Randy Fine, whose latest financial disclosure report showed a net worth of $30.3 million, was an early Trump supporter in the GOP presidential primary and has unabashedly signaled his allegiance to Trump on social media. The only Jewish Republican legislator in Florida, Fine often has taken an openly combative approach to political opponents, an image he has embraced publicly. “Unafraid to say what needs to be said,” Fine’s X profile boasts.
Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
Turtle Shack Cafe in Flagler Beach Sustains ‘Significant’ Damage in Early Morning Fire
Turtle Shack Cafe, the popular Flagler Beach restaurant operating for two and a half decades between 21s and 22nd Street on State Road A1A, was damaged in an early-morning fire, drawing firefighters from across the county. The fire is believed to have started in the kitchen, but is still under investigation by the Flagler Beach fire marshal.
Florida’s New Condo Laws Recognize Price of Living on the Beach
Nearly a million Florida condo owners face an important deadline at the end of the year. That’s when a law passed in 2022 requires most Florida condo associations to submit inspection reports for their buildings and to collect money from owners to pay for any needed repairs. Condo owners are reporting that new condominium rules are driving up fees and inducing outrageous assessments.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on Israel’s Jim Crow-Like Apartheid
Aware of the racism that surrounds him as a Black American, Coates can imagine himself as both Palestinian and Israeli. This generosity of imagination does not prevent critical analysis. His accounts of life in the occupied West Bank underline the reality that Israel has imposed a regime that is effectively based on the subordination and dispossession of Palestinians – and a deliberate attempt, he writes, to deny any possibility of a genuine two-state solution.
Drug Court Graduation During Addict’s Murder Trial Draws Thin Line Between Abyss and Recovery
Four participants in Flagler County’s Drug Court graduated Thursday in a ceremony presided over by Circuit Judge Dawn Nichols, with Retired Judge Terence Perkins, in unique circumstances: the ceremony took place in the same courtroom where a murder trial was ongoing, with the jury deliberating over the fate of a drug abuser and dealer, whose shot of fentanyl killed another man. The juxtaposition of the two events sharpened the thin line between loss and recovery for substance abusers.
Palm Coast Council Sharply Divided Over Making Large Developers Pay ‘Minuscule’ Fee for Public Art
The Palm Coast City Council is divided over a modest program to fund public art installations that would require larger developers to devote half of a percent of the value of their project to the arts. One council member calls it “awesome.” Another says it “makes no sense.” A third is “torn.”
In Major Leap for Public Art, Palm Coast Will Require Developers to Devote Portion of Project Costs to Art Fund
It’s taken 25 years, but Palm Coast appears ready to take the arts seriously. The City Council today agreed to a plan that will require developers to pay a small portion of their development costs into an arts fund that would be used to pay for public art installations. If such a fund was in place last year, it would have generated close to $1 million, city officials said.
Covenants May Be Hurdle to Palm Coast’s Plan for YMCA on Town Center Land Pledged for the Arts
As Palm Coast government plans for a long-awaited YMCA in Town Center, albeit without a pool for now, a covenant restriction requiring the land to be used only for arts and cultural purposes may stand in the way. It isn’t an immovable restriction. But to get around it, the city may either have to pay back some state grant money that helped build a stage there, or it would have to use creative–to not say Orwellian–maneuvering that would allow it to redefine Y spaces as an arts and culture venue.
Palm Coast Planning for YMCA on Central Avenue in Town Center, Raising Questions About Arts’ Place
Palm Coast government is getting ready to build a 30,000 square foot YMCA on a 12-acre city-owned parcel on Central Avenue in Town Center, next to what used to be the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s stage and a 5-acre parcel that had been dedicated to arts and culture. Plans at the moment do not include a pool. A director of United We Art, the organization overseeing arts development in Town center, fears picking that location for the Y may crowd out the city’s pledge for an arts center there.
Rick de Yampert, FlaglerLive’s Arts and Culture Writer, Releases ‘Crows and Ravens’ Book
Rick de Yampert, FlaglerLive’s arts and culture writer, will have his book “Crows and Ravens: Mystery, Myth, and Magic of Sacred Corvids” released March 8 by Llewellyn, one of the world’s major metaphysical publishers. The Palm Coast author will hold a book signing and meet-and-greet from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, March 9, at Vedic Moons – Ayurvedic Wellness, Metaphysical Shop & Herbal Apothecary, 4984 Palm Coast Pkwy NW, Unit 4-6, Palm Coast. The event also will feature de Yampert’s Mr. Crow art for sale.
Renoir-Inspired Turtle, Dedicated at Intracoastal Bank, Is 21st In Flagler’s Biggest Public Art Trail
Artists Lisa Fisher’s and Nancy Zedar’s “Renny,” the 21st edition in the Turtle Trail, which has quietly grown into the single-largest public art project in Flagler County in the last five years, was dedicated in front of Intracoastal Bank on Palm Coast Parkway to commemorate the community bank’s 15th anniversary. Scores of supporters turned up.
Flagler County Cultural Council Wants You To Know: ‘We’re Here To Stay.’ But It’s Going to Need Help.
FC3, the Flagler County Cultural Council, has big ambitions–among them, to be known as the county’s designated arts agency, as the driver, supporter, coordinator and promoter of local arts, culture and history, and as a magnet for state and national grants that will help local cultural agencies thrive, or incubate new ones. But for all its giddiness, the organization, after three years, remains cash-poor and mostly in the organizational stage.
Grim Year for Local Arts as 3 Big Organizations Vanish and Palm Coast Drops Grants to Lowest-Ever Level
Palm Coast government on Tuesday scaled back its Cultural Arts Program almost by half, offering $20,000 to 13 organizations the coming year. It is the lowest nominal level since 2012, and the lowest level in the city’s history when adjusted for inflation. The retreat takes place in a year that has seen the disappearance of three major cultural organizations in Palm Coast and the county.
Nat Adderley Jr. Performs for NEFJA’s Scholarship Concert Supper on Oct. 29
The North East Florida Jazz Association (NEFJA) is proud to announce that the Nat Adderley Jr. Quartet featuring internationally acclaimed Jazz pianist, bandleader, producer and arranger Nat Adderley, Jr. will be performing a concert at NEFJA’s 20th annual Jeep McCoy Memorial Scholarship Concert Supper, Sunday, October 29 at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Daytona Beach.
An Artist’s Tribute: Diana Gilson’s ‘Intuitive Sensibility for Color, Shape and Line’
“We shared a common interest in art history and many of the same influences,” writes JJ Graham of Diana Gilson, who died in April. “The time that I spent with her and the studio artists at Hollingsworth will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most enriching and rewarding periods of my life as a painter.”
Flagler County Cultural Council Drives Local Survey Collection for a Study
Administered by Americans for the Arts approximately every five years, the culture survey will examine the economic impact of the arts and culture in Flagler County and 400 additional communities representing all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.
Palm Coast Council Embraces Idea of $73 Million Events Venue in Town Center’s Arts District
The consultant Palm Coast government hired to map out how best to develop the city’s Arts District in Town Center is recommending building a $73 million (not including debt interest), 76,000 square foot multipurpose entertainment and conference center not focused exclusively on arts and culture. The venue would by far be the most expensive city facility ever built.
Artist Berdella ‘Birdie’ Gibbs’s One-Person Show and Talk at Pineapple Gallery
Artist Berdella Gibbs’s photography exhibit runs from Feb. 3 to 5 at Pineapple Gallery, 208 S. Central Avenue, across the street from the Flagler Beach Museum. The gallery will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Gibbs will present an artist’s talk on the 4th at 5:30 p.m., as part of a free reception, open to all.
Flagler’s Visual Arts Struggle for Visibility With Seeming Demise of Art League and Gargiulo Foundation
Their apparent demise during the past year — the Flagler County Art League from the pandemic’s economic pressures, the Gargiulo Art Foundation from the death of artist and co-founder Tom Gargiulo in February — coupled with the retreat of JJ Graham’s Salvo Art Project and the disappearance of several exhibit spaces and other smaller galleries is leaving many area artists feeling like the proverbial tree that falls in a forest with no one to hear it.
Palm Coast Ups Cultural Arts Grants to Record $50,000, But Increase Is Less Than It Appears
This year’s budgeted amount of $50,000 for arts grants is the highest since the city began the program in 2002, and it is already the highest amount awarded. But in inflation-adjusted dollars, the city is budgeting less than it has in five previous years, and in per-resident spending on the arts, it is still spending less than it did in the first eight years of the program.
ThemToo: ‘Men Painting Women’ Treads Political Minefield at Art League of Daytona Beach
The curator of the exhibit, opening at the Art League of Daytona Beach Saturday with works from Palm Coast artist Weldon Ryan and four others, is aware that “Men Painting Women” may be seen by some as politically incorrect these days. But the exhibition stems from both sublime art history and simple serendipity among his circle of friends.
Applications are Open for the Palm Coast Cultural Arts Grant
As funding is expected to become available for Fiscal Year 2023 for events or programs taking place between October 1, 2023, and September 30, 2023, the City is looking for grantees.
Tom Gargiulo, Palm Coast’s ‘Unwavering, Steadfast Champion’ of the Arts for 25 Years, Dies at 83
Tom Gargiulo, co-founder of the Gargiulo Arts Foundations and the Flagler County Artist of the Year award, prolific artist and patron to innumerable shows and artists, and the conceptual energy and fund-raiser behind Palm Coast’s Sculpture Garden in Town Center, died after complications from surgery Sunday in Palm Coast.
$2,000 Reward for Return of Stolen “Quilty” Sculpture, One of 16 in Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Turtle Trail
One or more thief stole “Quilty,” the sixth of 16 turtles in the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s Turtle Trail, an $8,000 work installed in October 2019 at at the Grand Haven Condo Association’s Creekside Park, at Waterfront Park and Colbert Lane in Palm Coast.
Palm Coast Art District Chalks Up New Festival During Food Truck Tuesday
During Food Truck Tuesday on July 20, Palm Coast’s Parks and Recreation Department will also host a Chalk Art Festival. The event takes place at Central Park in Town Center from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and is open to all ages. The festival is hosted by the city’s Jared Dawson.
Imagination Vacation: In-Person Children’s Art Day Camps, Starting With Frida Kahlo
Imagination Vacation awaits children ages 7-11 this summer at Ormond Memorial Art Museum’s art and adventure day camps. This series of three-hour camps let children explore their creativity, style, and curiosity while having fun becoming a famous artist, mermaid, pirate, or honey bee.
A Surfer, a Fashionista Hunter, a Smiling Earth: Flagler County High School Students’ Best Art Exults in Annual Show
Here are the winners of the annual student photography show at the Flagler County Art League, including Best of Show Briana Aguiar. Like everything else in the past year, the show at the Flagler County Art League was in part restricted by the pandemic, though it’s online and the top three works will be on display at Galleria d’Arte in Palm Coast.
The False Choice Between STEM and the Arts: If You Care About All Careers, Protect Arts Programs in Our Schools
The arts do more than just serve as entertainment for us or as diversions or resume-padding for students, let alone as luxuries for school districts. Like team sports, the arts develop key interpersonal and critical skills that are rarely, if ever, taught in traditional STEM classes.
Rolling the Bones: Jan Jackson Is Flagler County’s Artist of the Year
Jan Jackson is the Gargiulo Art Foundation’s Flagler County Artist of the Year for 2020, is a bit mystified by the methods of her muse, especially when it drives her to conjure art from skulls and bones – a predilection that didn’t manifest in her art until she was in her 60s.
New Galleria d’Arte Lights Up Contemporary Art in Palm Coast, Countering Sharp Decline in Exhibit Space
Lisette Otero-Lewis’s Galleria d’Arte in Palm Coast’s St. Joe Plaza has informal partnerships with the Gargiulo Art Foundation and with artist J.J. Graham of Salvo Art Project. Otero-Lewis is seeking to counter the effects of the pandemic, which hs limited art exhibits.
American Impressionism at the Lightner Museum
This spring, the Lightner Museum in St. Augustine celebrates the evocative, timeless beauty of late 19th and early 20th century American art with two exhibitions of American Impressionist paintings.
Gargiulo Arts Foundation Presents Non-Covid Talks at Flagler County Art League
Artist Tom Gargiulo, cofounder of the Gargiulo Arts Foundation, along with his partner Arlene Volpe, will present an artist talk from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 19, Rick de Yampert, whose photographic digital art is included in a current exhibit at the Art League, will present talks from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, at FCAL.
Two New Shows at Flagler County Art League Tread Back to Public Exhibits in Covid Era
Two art exhibitions — the Four Artists Show and 8×8 Inch Show – will be presented by the Gargiulo Art Foundation from Thursday, Aug. 13, through Sept. 7 at the Flagler County Art League.
Glass Menagerie: Lee Richards Slices His Way to Flagler County Artist of the Year
Two exhibits that would have featured Artist of the Year Lee Richards’s works were cancelled–one because a gallery closed, the next, scheduled for this month, because of the pandemic.
Frieda Zamba Featured at Flagler Beach Historical Museum’s New Surf Exhibit
Frieda Zamba and Haley Watson will be available for autographs and selfies featured in the Flagler Beach Historical Museum’s new Surf exhibit opening Friday, Feb. 7.
Critical Lack of Exhibit Space Hobbling Palm Coast Art Scene Even as Organizations Thrive
For the first time in 20 years, the Flagler County Artist of the Year will not have a show, for lack of space. The critical lack of exhibit space is on the radar of the Flagler County Art League, the fledgling Palm Coast Arts Foundation and the Grand Gallery at Grand Living Realty.
PCAF’s “Quilty,” Turtle #6 Unveiling Thursday at Waterfront Park
The Palm Coast Arts Foundation invites the public to the unveiling of Turtle #6 on their public sculpture Turtle Trail project Thursday, Oct. 10 at 10 a.m. at Waterfront Park, 150 Waterfront Park Rd, Palm Coast, off Colbert Lane.
FlaglerLive’s Rick de Yampert, a Palm Coast Artist, Brings Mr. Crow Art to Peabody Auditorium Exhibit
Palm Coast artist and FlaglerLive culture writer Rick de Yampert’s photographic digital art of crows will be featured in “Mr. Crow Saves the Universe,” an exhibition May 1-24 in the Rose Room at Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach.
Flagler Beach Will Loosen Its Mural Rules, Allowing Businesses to Advertise Products Through Art
Flagler Beach is moving toward loosening its mural rules to allow for greater expression and even a little bit of extra advertising, all thanks to raining donuts on the wall outside Swillerbees, the craft donut and coffee shop on North Central Avenue.
Palm Coast Mayor Hails ‘Striking’ 10-Ft. Sculpture as Inaugural Symbol of Town Center’s Creative Future
Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland dedicated the first of five sculptures that will form a sculpture garden in Central Park, all privately paid for and donated to the city as a cultural component of Palm Coast’s emerging Innovation District.
Palm Coast Poised To Make the Arts Central To Its Innovation District as New Sculpture Garden Redefines Central Park
The Gargiulo Arts Foundation is making possible a new sculpture garden in Palm Coast’s Central Park and helping to redefine the city’s innovation district, with the arts playing a central role. More funding may be next.
At GOLA and the Flagler County Art League:
Trish Vevera, Flagler Artist of the Year
Trish Vevera’s journey from Grinnell College to the Art Institute of Chicago’s galleries to Flagler County’s open-air inspirations lands her as the Gargiulo Art Foundation’s Artist of the Year, with upcoming shows at Flagler Beach’s GOLA and the Flagler County Art League.
Reemerging From the Guts of the Beast: Art Exhibit Will Celebrate Richard and Arleen Schreiner
Before his untimely death in 2012, Palm Coast artist Richard Schreiner saw art as fury, as revolt and defiance. A new exhibit will celebrate his and his late wife’s life’s work at Salvo Art House in Bunnell.
Palm Coast Approves Cultural Grants. Just Don’t Call It “Religious Outreach.”
The Palm Coast City Council this week approved grants for 13 cultural events by local non-profits, totaling $34,500. The Palm Coast United Methodist Church’s description of its mission as “religious outreach” drew an objection in the context of cultural grants.
Gargiulo Foundation’s Flagler Canvas Brims With More Artists, More Galleries, More Artist of the Year Nominees
Rather than just declare a Flagler County Artist of the Year, this time the Gargiulo Art Foundation nominated six potential winners and is working up to a winner through shows at two separate galleries.
With ‘Macbeth’ and Measureless Content, Palm Coast Arts Foundation and City Rep Theatre Launch Shakespeare In the Park
It’s “Macbeth” time Thursday through Sunday as the Palm Coast Arts Foundation and City Repertory Theatre hope Shakespeare in the Park, in Town Center, becomes a local tradition.
At the Flagler County Art League:
Diana Gilson, Artist of the Year
Abstratct-expressionist painter Diana Gilson–sailor, pianist, amateur linguist–is the Gariuolo Foundation’s 2017 Flagler CountyArtist of the Year, with an exhibit opening Saturday at the Flagler County Art League.
Move Over, Magritte: Alchemist-Photographer Jerry Uelsmann Documents States of Consciousness
Surrealist photographer Jerry Uelsmann, whose work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art among many places, speaks at the Hilton Garden Inn Sunday afternoon.
Twice Palm Coast’s Senior, Flagler County Art League Turns 40 as Canvas Expands
The Flagler County Art League, now with 450 members, is celebrating its 40th anniversary with several events and a look back at accomplishments against odds.
Gargiulo Foundation Committing to $100,000 Sculpture Garden in Palm Coast’s Town Center
The Gargiulo Art Foundation is proposing to put up a sculpture garden in Town Center, an echo of the Palm Coast Arts Foundation’s own plans for art in public places.
