The Arts

Creative Inheritance

Along the Emerald Coast, creativity is an inheritance—shaped by hand, passed through generations, and rooted in the shared act of making something meaningful, lasting, and uniquely one’s own. For some families, it becomes a language spoken through wood, paint, and…

Shutter Speed

Chris DeLorenzo is on a hunt. The 30-year-old Grayton Beach resident stalks his way around ’70s muscle cars looking for light, looking for color, looking for treasure. That’s how he describes his fine art approach to photographing automobiles at a drag…

Heavy Layers

I step off the dirt parking lot just off 30A and onto a mosaic path. Native plants brush the walkway’s edges. A massive tree throws dappled shade across the property, where three paintings framed inside wooden pavilion structures form a…

Spinning Around

Every April since 2008, Record Store Day has celebrated the unique culture of independent record shops through in-store events around the globe. On the Emerald Coast, stores such as Central Square Records and Revolver Records offer locals a place to…

Dance to Your Own Beat

Movement to music is a melding of mind, body, and spirit.  The mind works to remember the choreography or to create it. The body exerts energy, adrenaline, and stamina as it pirouettes, sashays, leaps, and lunges. The spirit is enlivened…

Local And Lyrical

April showers bring May flowers as well as National Poetry Month.  “While poetry may not cure the ills of the world, it can help people cope by providing creative outlets that can turn brutality into beauty with the simple turn…

Two Decades, One Baton

When Sinfonia Gulf Coast raised its baton for the first time in 2005, it did so with an audacious promise: to redefine the symphony experience along Northwest Florida’s Emerald Coast. Two decades later, that promise has become a lived reality—one…

Singers, Songwriters, and Stages

I love live music as much as the next person. But let’s be real. In an era of dynamic pricing tactics and endless added fees gouging our wallets, it can feel impossible to enjoy more than one festival or major…

Art For All

Tucked along Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola, Blue Morning Gallery is a local treasure. It’s a place where creativity feels approachable, and art leads to a smile.  Unlike traditional galleries, Blue Morning is entirely artist-run. There’s no owner, no paid…