32 YEARS OF FOSTERING CREATIVITY
As the creative core of our community for three decades, the Cultural Arts Alliance is a Local Arts Agency that fosters creativity in Walton County, Florida through the inclusive and collaborative advancement of the Arts. Through advocacy efforts, support for the creative sector, and production of arts and educational programing, the CAA provides opportunities for residents and visitors to experience diverse forms of art and learning, connecting them to a broader view, critical exploration and answers only the Arts have the power to provide.
The CAA is such an amazing asset to have at our disposal as local Artists. The opportunities they provide are pivotal to furthering our craft both creatively and professionally.
Jenna Varney, Jenna Varney Art & Fine Finishes
CAA & ArtsQuest Founders, Debbie Eberhart with the late Susan Foster and Jan Clarke.
OUR HISTORY
In May 1989, a group of artists and volunteers led by Susan Foster, Jan Clarke & Jeff Ellis organized the first Grayton Beach Fine Arts Festival (now ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival). Two years later, Foster and Hilda McDonald coordinated a children’s art festival, eventually called the Flutterby Festival. Both events were designed to showcase local artists and raise money for after-school children’s art classes. Because of the success of these events, it became necessary to form an organization through which grants and scholarships could be awarded, and the Cultural Arts Alliance (CAA) was founded in 1993 as a 501 (c)3. In over three decades, the CAA has grown exponentially, fine-tuning these traditions while adding programs, events and services and growing into a leader in the community with a mission to foster creativity through the inclusive and collaborative advancement of the arts.
In 2008, the CAA received designation by the County and State as the official Local Arts Agency (LAA) of Walton County and was designated as the administrator of all revenues from the sale of the Florida Arts license plates in Walton County. The CAA headquarters is the Bayou Arts Center where over 200 art classes are offered every year to adults and children. The CAA produces the 30A Songwriters Festival, Valentine Tour of Homes, ArtsQuest Fine Arts Festival, Dine + Dive fundraiser for the Underwater Museum of Art, and the Flutterby Festival. In its decades of fostering creativity, the CAA has awarded grants totaling more than $845,000 to teachers, students, artists and arts organizations through the CAA’s Art For All Program, which is funded through net proceeds from events and grants to the CAA.