Robert Arleigh White
Executive Director
Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville
Mission
The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville works to advance the appreciation and expression of art and culture by increasing community awareness of cultural activities and issues, providing arts education programs and offering funding and technical assistance to cultural organizations and individual artists.
Serving Jacksonville
The Cultural Council was founded in 1971 as the Arts Assembly of Jacksonville to coordinate a communitywide calendar of arts events and cultural programming. Among our earliest successes was the renovation of the Florida Theatre. Today, the council creates visibility and awareness around cultural activities, events and issues; promotes access to arts-in-education activities both to local students and to lifelong learners; and serves as a conduit for providing funding and technical assistance to area institutions, artists and schools.
Those served
The Cultural Council, which has a leadership presence in the Northeast Florida region, primarily provides service in Duval County. Through the Cultural Services Grants Program, the council’s competitive mechanism for distributing public funds to eligible not-for-profit arts and cultural institutions, as many as 1 million people are served annually through the creative activities of as many as 25 organizations. The grants program further supports access to arts experiences through the distribution of nearly 250,000 free tickets and arts instruction opportunities to more than 300,000 students. The council also manages the City of Jacksonville’s Art in Public Places Program, which has created opportunities for local as well as internationally acclaimed artists. More recently, in partnership with Downtown Vision Inc., the council has helped to create gallery and studio space in the urban core by pairing artists with the property owners with vacant storefronts.
Biggest challenge
It’s astonishing to hear people say, ‘I’m not artistic’ or ‘I don’t sing’ or (even worse) ‘why do we need art and music in our city?’ The fact is that every one of us, from the moment we open our eyes in the morning until we fall asleep at night, is engaged with the fundamental principles of art and design, and this interaction has a profound impact on us as individuals as well as on the way we conduct business, understand our city and grow our unique sense of culture that is the envy of the rest of the world. Art represents a quality-of-life issue that is so basic that I often think of it as comparable to breathing. Too often we take it for granted even though it is the very thing that gives our community life.
Biggest satisfaction
Every day I see how individuals and institutions are working together to make more art more available to more people. Without question, this benefits Jacksonville’s economy and its people and makes our city more attractive to visitors and to businesses and families who may be considering relocation.
Hometown
This is a hard question to answer. I was born in Bethesda, Maryland, but never lived there. My dad had a brilliant career in the U.S. Navy and my sisters, brother and I grew up in places like Washington, D.C.; Naples, Italy; Oslo, Norway; and Honolulu, and somehow we all managed to graduate from Fletcher High School at the beach. I also attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Jacksonville is my home now. I have lived here for more than 35 years.
First experience with community service
I can’t remember a time when I was not involved in community service. My earliest opportunities were almost certainly organized through my church and the Boy Scouts.
Your job before the Cultural Council
Executive-Artistic Director, Theatre Jacksonville.
Upcoming events
April 12: The 35th Annual Arts Awards Luncheon will take place on the stage of the Moran Theatre at the Times-Union Center. For more events, visit www.experiencejax.com.
Contact information
Phone: 358-3600
Fax: 353-5100
[email protected]
www.culturalcouncil.org