State of the Arts - 2018

The annual State of the Arts held by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville took place on September 13th, 2018 at The Cathedral District in Downtown Jacksonville. Hundreds of thought provoking conversations happened throughout a full day of events, with a multitude of breakout sessions discussing everything from tourism in the city, to gentrification and how public art can be used to engage a community, and not overwrite it.

The keynote speaker this year was Barbara Goldstein. Not just her own art work that engages with a community, but even mentioning examples I have never heard of like the Conflict Kitchen in Pittsburgh, that only serves food from countries the United States is in conflict with. Where community members can come and sit and talk to local people (ex. from Palestine) and break bread and actually listen to their stories.

This was also Patrick Fisher and Tony Allegretti’s last State of the Arts events, and will surely be missed in the future ones to come.

All images by Toni Smailagic / @ToniSmailagic / @Cre8jax