The Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach will seek a new location in a proposed arts campus on county-owned land near the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall.
Having outgrown its current facility on Executive Drive, and armed with a feasibility study showing that 91 percent of survey respondents regard the center’s service to be of high importance to the community, the center had been in negotiation for a larger, higher-profile location on A1A in the Oak Bridge area. Conversations with donors, community leaders and other friends of the center encouraged the board to focus on the advantages of the county land. The preliminary design by Mark Macco Architects for an arts campus would provide the center with space for a larger building, on more land, with more parking, at what is now estimated to be a sharply lower cost.
“We want to do what is right for the community, our donors and all involved,” said Donna Guzzo, president and executive director of the Cultural Center, noting that the center plans to meet community demand for expanded classes, exhibits and events to more areas of the arts, and to reach a larger audience in growing St. Johns County.
A building limited to 15,000 square feet on the Oak Bridge site would have made some major exhibits off limits, she said. The land available in Oak Bridge also would have restricted parking.
Just as the center was wrestling with these considerations, the cost of building on that land was growing beyond expectations, the center’s board explained.
In what the board termed fortuitous timing, St. Johns County announced that it was seeking expanded arts facilities and County Commissioner Jeremiah Blocker led discussions that envisioned a role for the Cultural Center in the county’s ambition to improve the quality of life for St. Johns County residents.
“St. Johns County is a wonderful place to live, work and play, and by partnering with organizations like the Cultural Center we can further enhance the quality of life for our residents in a taxpayer-friendly manner,” said Blocker.
Cultural Center Board Chairman Matt Nelson noted that the current board is unanimous that it should encourage the county’s initiative by committing its support and involvement to help turn vision into reality.
“The Cultural Center is committed to bringing arts into the life of our community, so we are very excited about the vision for a public-private partnership to create a flagship art campus in St. Johns County and look forward to working with the County Commission and others to turn this vision into a reality,” Nelson said.
Many approvals are needed before the arts campus can begin.
“We are thankful to have Commissioner Blocker be an advocate for the arts,” Guzzo said. “He is committed to exceed expectations for our community. While his vision of an arts campus is very preliminary, it sure is exciting!”
Since its inception in 1994, the Cultural Center at Ponte Vedra Beach transitioned from a small, loosely knit group of art teachers and students using a series of rented buildings, to an 8,000-square-foot arts education hub with art studios, exhibit space and a pottery studio. The center’s programs and events connect, engage and educate the community through exhibitions, arts classes and camps, visiting master artist workshops, quarterly professional development workshops for artists, arts events and a music therapy program for children with special needs.
