Pinellas performers, including PalladiumPaul, play Sunday to benefit local artists and musicians

If you want to support Palladium musicians and performers during this crisis there’s a great opportunity this Sunday. You can enjoy the We Are Family Virtual Festival on Sunday and all proceeds will go directly to the Pinellas Arts Community Relief Fund.

 

And you’ll get a chance to see the new musical group I’ve put together. That’s right, PalladiumPaul, along with my talented wife, Eugenie Bondurant, Robin Sibucao (of Coo Coo Ca Choo) and his wife, Sher, herself a veteran singer, are doing three songs this Sunday. This group is so new, we haven’t named it yet, but I think you’ll like the music.

 

Also, this isn’t a zoom show. We pre-recorded video and audio so the quality should be good.

 

Hope you can join us this Sunday, along with many other Pinellas County artists and performers for this very special benefit show.

 

Here are more details from Creative Pinellas, the organization putting this all together:

 

We Are Family: Pinellas County Virtual Festival of the Arts Announced

 

On Sunday, May 10, 2020, creative partners throughout Pinellas County, will present We Are Family: Pinellas County Virtual Festival of the Arts featuring top performing and visual artists from the area. The event is a collaborative fundraising effort for the Pinellas Arts Community Relief Fund, providing immediate financial relief to artists, arts organizations and creative businesses. 100% of the ticket revenue will go directly to the Pinellas Arts Community Relief Fund.

 

We Are Family will stream live via Vimeo with pre-fest and post-fest shows taking place on the Creative Pinellas Facebook page.  Festival tickets are $12.50 and are available at creativepinellas.org/pcartsfest. Artists of all genres across all parts of Pinellas County will present music and dance, visual arts, literary readings and more. Participating artists include the Florida Bjorkestra, Helen Pruitt Wallace, Dundu Dole, Paul Wilborn and Eugenie Bondurant, the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, Mickett-Stackhouse Studio, Helen Hansen French, La Lucha, Shevonne Philmore, Shawn Brown and more to be announced.

 

“During these unprecedented times, it is so inspiring to see our community come even closer together with our gifts and talents to help each other,” said Alex Harris, the award-winning recording artist and co-founder of the Arts Conservatory for Teens who heads the committee organizing the festival. “In addition to helping the Arts Community Relief Fund, we are showcasing the community at its most creative and finest. We really are all in this together.  I am so honored to reside among so many incredibly talented human beings and am looking forward to sharing the ‘stage’ from my and our homes to yours.”

 

The Arts Community Relief Fund was started by a partnership between Creative Pinellas, the Foundation for a Healthy St. Petersburg, the Pinellas Community Foundation and the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.  It has already distributed $97,800 dollars, of the $110,000 originally raised.  The partnership is looking to this festival to help replenish the fund so that more grants can be given to address the continuing need in the arts community and help ensure that the vibrant arts and cultural landscape of Pinellas County remains intact through this current crisis and beyond.

 

“The success of the event and achievement of fund-raising goals will only be possible with engagement from the entire community,” says Leigh K. Davis, Arts and Cultural Outreach Manager with Creative Pinellas.  “The Arts & Culture community in Pinellas County is an amazing intersection of people who are not only talented, innovative and creative; they are open, welcoming and engaged in many civic, business and social arenas. The Pinellas County Virtual Festival of the Arts is a way to show appreciation to those watching and participating for staying connected, resilient and uplifted during COVID-19 restrictions. It’s a way to highlight and develop partnerships that can expand into the future.”

The festival committee is currently securing partners for the event. For more information, or if you are interested in sponsoring the We Are Family: Pinellas County Virtual Festival of the Arts contact Leigh K. Davis, Arts & Culture Outreach Manager with Creative Pinellas at 404.808.7495 or leigh.davis@creativepinellas.org.

 

To contribute to the Community Arts Relief Fund please visit https://pinellascf.org/pinellasartsrelief.

 

– BY BARBARA ST. CLAIR, CEO OF CREATIVE PINELLAS