Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA-ZqO-xZuE&list=PLOQvdw7d0cd9RZZkd2lZy2hmrnJv-cfLI&index=65
Evan: We are back here on the Choose 954 podcast with Jodi Jeffries Tanner here from her beautiful Las Olas Capital Arts Gallery. She’ll tell you about it a little bit here. If you didn’t know about Choose 954, we started a social movement to cultivate culture and community here in Broward County, keep people in the know with all the great things that are going on with the arts and make this a better place to live and not just a better place to vacation. This podcast is sponsored by the Thousand Mermaids Artificial Reef Project, creating artistically crafted artificial reef modules to help save the reefs, create ecotourism, and hopefully save the oceans.
Evan: But without much further ado, for those in Broward County and beyond who don’t know you, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself at a high level?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Okay, thanks. Well, first I wanna say thank you for having me on today, and I’m really happy to be talking a little bit about the arts and what I kind of do to hopefully engage myself and make the arts culture in Broward County a better place to live for everyone. Again, my name is Jodi Jeffries Tanner. I’m a native of Florida; I’ve pretty much grown up down here. Right now, I’m the founder, creator, and curator of Las Olas Capital Arts. I also serve on the Broward Cultural Council for a little over eight years. I’m in my second year as chair. I also serve on the VIBE Center for the Arts board as well. My son went to school there; he went to high school there, and so I got really involved with them. So you had Saint Thomas Aquinas, and I’m really happy to do that.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I’m also a board member, actually vice president, of the Las Olas Association here locally. So I’m really happy to be active in the community and, you know, hopefully inspire others to do the same because anyone can do this.
Evan: I think you are into that. I know it’s been a very interesting journey, and there have been a lot of different parts. But if you could take us back, how do you recall, you know, getting into the arts initially?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: So this is kind of a two-pronged question. I think growing up, I’ve always loved the arts. When I was younger, I went to the theater, I went to art shows with my parents, my grandmother took me to the local theater, the Playhouse kind of thing—it was not here, but I just loved it. I adored the arts, and I just always kind of wanted to be more involved. I’m not so much, per se, an artist because I’m not. I didn’t study the arts so much, but I know I loved it. So I grew up, I got married, I had my kids, and, you know, raising them through school—through elementary, middle school, and high school—I was very active in the schools: the performances, the plays, the arts and crafts, if you will, you know, all the things you do—putting on auctions, having classrooms do art projects.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: And I just realized that it’s so important to be part of that arts education, and I wanted to get more involved. So I kind of got more involved at the school level, then, you know, I was asked to serve on certain boards, which I agreed to—I was volunteering a lot of time. Then I kind of just, it was very organic. So, you know, I just did what I could do. I got on the Broward Cultural Council, and I was really interested in the arts education. Once I got a little bit involved in that, I learned about the grant processes and how local artists—emerging artists in theater, music, performing arts, and visual arts—could actually really collaborate with the county and other funding sources to make their passion into a business.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I mean, this is what I do: I try to help out where I can to kind of establish some groundwork with artists who don’t know it yet or are learning it and trying to help along the way. So I got on the Broward Cultural Council to help do that, which I love. I love being on the council. Then the VIBE asked me to be on their board, which is really cool because I can be involved in the arts education aspect of it all too. But you know, my husband and I started the business, and I thought, “Well, what could I do better with my walls than to support local artists?” So that inspired me to create and found Las Olas Capital Arts, which is where we are right now in the office-stern gallery.
Evan: So you’ve figured it out, and that’s something we’re super proud of you for, and we support you with. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about some of the programs through Las Olas Capital Arts and how you support the arts?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Okay, so what I do with Las Olas Capital Arts is... well, I guess I should back up a little bit. I go throughout the towns of Broward County, you know, wherever locally, and we find fantastic local artists. So ultimately, the business that I have here—we’ve got walls to put art on. So I thought, “How can I do this?” I’ll create Las Olas Capital Arts and create a scenario where I can choose an artist to install here for four months at a time. We would do the push-out marketing, social media, all those kinds of things, have a fantastic reception, help them with the social media aspect and marketing, pushing themselves out, and then have a reception. We pay for everything, and if the artist sells anything, they get 100% of the proceeds.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: It’s been very successful because a lot of—you know, I want to see outcomes. I go back to the artists, we don’t forget about them once they’ve been here. We continue to promote and market them as much as we can, and we want them to, you know, get to know the community as well as the community to get to know them. And you know, it’s really important. So we find that it’s been very successful with the artists locally, and it’s kind of what you do. You do this all over the place, Evan. So, you know, it’s been fortunate for them that it’s working, and that we can create an atmosphere where they can have an event, or they can, you know, say they’ve showcased on Las Olas or anywhere. Basically, we’ve created kind of a mold that any business can do, and I’m really happy to say I would sit down with anyone and tell them your business—anyone’s business—could do this one thing.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: So that’s one of the things that, you know, we’re promoting. We try and do advertising, we try to get, you know, press and PR and things like that. And relatively, you know, it’s cool. It’s a good thing, it’s a good thing to do.
Evan: And that’s one of the conversations that we have with part of the creative economy discussion that we’ll get to in a little bit. But you know, you have the walls, you have the space, you have the art, you have supporters. You’ve built up a great track record now—this is your...
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: This is my 11th artist.
Evan: 11th artist. Do you want to maybe go through the roster of some artists you’ve included?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I could, but if I just... well, look, you know, right now we’ve got Satomi Sato installing, we just had Virginia A. Field, we’ve had Mia Yap, we’ve had Jeremiah Jenner. We’ve had everyone from photographers, you know, here—we’ve had oils, we’ve had watercolors—whatever, basically, is visual arts that I can put on the wall. You know, I don’t have space really per se for surreal art or things like that, but you know, we’re going to do what we can. I’ve got some fantastic artists, and they’re just really, really growing right now.
Evan: Everybody from all the exhibit openings that I’ve attended here has been successful in terms of either—if not selling, they’ve at least gathered new fans, supporters, followers, and some sales.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Yes, they’ve got a lot of sales. If I’m leaving people out, I feel terrible, but yeah, they’ve definitely had some sales. And I think one of the artists said to me, she says, “I don’t know if I’ve got the time for this.” I said, “You know what, you’re always going to be busy, hopefully, but you need to make the time. You can do this. This is how you grow your business, and this is how you make your passion for the arts into a business for yourself.” So there’s always time to promote yourself and showcase in any office environment, any retail store.
Evan: And we don’t take offense to it. Like, when I ask somebody to be part of the Choose 954 local artist discovery series, or even Art Fair, they say, “Oh, I’m busy.” I’m like, “Okay, no problem.” I mean, there’s plenty of people that will appreciate the opportunity. Thankfully, you’ve developed a great platform here to be able to support the arts. We give you the utmost credit, kudos, and respect for doing that.
Evan: And if you want to tell them when the next exhibit opening is?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Okay, we’ve got the next one on June 20th, which is Thursday, 2019. It’s Satomi Sato. We’re here at Las Olas Capital Arts, and you can go on the website and RSVP to the event. You know, I’ve also wanted to include you, Evan, because you’ve been such a great friend to the arts community and to all of us who are trying to also help. You’ve given me a lot of inspiration, and you know, it’s just really good what you’re doing. So I wanted to tell you, I appreciate what you’re doing, because it’s fantastic.
Evan: Thank you!
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: It’s a fantastic thing, and as we’re growing this art scene, it’s very complementary—it’s not competitive.
Evan: Absolutely.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: It’s a rising tide raises all ships mentality. And I’m obviously, you know, forever grateful for your support of Art Fort Lauderdale, Choose 954, and now Zero Empty Spaces, and everything else we’re doing. And I’m obviously glad to support you.
Evan: Thank you. With your involvement, it’s a very unique position. And once again, not everybody is forward-thinking enough to take the initiative to open their doors and understand that they have the propensity to be able to serve their community and the artists. But you’ve done that, and now you’ve proven it’s a model that works and an inspiration for others.
Evan:: What would you say is some of the “why” behind why you’ve decided to do things that nobody asked you to do? Nobody pressured you to do these things, you took the initiative, you fund them, you support them, and you’re not doing this as a tax write-off. You’re not doing this to market your business—you guys are fine. What’s the “why” behind why you support the arts?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: That’s really a great question, Evan. The “why” is because—and we’ve said this together—it’s the right thing to do. You know, we could continue to support other causes and charities and things like that. But the arts, to me, are just a benefit for every single soul out there. Anyone who can see, anyone who can feel, anyone who can touch—whatever—it’s a benefit to everyone. I think that if we have an opportunity to create something beautiful, or just an environment of something that’s other than the workplace, and, you know, something that’s going to be a little creative for the mind and for educational purposes, I think we can all do it.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: It’s deeply enriching.
Evan: And that leads us... you’ve been involved on the council now for eight years, you’re a Florida native. I always say, part of what I do with Choose 954 to support people is, nobody wants to just go to work, go home, go to sleep, rinse, and repeat. You have to have that "play" element of live-work-play. So, from your time since you’ve gotten involved in the Broward County Cultural Council and in the arts community, what is your take on the cultural landscape, the arts and cultural landscape, in Broward County—either from then to now, or just in general?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: The arts are bright! I’m just really excited to even tell you—I think it’s just growing so quickly and so immensely. I think the local people, the local artists, the local residents, the tourists—you know, in our city, in our county—are really getting a fantastic opportunity to see some really great stuff. I mean, from years ago, you didn’t see all the murals all over the place, you didn’t see the local artists creating these fantastic pieces all over the sides of the walls that really build a beautiful environment to look at. You know, we’re seeing part of the cultural division and the cultural council—I serve on—we do art in public places, and we want the airport, the port, we want everything to be beautiful, down to the, you know, crossing signal boxes on the streets. We want people to be able to go down the boulevard or any street in Broward County and see something really fantastic and hopefully made by a local artist.
Evan: Amen, amen! And since I got involved just a few years ago, I’m just gonna say it—you know, this place was considered, not my term, to be a "cultural wasteland." And I think we’ve worked to eradicate that stigma.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Absolutely.
Evan: They worked very hard to eradicate the "Spring Break Capital of the World" image. And I think part of what we’re working to address on a grander scale, on a more macro level, is, after we eliminated that "Spring Break Capital of the World" image, we never replaced it with anything. We’ve never really had a sense of identity, we’ve never really had a sense of place. Obviously, we’re a great tourist destination, so that lends to the fact that we are a transient destination. We get that. But I think when you support the arts, as we’ve seen with great, well-cultured communities like Austin, Nashville, Williamsburg, Asheville—you know, those places have embraced the arts. And now those four places I just named are arguably four of the top cities in the country because of their involvement and embrace of the arts.
Evan: And I feel very encouraged—probably more encouraged now than I’ve ever been in my whole lifetime living in Broward County—that there are people involved, people like yourself, who are doing great things. One of the things that has been very encouraging that’s helped establish Fort Lauderdale as an international destination to view and interact with art has been an event that you’ve been attending and supporting the last couple of years with Art Fort Lauderdale.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I love Art Fort Lauderdale!
Evan: So, for those that aren’t familiar, and if you want to give your take on it as the Broward County Cultural Chair...
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Okay, so first of all, I love you for doing that. And you have been—you know what, I gotta say, this whole arts community, this whole county arts scene, you know, the world—it’s all about collaborations. And I really love the fact of how you’ve just really grasped Broward County and you’ve taken it to another level in the arts community. So thank you, my friend. But your Art Fort Lauderdale event is fantastic! I love, love, love it! You know, I don’t know of any other place where you can get on a boat, go down the Intracoastal, go in front of a canal, go to a home, and see fantastic artists of all calibers. I mean, we’re talking some up-and-coming artists, and some have been around for years and years. Some are worldwide! You’ve got artists doing some really fantastic stuff from across the world.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: So, you know what, this is fun. The fact that you’ve created Art Fort Lauderdale, you’ve made it a week-long event, and it’s something for everyone, Evan. And you know, we talk about it all year long. We can’t wait for the next one! So I’m happy to support it again this year, and I cannot wait to see how it’s growing bigger and bigger every year. We love it! Now, for those of you who haven’t been there, you need to go because this is a fantastic event—put it on your calendar!
Evan: When is it? It’s the last week of January, January 23rd through the 26th. This is our fourth annual installment, and we’re always continually looking to elevate the experience, add new components. We’re very excited now with our involvement with the Greater Fort Lauderdale Sister Cities initiative that we’re now starting to work with—not only our sister cities—but beyond worldwide.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Amazing!
Evan: Well, I’m starting to work with Confluence, and we’re going to potentially be bringing multiple countries' top contemporary artists to Fort Lauderdale to our revolutionary art fair. And this is something that we can call our own. You know, people love Art Basel in Miami, but we’ve never really had that for Fort Lauderdale Art Week—but now we do. I’ll also never forget the experience we had with the French collective Obvious that created that first AI-generated artwork, where we had a private...
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Oh my gosh, that was amazing!
Evan: ...on the yacht. You know, just to pull up to a $15 million brand new construction home on a yacht and be able to, you know, view art in a setting where it ultimately lives—that was an experience I’ll never forget.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: That was incredible!
Evan: So, I’m glad we got to share that.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I love that you share this with everybody. Your podcast, your videos, and your taping of everything is so fantastic because it gives people an opportunity to glimpse what you’re seeing. And it’s going to make us all say, “Let me see that too!” So, bring it here, we’ll go there—whatever it takes. But we can really appreciate that.
Evan: It’s a lot easier for me to show than to tell. One way that we are going to show is... we’re very excited for the third annual installment of a panel conversation that I host and moderate called “Art, Culture, and the Creative Economy in Fort Lauderdale.” This is the third annual edition of this panel discussion, and this is the second time that you’ll be involved.
Evan: I guess, just real briefly—it was a very engaging conversation last year. There was great dialogue and feedback before and after the event. But I guess, what are some things that maybe you would want people to know about the creative economy?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: You know, when you say “creative economy,” it’s such a great thing to hear because everything you’re doing, everything everyone does in the arts community—and not in the arts community—is collaborating in the creative economy. Because, you know, everything from, you want to go to a show—well, you’ve got an artist, you’ve got someone to paint the theater, you’ve got people in the back—the grips, whatever—there are people driving you around, maybe an Uber driver. There might be people at the restaurant where you’re going to eat before you go to the show. You’re going to get your way home, you might take your friends to another restaurant, helping local businesses.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: So, every single thing, from soup to nuts, basically feeds into the creative economy. And when it comes to the arts, it’s all upside. Every single thing counts, and everything matters.
Evan: Absolutely. And the report which the Broward County Cultural Division created with Americans for the Arts, or the AEP 5 report, showed that in 2016, Broward County had a $414 million economic impact from the arts for the year, which is great.
Evan: Miami-Dade County, for one week of Art Basel and Miami Art Week, contributes over $550 million to their local economy just for that one week, which is more than the Super Bowl. It’s more than Ultra, but less than the Boat Show. Imagine the impact of having that. That AEP 5 report was before we had Art Fort Lauderdale, before we had Fort Lauderdale Art & Design Week. Andrew and myself—my partner, Mr. Andrew Martineau—we’ve contributed over half a million dollars to the arts over the last three years just with Art Fort Lauderdale alone.
Host: So, think about the impact if we could have a world-class, signature art event where we have people traveling in here and spending. I mean, it can literally change local businesses’ lives and artists’ lives. That panel discussion will be Monday, June 10th, at Pipeline Lauderdale, which is in the Regions Bank building—the same building as the Tower Club. It’s from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. It is currently listed as sold out. We’re trying to keep the capacity down.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Get in remotely!
Evan: Get in remotely! We’ll also have the talk recorded, so we’ll play it back. I’m very glad to have Jodi on the panel, my partner Mr. Andrew Martineau—co-founder and creator of Art Fort Lauderdale and Choose 954—as well as Commissioner Steve Glassman, District 2 of Fort Lauderdale, who was a longtime Broward County Cultural Division employee. He actually helped—he told me last time we spoke—he helped create not only Arts Park but Sailboat Bend Artist Lofts.
Evan: So, he’s very intimately familiar with the arts in Broward County. Where can they find you on social media, on the interwebs, your website?
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: You can find me on the Broward Cultural Council. You can find me at Las Olas Capital Arts. You can Google me at Las Olas Capital Arts. You can find me on Instagram, you can follow me, or whatever, and email me, message me—whatever works.
Evan: And generally, you share on Choose 954 as well, so you can find out there. You can find out in our newsletter. If you don’t get our newsletter, it’s once a week, it’s not spammy—I promise. It gives you the top 12 things to do for the week in Broward County.
Evan: A couple of other things coming up next week—Creative Zen, our monthly breakfast lecture series, mini TED talk that we host for free for the creative community. It’s to connect, engage, and inspire folks. One Friday morning a month, we’ll be at the New River Artists Cooperative in the History Fort Lauderdale Museum, right on the river in downtown Fort Lauderdale near the Performing Arts Center.
Evan: We have a phenomenal fellow Broward native, former NFL player, current assistant principal, motivational speaker, spoken word poet, and phenomenal host—Jerris “Quick the Poet” Evans—who is one of the most incredible speakers I have ever seen. It’s absolutely moving to be in the room with him. He will be speaking—doors open at 8:30, the talk starts at 9:00, we’re out of there by 10:00.
Evan: We are also going to give an artist studio tour of the New River Artists Cooperative. Artists including Harmony Jones, Florencia Clement de Grandprey, Twyla Gettert—these are members of the New River Artists Cooperative that not everybody knows about. So, we’re going to do an artist studio tour after the talk ends—for free. So, that will be Friday, June 14th. You can find out more on Choose 954.
Evan:: The morning before Creative Zen—sorry, the evening before Creative Zen—is always Raw Storytelling, the second Thursday night of the month. Creative Zen generally falls on the second Friday morning of the month. Raw Storytelling is our version of The Moth—true stories, untold, phenomenal event that my friend Eden Nolasco hosts.
Evan:It’s a fantastic event. We just started an initiative with our space right across the street. We have two major issues that are affecting Broward County, one of which is a shortage of safe, affordable artist studio spaces. This is also the case in many other places, as artists have been priced out of Wynwood, then they got priced out of Little River, Little Haiti, and now they’re getting priced out of Fort Lauderdale to a certain extent. So, that ultimately makes artists have to leave and find other places to live, work, create, and pursue their craft and passion.
Host: We also found there’s another issue that plagues every community—there are vacant spaces, commercial, retail, warehouse, storefront, whatever. Every city within the county has vacant space. Every city. So, we used art as a problem solver. We proposed an idea to activate vacant space on short-term, flex, renewable leases that we can make available to artists for $2 per square foot, including the water, electricity, and the insurance, which myself and my partner, Mr. Andrew Martineau, take care of. We market it, we promote it. I’ve already gone on NPR and WLRN’s Sundial to talk about it.
Evan:: We’re going to be leading artist studio tours, we’re going to create a new art walk, and we’re very excited because we’re about to get our first artist to move into our first space on Las Olas this year. So, we’re really excited about that, and we’re very encouraged. Speaking with Oakland Park today, going to speak with Coconut Creek, Dania Beach, and Hollywood, they want us to develop the program. So, if you have a space...
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: Everyone’s invited for this!
Evan: ...if you have a space that’s either tied up in the permit process, it’s a buy-and-hold, we know the permit process in Fort Lauderdale is historically long—up to 36 months. So instead of your space sitting vacant, let us activate it. We’ll put feet in the street, give you free promotion. So, Zero Empty Spaces—creative economy, right there.
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: It’s another great initiative of yours.
Host: Thank you!
Jodi Jeffries Tanner: I can’t wait. I’m brand new to this, but yes, we’re going to have local artists here on Las Olas, which is really exciting.
Host: Thank you to Mary Dean Trent Ellis for telling us to reach out, to you and Mr. Mike Weymouth, so thank you for the opportunity—it’s incredible.
Host: The last one I want to mention is Sofar Sounds, which we’re still glad to support and sponsor as a media partner. Sofar Sounds is a very intimate listening experience. They don’t release the name of the venue or the musicians that are playing, but I can tell you, every single month, it’s one of the most incredible experiences that you’ll ever be fortunate enough to be a part of. You either have to request access or RSVP to be a part of it. You can find out more at sofarsounds.com.
Host: They tell you the address the day before; they’ll tell you it’s in Fort Lauderdale, or what area of Fort Lauderdale. So, it’s not like they’re sending you somewhere random. But it’s a beautiful Songs from a Room experience that my friend Jennifer Rink hosts and curates, and it’s a great platform for our local musicians to be able to pursue their craft.
Host: I’m Evan Snow—@evansnow13 on Instagram, @choose954, @artfortlauderdale,
@zeroemptyspaces, @creativesen—and please, if you have any questions, if you’re new to the area, anything—don’t hesitate to reach out. We’re both open books, we’re glad to help. It’s a beautiful thing when it works, and save the reefs, y’all! Have a good one.
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