The St. Johns Cultural Council (SJCC) has announced the recipients of the 2025 Tommy Bledsoe State of the Arts (SOTA) Grants. Celebrating 25 years of SOTA grants, the grant pool has been raised to $25,000 for the 2025 grant cycle, and it has been renamed after Bledsoe, a local musician and arts educator who spearheaded the State of the Arts grant program when he served on the SJCC Board of Directors.
These annual grants are available through funds raised by the sale of “State of the Arts” specialty license plates and have provided more than $175,000 in support to arts organizations and individual artists in St. Johns County. The grant recipients were honored Dec. 9 at the annual Holiday Open House at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Ave.
The most recent grantees are:
- Adaptive Superstars: This grant will fund the spring performance of their 12-week program that provides professional-level ballet production experiences for those with disabilities.
- Friends of the Lincolnville Museum: The Lincolnville Museum is hosting a Myrna Clayton Experience, which will be an educational and culturally enriching event with concerts and free workshops led by Clayton and her band.
- Switzerland Point Middle School: This grant will support a thriving yet underfunded drama program by providing reusable theatre essentials to 150-plus students.
- Lenny Foster: This grant will support a photography project that tells the story of Lincolnville churches that have served as a spiritual foundation for the community.
- St. Augustine Pipe Band: This grant provides funding for free classes, materials and equipment for students learning to play Scottish bagpipes and drums.
- Picolata Crossing Elementary School: Grant funding will support a performance of “Finding Nemo, Jr.” with instruction and a puppeteering workshop to provide specialized experiences to more students.
- Friends of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre: SOTA funds support scholarships for low-income and underserved students with no prior musical experience to attend FOSAA Summer Art and Music Camps.
- Hope4Veterans: Women veterans and spouses of veterans engage with young ladies (age 12 and older) through the arts to encourage unity, confidence, communication, artistic self-expression and connection.
- Artist Cultural Education (ACE) Arts Program: During the school year, ACE will hold weekly art sessions for at-risk primary school children led by professional artists and teachers in their specialty medium.
- Old City Drum Corps: SOTA funds will be used to support historically accurate 18th-century fife-and-drum performances across St. Augustine and beyond.
- A Classic Theatre: This grant will help ACT partner with assisted living facilities to offer free transportation and reduced admission for seniors to attend midweek matinee performances of “Butterflies Are Free.”
- St. Augustine Community School of Performing Arts: SOTA funds will help bring music and performing arts to the Hastings Library and Community Center with instruments and arts programming.
- For more information on the grants, go to stjohnsculture.com/grants-awards/state-of-the-arts-grant.
