Soon after Jerry Beverland was reelected to city council last month, he promised to bring a dedicated arts committee back to Oldsmar.
Last week, officials formally addressed Beverland’s idea.
Stating he believes art is an important part of a community, Beverland called for the immediate formation of committee that is dedicated to promoting the arts in the city.
“Let me tell you how important this is to the City of Oldsmar,” Beverland said when the agenda item came up during the April 4 council meeting. “We started the arts committee in 1996, and it was going full bloom. I mean it was growing fast.”
“We had a monthly arts showing in City Hall where you couldn’t walk in there, there were so many people.”
Beverland went on to explain that before political gamesmanship derailed the committee, a presentation that he and other city officials submitted to the United States Conference of Mayors in 1996 led to Oldsmar being named as the most livable city with a population under 100,000 in the country.
“The whole program that we sent them was our arts program. And that’s what got this city to be one of the most livable cities,” he said. “It was all done because of that art program that we had. So I’m telling you, that’s how important the arts is to the City of Oldsmar.”
Beverland then requested a workshop to get started on the new council.
“I would like a workshop to work this out,” he said. “That’s how important this is to me.”
Beverland’s fellow council members concurred with his suggestion.
“I think it’s a good idea,” Council member Eric Seidel said. “We’ve talked about it, now it’s time to take action on it.”
“I think it’s important because with the new zipline coming in, we’re going to have a lot of people from around the state coming to our city,” Council member Dan Saracki added. “So we could do something in there with art to improve that section.”
Council member Gabby McGee said she would want to make sure a qualified person leads the committee, and Mayor Doug Bevis said he also backed the idea, but wants to make sure it is handled the right way this time around.
“I think it’s good, but again, I think we want to do this slow and methodically and think about how we do this so it succeeds and can carry on,” Bevis said, adding he wants to collaborate with leaders of the newly formed North Pinellas Cultural Alliance to get their feedback and suggestions.
“We need to…see what it would look like and what we’re trying to accomplish and have an objective, actually,” he added. “I think that’s what we need to do first.”
“That’s a good idea,” Beverland said. “I mean, that’s a good start.”
Shortly after Beverland was elected to Seat 4, he shared the reason behind his passion for the arts.
“It’s a subject that’s very near and dear to me,” he said, noting his late son, Robyn, was a nationally renowned folk singer who was passionate about the arts. “We had a great arts council here in the past. It was incredible. But things got political, and it all fell apart. I’d like to start it over again.”
He said he believes the new cultural alliance, plus the recently approved public art project at R.E. Olds Park, were steps in the right direction, but he would like to see more done.
“I think the cultural alliance can be a great help, but we need one here in the City of Oldsmar,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of talk about it, but I’m going to do it.”
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