The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance is top of mind this week, as CEO Terry Marks bids the arts support organization farewell after four years on the job.

In a mid-April announcement, Marks said she would remain at the nonprofit through May 9. “It has been an honor to work with the board, our staff and volunteers to make a meaningful impact through SPAA,” she said at the time. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to engage the community in significant ways, and I look forward to the organization’s continued success in its next chapter.”

Marks was brought into the Arts Alliance to replace retiring founder John Collins. Originally an educator, she had 15-year career on Wall Street, and as an insurance programmer and risk management consultant for Fortune 500 companies.

In Southern California, Marks ran a nonprofit consulting company for 17 years. From 2009 to 2015, she was Chief Philanthropic Officer and interim CEO of the National Eating Disorder Association.

In Sarasota, she was a consultant for the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative.

Arts Alliance board chair Ryan Griffin praised her contributions to the organization on an April 17 Catalyst interview. The organization, he said, “is deeply appreciative for the incredible work Terry provided over the past four years as CEO of SPAA. Her leadership, vision and unwavering commitment to the arts have left a lasting impact on this organization and the community it serves.

“Under her guidance, SPAA has grown and flourished in many ways. We wish her continued success in whatever the future may bring.”

Marks declined to be interviewed for this story.

One of Marks’ final tasks as head of the Arts Alliance was helping choose the six recipients of the annual MUSE Awards, honoring artists, arts supporters and “creative community leaders.”

This year’s MUSE winners will be feted at a May 14 event at Bayboro Brewing Co. They are: Creative Clay (Visual Arts), Nate Najar (Performance Arts); Peter Kageyama (Literary Arts), USF College of Design (Art & Technology), Milkey Family Foundation (Patron of the Arts) and Daryl DeBerry (Arts Ambassador).

RSVP for the free May 15 event are available here.

The SPAA’s 11^th annual SHINE Mural Festival, Oct. 11-23, will for the first time feature only local artists. This was announced following the departure earlier this year of longtime festival director Jenee Priebe.

Replacements for Marks and Priebe have not yet been hired.

In the meantime, the Arts Alliance’s other signature event, the monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk, strolls into May mode this Saturday, from 5 to 9 p.m. For the uninitiated, ArtWalk’s not entirely walkable – it’s more like the Second Saturday DriveWalk – but it’s a way to get a peek into more than 30 St. Pete artist studios and galleries in a single evening.

They’re open – some with receptions and refreshments – and the artists and proprietors will be expecting inquisitive visitors.

Here’s the official Arts Alliance map for the May 10, 2025 Second Saturday ArtWalk.

Show openings for ArtWalk:

Craftsman House Gallery: Opening Reception for: Craftsman House Garden Party. Ceramic Garden Pots by Charlie Parker, and the 18th Annual Invitational Teapot Show.

GCAA (Gulf Coast Artists Alliance) Artworks: Saturday reception for new show by Latonya Hicks and Jeff Giles.

Morean Center For Clay: Erica Bleu: Consume. On view: May 10-June 29 Erica Bleu explores human emotion through the behaviors of insects, revealing universal truths about existence.

Wild Space Gallery: Opening reception for Class Act, environmentally-themed artwork by students from, Howard W. Blake Magnet High School for the Arts in Tampa and Clearwater High School.

Soft Water Studios: Opening reception 4-6 p.m. Saturday for Salome Ali Jaffe: Selections from Une Vie, an exhibition by the acid painter and installation artist.

At the James

Rare Air, an exhibition of illustrations of endangered birds, bats, butterflies and bees by Philadelphia-based illustrator and designer Sarah Kaizar, opens Friday at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art. The exhibition highlights endangered species of flight through pen-and-ink drawings (70 of them) that are “scientifically accurate and artistically engaging.”

Hello, Dali

Kids 12 and under get into the Dali Museum free Sunday (with paying adult), and also into the 360s fabulousness of the Dali Dome. The occasion is Dali’s birthday (he would be turning 121). Anyone over the age of 12 get the gallery admission rate of $19.04, in honor of Dalí’s birth year.

May 24 brings Outside In: New Murals Inspired by Dalí, during which SHINE Mural Festival artists to create murals within the museum’s gallery.

Upcoming

The St. Pete Collective performs at Gulfport’s DRV Gallery May 15. It’s an all James Taylor evening and the band includes some pretty impressive St. Petersburg musicians: Chad Stivers: lead vocals and acoustic guitar; Patrick Bettison: keyboards, percussion, and chromatic harmonica; LaRue Nickelson: electric guitar; Vinnie Seplesky: bass guitar; Gale Trippsmith: vocals and percussion; Joey Interrante: drums. Tickets are at this link. Liquid Light, watercolors by Curtis Whitwam, is on view through May 17 at DRV.

Coming May 16 to the Gallery at Creative Pinellas: The Shape of Us, an exhibition by local artists Karel Garcia, Kirk Palmer, Alice Picket Lewis, Tavia Reyes, Kuke Vest and Zulu Painter. And a high five to former Tampa Bay Times writer Maggie Duffy, who’s the new Managing Editor of Creative Pinellas’ online magazine.

The Museum of Fine Arts’ annual Painting in the Park event happens 11 a.m.-3 p.m. May 17. Admission to the family-friendly artfest is free, but pre-registration is requested – find everything you need to know at this link.

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