Ever since its doors opened on New Year’s Eve 2004, Studio@620 has collaborated with every area of the creative world. Artists, musicians, actors, playwrights and poets have all called the studio home, and helped it maintain a focus on diversity.
The small studio that started as the brainchild of artistic directors Bob Devin Jones and David Ellis has developed into a staple of the St. Petersburg cultural community—and it doesn’t show signs of waning.
“My temperament is melancholy,” Jones says when asked if he ever envisioned the fifth anniversary of the studio. “Creatively I’m always in the moment, so I never really think about the future. I’m thrilled we’ve been so successful. The studio has exceeded my wildest expectations.”
By its third year, the studio had expanded its offerings enough to pay a small staff, including Jones. Last year Ellis retired, leaving Jones as the venue’s sole artistic director. Since then, Jones says he’s taken a more collaborative approach with the community.
“By my very nature I’m inclusive,” Jones says.
Studio@620 has teamed with American Stage, the Florida Orchestra and several area galleries over the past year.
“There’s safety in numbers,” Jones says. “It’s a way of thinking, ‘How can we get more people in here?’ The answer is more collaboration.”
Five years of diversity
Throughout June, Studio@620 has held five special celebrations to honor its fifth anniversary. Jones says every one of the events has been packed to the rafters.
“I think a big draw here is the intimacy of this main room,” he says. “It has a great feel and it makes people think, “Hey, I’m glad I’m here.’”
And those people represent a wide demographic, from gay to straight and African-American to Asian to Latino to Caucasian. That’s exactly what Jones wants, he says—to emphasize and celebrate diversity.
“I’m a gay man, but I don’t wake up in the morning and say, ‘Oh, I’m gay,’” Jones says. “So we don’t really have gay programs. We include all of the community; there’s no separation. I think that’s what has made us successful.”
The City of St. Petersburg has supported the studio since it opened in 2004, Jones says. Just last year more than 19,000 people passed through the front doors, and the studio now has five full-time staffers, including a production coordinator.
“Gays are attracted to creativity,” Jones says. “But we have artists and performers who attract a broad spectrum of people. Do you like Shakespeare? Then you might really like how we handle his work.”
Recently, the Studio presented Romeo & Juliet with 21 actors and a mixed-couple lead.
“What excites us is putting an idea together and seeing what happens,” Jones says. “We like to say ‘The answer is always yes.’ That mean’s we’re not afraid to try something different or new.”
A mission for opportunity
In its five years, Studio@620 has succeeded in attracting creative talent to downtown St. Petersburg. Its mission is to give local and national artists a chance to showcase their talents, but it seems the bottom line for the studio is to create opportunity.
“We are a home for the arts,” Jones says. “Our mission requires that we be fiscally responsible, but we can do that in a creative way. There’s no reason to make things complicated.”
Despite an economy that has shuttered businesses and non-profits across the country, Jones says Studio@620 is thriving. Several months ago he was contacted by NewsHour, the PBS evening news program, for a story on the relationship between the economy and culture. Jones says he was of little use to the reporter.
“She kept asking me how the economy was hurting the studio,” he says. “But I had to keep telling her, ‘We’re doing well. We’re doing very well.’”
In fact, the studio is doing so well that expansion plans are underway. The Studio@620 Annex will open this fall along the 600 block of Central Avenue, and Jones hopes the existing studio can expand west to create a theater space next door.
“But we will never, ever leave this space,” he says. “This is where we started, and this is where we began fulfilling our mission.”
Pride and art
Despite an incredibly busy month of anniversary-themed events, Studio@620 has already planned a full season of upcoming shows and events for 2009-2010. Jones says the coming year will be another exciting one.
“In our sixth year we want to be more involved with St. Pete Pride,” Jones says. “Since I’m a playwright, I’m sure we’ll be involved in a literary and musical way.”
Jones lives in the resurgent Old Southeast neighborhood, near the bay just south of downtown. Since moving to St. Petersburg 12 years ago, Jones says he has fallen in love with a city that is part metropolis, part cultural center, and part sleepy tropical paradise.
He has also been impressed with St. Pete Pride, and grown to respect it’s organizers.
“I have many things to be proud of here in St. Petersburg,” he says. “And St. Pete Pride is definitely one of those things. I want Studio@620 to be identified with that organization and to be actively involved in the celebration.”
Last year the studio donated its space for a party following the annual Pride Movie, presented by the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Jones says he hopes to provide more opportunities to Pride—and other groups—in the future.
“Again, that’s our mission—to be available to the community,” Jones says. “I’m eternally grateful to our staff, our board and all of our members for all the support and work they’ve given to the studio.”
But Jones is quick to point out that the true success of Studio@620 is directly related to the strength of the overall community of St. Petersburg.
“I may be the face of the studio,” Jones says. “But I’m not going to get things twisted. We wouldn’t be here without the community coming through these doors, and for that I can’t express enough appreciation.”
For a full schedule of events at Studio@620, visit StudioAt620.org.
