Arts In: Mark Feinman

09/02/19 • 28 min

Mark Feinman is the drummer for the eclectic jazz trio, La Lucha - and an inventive composer. Mark tells La Lucha’s origin story of how he and pianist John O’Leary and bassist Alejandro Arenas began their long-term collaboration. And he shares his own journey in jazz, with stops at St Pete’s Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School and the University of South Florida’s cutting-edge School of Music. He talks with Barbara St. Clair about constantly listening and creating music, and even shares a sneak peek at a future song, recorded on his phone during a dog walk. Find out more about La Lucha’s music and performance schedule at https://www.laluchamusic.com/. You can read about Mark Feinman’s work during his tenure as a Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist Fellow at https://creativepinellas.org/mark-feinman/.

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Arts In: Carrie Jadus

Carrie Jadus made a name for herself as a professional artist, after giving up a career as a skilled radio frequency engineer. Her distinctive, soft and subtly subversive style is seen in paintings, on murals, posters and notecards around St. Petersburg. Working at Soft Water Studios, she’s a mainstay of the Warehouse Arts District and longtime illustrator for St. Pete Preservation. Carrie shares the turning point that made her decide to choose art over engineering - and how as a working mother, she carefully planned a sustainable artistic career, using the business plan of a Toymaker as a model. She explains how working in several different styles helped her earn a living and fulfill her urges for personal expression. She tells the story behind her well-known mural of pioneering electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla - and Little Miss Sisyphus, the mural people often miss just around the corner. Carrie shares her passion for ‘grand portraits,’ monumental paintings of figures from Einstein to Nina Simone, and explains in detail two recent, more surrealistic, paintings. You can explore Carrie Jadus’ work at http://www.carriejadus.com/bio.html. And follow her new work at https://www.facebook.com/cjadusfineartpage/ and https://www.instagram.com/jadusfineart/. Soft Water Studios is open during Second Saturday ArtWalk - https://stpeteartsalliance.org/artwalk/ - from 5-9 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month - http://www.softwaterstudios.com/. Her Tesla mural and Little Miss Sisyphus are featured in the St Pete Arts Alliance’s Virtual Mural Tour - https://stpeteartsalliance.org/carrie-jadus-tesla/ and https://stpeteartsalliance.org/carrie-jadus-little-miss-sisyphus/.

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Arts In: Bahia Ramos

Bahia Ramos recently spoke at the Art of Marketing and Branding Summit hosted by Creative Pinellas. She serves as Director of Arts at New York City’s Wallace Foundation, and leads the team responsible for the foundation’s work funding research by arts organizations around the country, as they explore a larger question that affects the entire arts community. Bahia explains the five-year relationship she has with grantees, as they help create a body of knowledge that can be shared to help arts organizations nationwide. She shares her thoughts on the crucial business of philanthropy, on growing new audiences and how to change your art as the world around you changes. Find out more about the Wallace Foundation at https://www.wallacefoundation.org/pages/default.aspx. Explore their five-year project, Building Audiences for Sustainability - https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/building-audiences-for-the-arts/pages/default.aspx Their research is available for anyone to read. Here’s a selection from many pages of documents you can download. Audience Building and Financial Health for Nonprofit Performing Arts https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/audience-building-and-financial-health-nonprofit-performing-arts.aspx Ballet Austin: Building Audiences for Unfamiliar Works https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/ballet-austin-building-audiences-for-unfamiliar-works--discussion-guide.aspx Change in Audiences in American Theaters https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/change-in-audiences-american-theaters.aspx Arts for All: Connecting New Audiences https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/arts-for-all-connecting-new-audiences.aspx Studies in Building Arts Audiences and Building Deeper Relationships https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/pages/wallace-studies-in-building-arts-audiences-building-deeper-relationships.aspx