This spring the Community First Cares Foundation in collaboration with the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, announced the second-year partnership to continue local artist grants and support business education symposiums. Community First pledged $10,000 to fund 10 direct artist grants, a doubling of last year’s funding. Community First also pledged to continue its support of the Cultural Council’s “Entrepreneur Symposium for Creatives: Every Artist is a Small Business”, an educational workshop for local artists.
 
“The Community First Cares Foundation is thrilled to see the good these grants can do in the hands of local artists,” said Community First Cares Foundation Executive Director Missy Peters. “The grant recipients are engaged in creative and innovative projects in our community which are worthy of support.”

The  second round of grants was initially opened for applications from August 18, 2018 through October 18, 2018 (the deadline was extended by a week making the cut-off October 25, 2018).

On November 20, 2018, the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville and the Community First Cares Foundation officially announced the ten winners of the second-year artist grant program.

The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville invests in the arts and culture to enrich life in Northeast Florida.  By working with a variety of community partners, we weave the arts into the fabric of everyday life in this region.  We advocate for the arts and artists of our region because we know that together we can create transformative experiences that empower and inspire our community, facilitate the exchange of diverse ideas and perspectives, promote civic engagement, and encourage creative problem solving.

Whether you live in Jacksonville or you are visiting the region, you can engage with the arts from Monday through Sunday. Please remember, the arts and culture sector is an asset that requires investment.  Your patronage, whether it is in the form of making a donation to a non-profit cultural organization, buying tickets to an event, or purchasing the work of our artists, is what will ensure a vibrant arts and culture sector in Northeast Florida for future generations. 

Below are 11 ways that we recommend enriching your life through the arts and culture of Northeast Florida. Please note: We tried to be as inclusive as possible with this article.  If we left something out that you'd like to see included, please email patrick@culturalcouncil.org and provide your suggestion.

Pedestrians in Jacksonville's urban core will notice pieces of public art being installed in various sections of downtown. Throughout the month of March, public artists commissioned through the City of Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places Program are implementing Jacksonville Downtown Investment Authority's plan to enliven the retail enhancement area with streetscape art.

Artwork is scheduled to emerge downtown along N. Laura, N. Hogan, W. Adams, W. Forsyth and Water Streets throughout the month of March.  These site improvements are being implemented as Phase I of the DIA Urban Arts Project. The Cultural Council and Art in Public Places will host downtown walking tours of Jacksonville's public art during Public Art Week 2017, which is scheduled for April 3-7.  The free public tour, which is scheduled for April 4, will commence in front of City Hall at 2:30 pm and culminate with a dedication of the DIA Urban Arts Project at 4:00 pm at the corner of N. Hogan and W. Bay Streets. RSVP for the walking tour by emailing Christie Holechek, the Director of Art in Public Places (christie@culturalcouncil.org).

Jacksonville, FL - February 9, 2017 - Susan Datz Edelman, The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida

​David Engdahl’s devotion to his work as a sculptor, his career in architecture and his selfless contributions of talent and energy to the local arts community prompted The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida to present him with the 2nd Annual Ann McDonald Baker Art Ventures Award. The award, which includes a $10,000 unrestricted grant, recognizes an artist whose work brings distinction to Northeast Florida, and is named for the late Ann McDonald Baker, whose leadership helped create and nurture such vital cultural gems such as The Community Foundation’s Art Ventures Fund, the Arts Assembly (now the Cultural Council) and Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, among others. The award was presented at a private reception this week. ​

Engdahl has been a sculptor since 1971, and has exhibited works in over twenty states throughout the U.S., including nine solo exhibitions. His sculptures are included in numerous museums, corporate, public and private collections, including U.S. embassies abroad. In Jacksonville, countless residents and travelers have seen his signature high-flying wooden sculptures, ‘Ascent’ and ‘Descent,’ which were suspended above the escalators at Jacksonville International Airport from 1980-1989; they now reside at Florida State College at Jacksonville’s South Campus. His 2004 installation, ‘Migration of the Paper Airplanes,’ hangs over the moving sidewalks at the Jacksonville International Airport parking garage. ​

Jacqueline Holmes passed away on Monday, January 30, 2017.  Mrs. Holmes, originally from Baltimore, Maryland, settled in Jacksonville in the early 1970s with her first husband, who was a Jacksonville native.  

Mrs. Holmes was many things to many people.  To us, she was one of our three founding members.  Mrs. Holmes, along with Helen Lane and the late Ann Baker, co-founded the Arts Assembly of Jacksonville, which was incorporated in 1973 and is now known as the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. ​

​It takes a special person to have a heart that advocates for the arts.  Arthur Milam was that type of special person.

​​Arthur Milam passed away on the morning of Wednesday, August 24, 2016 at the age of 89. Milam played an integral role in relocating the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOCA) to downtown Jacksonville.  Originally located off Art Museum Drive, Milam identified the historic Western Union Telegraph building across from Hemming Park as a proposed site for relocating MOCA.  He then crafted a partnership with the City of Jacksonville to purchase the building.  MOCA relocated to the heart of downtown Jacksonville in 1999.

Milam served on MOCA’s Board of Trustees from 1998 until 2009.  He served as Chair for the first eight of those years. Current Chair of the Board of Trustees, Charles Gilman III, had this to say about Arthur Milam, “His service and vision has sustained the Museum through its many phases.  Arthur encouraged me to become more involved with MOCA when I moved here, and as usual, his advice was prescient.  I will remember Arthur as a man of generous spirit and strong character.  We have lost a true friend.”