01: Organizations Supporting Creatives in the Florida Keys with Elizabeth Young

Are you a creative person living in the Florida Keys? If so, and you're working full-time, what are you doing to exercise your creative brain? And how are you feeding your creativity? To find out what you could be doing to feed your artist's soul in the Florida Keys, join Nancy Truesdale, host of the Creatives in the Keys podcast, today, as she chats to Elizabeth Young, the executive director of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts. 

The Florida Keys Council of the Arts is the place to go, and the resource to contact if you'd like to find out anything about arts in the Keys. Liz is very proud of the work that the Florida Keys Council of the Arts is doing throughout Monroe County. And the Arts Council is delighted to be representing the Florida Keys, and playing a part in promoting this fabulous destination for its arts and culture, and for creating a dynamic community for its residents throughout the Keys. Be sure to tune in today, to find out more!

Liz first became entranced with the theater world when she was in high school. After completing high school, she went to college in Boston, where she was an Artistry and Theater Major. In her senior year in college, she became an intern with the Manhattan Theater Club, ending up in their casting department. After college, Liz spent almost ten years in different casting director offices in New York City. She worked for some independent casting directors who were casting small film work, and Broadway and television pilots for NBC. 

The focus of this podcast is to help artists of any kind to start feeling connected to the Florida Keys as a place to make a living, feel a sense of vitality, and become part of the community.

Show Highlights:

• Liz's work has always been about supporting artists and finding work for them.
• Her job at the Florida Keys Council of the Arts really suits Liz's passion and talent for supporting creative people.
• Liz explains how she landed up in the Keys.
• Liz has board members and board advisors who are always assisting her in supporting all the art in all the Keys.
• It's a full-time job keeping the Florida Keys Council of the Arts website up to date, focused, and providing opportunities for the local artists. 
• The Arts Council supports all the arts- visual arts, performing arts, literary arts, and historical arts/museums.
• What you need to know, as a creative, about the Arts Council, and how the Arts Council can help you tap into the right resources.
• The benefits of becoming a member of the Florida Keys Council of the Arts.
• The Arts Council offers a variety of grant programs that facilitate learning, growing, experimenting with, and understanding the creative process for the art that you're pursuing.
• Putting the Florida Keys Council of the Arts logo on your project shows that it's been vetted, and it can also help artists to find the funds they need.
• The Florida Keys Council of the Arts supports the teaching artists in the Monroe County school programs in many different ways.
• Liz explains how visitors to the Keys can tap into the Arts Council's resources and find out more about art in the Keys.
• Liz talks about why so many artists are drawn to the Keys.
• There's no off-season for artists in the Keys. The galleries, cinemas, and theaters throughout the Keys are open all year round.

Links and resources:

Florida Keys Council of the Arts website - https://keysarts.com/

Stay up to date with everything that's going on in the Florida Keys by visiting www.43keys.com