finding themselves in search of answers to some complicated questions. How can they continue to share their work when many of their patrons are still staying home? Will they be able to earn enough money to pay their bills? And what role should they expect the community to play in supporting the city’s arts economy going forward?  

In this edition of St. Pete 2.0, The St. Petersburg Downtown Partnership and Arts Alliance sought to develop a greater understanding of the connections between the arts community and the city as a whole. We asked Catalyst readers to answer a series of questions on a variety of arts-related topics, including their willingness to contribute financially to ensure the city’s art scene remains vibrant and their thoughts on what can be done to make the arts economy even stronger.

Here’s part two of what we learned.

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