Don't Miss Upcoming Workshops for Visual Artists!
Start the new year right with these motivational workshops...

The Division will be presenting a series of workshops for visual artists focused on issues of importance to their careers.  These workshops will take place at 3 regional locations around the state January 4-7, 2006.  The locations for the workshops are as follows: Tallahassee, Fort Lauderdale, and Clearwater.  The workshops will be led by nationally-recognized consultant, Bruce Baker.  During Bruce's lively day-long workshops, he will cover topics such as marketing and survival for the artist, and slide and image presentation.  If you are interested in attending one of the workshops, please act now as advance registration is required. 

There is a small fee for the day long workshops which covers, coffee/morning snacks, lunch, an informational CD and other workshop materials.  The fee for the one-day workshop is $35 and for the second day of the two-day workshop in Clearwater: $15 (thus making a two-day total of $50 for this region only). 

The Registration Deadline for the workshops is DECEMBER 30, 2005. 

More about the presenter: Bruce Baker has lead over 500 workshops throughout the United States and Canada over the last 20 years. He speaks on a variety of topics related directly to artists marketing their work. He is currently the owner of two galleries in Vermont and has served as the secretary of the American Craft Council and is on the board of directors for the Arts Business Institute. Bruce also acts as a contributing editor to "The Crafts Report." His workshops are lively, entertaining and motivational. 

These workshops are geared specifically towards Florida's visual artists and are an opportunity not to be missed!  Registration for these workshops is not being coordinated by the Division, instead there is a contact in each area that will help you with registration.  For more information on the workshops, registration contacts and a registration form that you can download, please click on the following link: WORKSHOPS. 

The Division has MOVED!

As of December 1, 2005, the Division has officially moved its offices to a new location.  Our new mailing address is: 

Division of Cultural Affairs
R.A. Gray Building, 3rd Floor
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250

All phone and email contacts will remain the same.  Please just update your address books with our new mailing address!

Now On View at the Capitol Complex

In the 22nd floor Capitol Gallery
Speakers and Nonspeakers
Paintings by Miami Artist Carlos Aguirre
On view through March 10, 2006

In the Old Capitol Gallery
Paintings by Tallahassee artist Charles Dorn
On view through January 6, 2006

In the Governor's Gallery
Florida, My Home
Artwork by Tallahassee artist Dolce Rush
On view through January 27, 2006


In the Cabinet Meeting Room
A Sense of Place
Paintings by Tarpon Springs artist Kevin Grass
On view through February 16, 2006

News from the Artist Enhancement Grant Program

The next deadline for the Artist Enhancement Grant Program is coming up: January 30, 2006!  This deadline is for applications for activities between May 1, 2006 and November 14, 2006.  These are new award dates for the program- the grant period has been extended from October 30, 2006 to November 14, 2006.  Please keep this in mind when submitting an application to the program. 

For those recipients of Artist Enhancement Grants from the July 15, 2005 deadline- your payments are on their way.  The Division staff is in the process of processing those payments, so you should receive your grant funding within the near future. 

Program guidelines and application forms for the Artist Enhancement Program can be found on the Division's website: http://www.florida-arts.org/grants/ae/.  For more information about the program, please contact Morgan Barr. 

Other Words Literary Conference
A Conference of Literary Magazines and Independent Publishers

January 13 and 14, 2006
Florida State University

Conference participants: R.M. Berry, James Kimbrell, Paul Shepherd, Rick Chess, Michael Martone, Reginald Shepherd, Michael Neff (Puerto Del Sol); William Slaughter (Mudlark). Editors from many presses and journals such as Anhinga Press, Fiction Collective Two, The University of Tampa Press, Sarabande Books (Nickole Brown,) Starcherone Press (Ted Pelton,) Ahsahta Press (Janet Holmes) and others. Editors and journals: The Florida Review, The Georgia Review, The Tampa Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Arts and Letters, and others.

The goal of the conference is to bring together writers, editors, agents, publishers, book sellers, grant administrators, directors of writers’ colonies and retreats, and other interested people in one place. We’ll be talking about the how to of the literary arts: how to write it, make it, sell it, fund it, and nurture it.

The Conference will feature panels, roundtables, readings, talks, and workshops covering all genres of writing and all aspects of the literary arts. Our hope is that by bringing together the region's literary arts workers, we will build a community to promote our mutual literary efforts in as many ways as possible.

Book fair space is available for those who want to sell and share their work.

The official conference hotel is the DoubleTree, 101 South Adams St, Tallahassee, FL, located in downtown Tallahassee about .5 miles east of the Florida State University campus, where all conference events will be taking place. The Doubletree has a shuttle from the Tallahassee airport.

The conference room rate is $79 per night. This rate will be available until December 12, 2005. Make your reservation now by calling the Doubletree at (850) 224-5000 or 800-222-8733. Be sure to mention that you are with the Florida Literary Arts Conference. This year's conference will focus on any number of areas such as E-zines, electronic book publishing, literary websites; Literary travel writing; Truth and accuracy for nonfiction writers; What's literary and what's not. Round tables for small press publishers, for journal editors; fundraising, grant writing; Getting small press books and literary journals adopted for classroom use. Festivals, Conferences, Colonies, Retreats, Translations, Working with libraries, Starting writers' groups, Running a reading series, and many others.

This event is funded by a grant from the Florida Arts Council, Division of Cultural Affairs, and sponsored by the Florida Literary Arts Coalition (FLAC) and the Creative Writing Program of the Florida State University.

For more information on the Conference, please contact Rick Campbell at flac@earthlink.net.

Deadline: January 2, 2006
BEST OF FLORIDA POETRY CONTEST
Once again the popular Best of Florida Poetry Contest will be happening - an important part of the annual Willfest, weekend folk and poetry celebration held every spring and next scheduled for March 11-12, 2006 . at the Sertoma Youth Ranch in Dade City. Applications will be taken on-line and by mail with entries and payment to be sent to: Betsy Bolger-Paulet for CONTEST, 3333 Ehrlich Rd., Tampa 33618. E-mail to: sngstry7@aol.com. There is a fee of $10 for one or $20 for up to 3 poems per poet with ALL money going to cover the cash prizes. For youngsters under 18, the fee is waived with certificates/merchandise prizes in lieu of cash prizes. Poems MUST be Florida-themed, i.e. of and about Florida , culture, history, the land, the critters ( 2-4-6 legged) 50 lines limit and modest in language as this IS a family event. Winners will be invited to perform on stages at the festival. There will also be a workshop "Sharing your Stuff" covering oral pre-sentation skills including working with sound systems and technicians. http://www.betsybolgerpaulet.homestead.com/poetrycontest.html - online entries and information.

Deadline: January 9, 2006
2nd Annual National Drawing, Painting and Printmaking Competition
The Palm Beach Community College in Lake Worth, FL invites artists to submit their best drawings, paintings and prints for the second annual art competition hosted by the college. Guest juror Barry Sparkman from the University of Miami will distribute artist awards totaling $2000. Slide entries are due January 9th 2006. For a full prospectus, please send an SASE to the address below:

Palm Beach Community College
Attn:Gallery Manager
Division of Humanities, MS 15
4200 Congress Avenue
Lake Worth, FL 33461

Q&A with author of a new book for artists:
Paul Dorrell, author of Living the Artist's Life ( www.livingtheartistslife.com ), will be giving six talks with Q&A in Florida in January. He'll be on Miami Public Radio (WXEL) on January 15th, and Miami Public Television (Arts Street) on January 19th, as well as in various papers throughout the state. Artists tend to have dozens of questions for him, since he is considered unusually forthcoming as an art dealer, and expert at helping them structure careers that work.


January Schedule in Florida for talks/signings by Paul Dorrell, author of Living the Artist's Life:

Orlando, Sunday 1/15, 4:00, Barnes & Noble, 2418 E Colonial Drive, 407-894-6024

Jacksonville, Monday 1/16, 7:00, Barnes & Noble, 10280 Midtown Parkway, 904-928-2027

Tampa, Tuesday 1/17, 7:00, Inkwood Books, 216 South Armenia Avenue, 813-253-2638

Naples, Wednesday 1/18, 7:00, Barnes & Noble, 5377 N. Tamiami Trail, 239-597-2040

Coral Gables, Thursday 1/19, 8:00, Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave., 305.442.4408

Fort Lauderdale, Friday, 1/20, 7:30, Barnes & Noble, 2051 N. Federal Highway, 954-561-37321-3018; (305) 867-7111 or 1-800-252-0808.

CALL FOR ARTISTS TO THE 26th ANNUAL LOVE AFFAIR FINE ARTS FESTIVAL:
The Love Affair Fine Arts Festival in Tifton, GA on May 6 and 7 is currently accepting applications for artists and craftspeople.  The festival has over $10,000 in prize and purchase awards.  Over 25,000 people attended the 2005 festival.  Applicants are juried by slides or jpeg images of works and booth display.  The juror also determines participation in the Gallery Completion and the number of pieces that may be included in the gallery.  Judging of the Gallery Completion is done by a second juror.  For an application, contact Wayne or Polly at the ABAC Arts Connection, 229.391.4820 or email artsconnection@abac.edu.