College President Carl Kuttler, president of St. Petersburg College, knows how to get things done. Locals know this, and so do leaders of Russia! Dr. Kuttler works quietly behind the scenes, but somehow comes up with not only a plan, but action when somethings needs to be done.
The latest art coalition in St. Petersburg, Florida looks like a Win-Win-Win-Win, with SPC as the central link. St Pete College has been expanding its satellite locations for some years, including expansion into downtown St. Pete. Dr. Kuttler envisioned an arts and museum studies program for SPC, and worked with the Florida International Museum to the advantage of both institutions.
Back to the Win-Win-Win-Win. If all approvals come in as expected, the following will happen:
- The row of storefronts across from Williams Park and adjacent to the downtown St Pete campus of SPC will become the new American Stage Theater.
- American Stage will sell it's current leaky and inefficient building, leave its 148 seat theater, and move to its new location.
- The Palladium, a mid-sized arts performance center with 880 seats, was converted from a church, and has been relying on pricate donations. It will be owned and operated by St Petersburg College, and will have both community and college productions.
- The Florida Orchestra, who had been planning to build their headquarters adjacent to the Mahaffey Theater, were stymied when costs came in a million dollars over budget. They would move to the third floor of St Petersburg College's current downtown location and have a new theater built. They could use the Palladium Theater for their rehearsals.
- A joint ticket booth would be built for American Stage, the Florida Orchestra and the Palladium. Since the Florida International Museum is now in the St Petersburg College building, they could participate in the joint ticket booth as well.
And all this is put together such that state matching grants will be available. Leave that to Dr. Kutler - he'll get it done.
If Kuttler can spend all of this money on the arts, why are so many of the classes overcrowded or dropped? My son has had one heck of time getting the classes he needs, and the classes keep getting bigger so that students are having to bring in extra chairs or share computers. He waits weeks to hear from the college about the simplest things, but he's planning to transfer out of the college, so he's treated differently because he is not in one of their four year programs. Now he has to make a trip from St. Pete up to Tarpon Springs to see Kuttler's little museum which is supposedly losing money hand over fist. Scheduling that trip around his work and classes so they can puff up the number of visitors is a major hassle for him. The arts are great, but what's happening to the community part of the college and the needs of the ordinary students that was so important when I went there 20 years ago?