The Studios of Key West

The Studios of Key West is a center for the arts in Key West, an island community at the southernmost tip of the Florida Keys. The Studios of Key West is a nonprofit organization established in 2006. Its annual catalog states that the organization works to promotes multidisciplinary arts, to provide artist-in-residency opportunities for artists worldwide, and to maintain long-term studio spaces dedicated to Florida Keys artists. Through classes, performances, lectures, gallery exhibits, partnership projects, and special events, the Studios unites Pulitzer Prize winners and world-renowned artists with local audiences and art practitioners at all stages of their creative careers. The organization publishes a yearly catalog of events and classes and maintains an extensive website at tskw.org.

The Studios of Key West established its new home in 2015. The location at 533 Eaton Street is in the heart of downtown Key West just one block from Duval Street. The building, an iconic piece of Miami Deco architecture, was built in 1951 at the corner of Simonton and Eaton, and is the former Scottish Rite Masonic Center. After a total renovation, the building now includes Key West’s largest exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art, a wine bar, a box office/information center, a 200-seat auditorium, nine artists’ studios, and two classrooms (Filosa). In 2016 Books & Books @ The Studios opened offering over 2,500 titles. In addition to the new Eaton Street space, the Ashe Street artist-in-residence cottages along with the Sculpture and Nature Garden continue to anchor the Artists In Residence Program.

In mid-2011, to respond to the growing demand for additional work space for artists, The Studios of Key West renovated 607 and 609 Ashe Street as residency cottages for visiting artists. Completed in early 2012, the cottages now include three suites with two attached working studios and an outdoor area for small gatherings (“About the AIR Program”). Adjacent is a landscaped Sculpture Garden that is home to an ever-changing series of sculptural works by established and emerging artists including John Martini, Susan Rogers, Lauren McAloon, CR Gray, Anja Marais, and many others. The area also provides a setting for classes, outdoor events, and native plants.

Books & Books @ The Studios is the newest branch of the locally owned, independent-minded neighborhood bookstore, which won Publishers Weekly “Bookstore of the Year” in 2015, serves as a community center for writers and readers, and hosts a diverse and stunning selection of author events each year.

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Wikipedia