Leesburg Art Festival to return next year after 2023 cancelation
The Leesburg Art Festival, which has drawn thousands of visitors and hundreds of artists, will be back next spring.
That’s one of the top goals of the Center for the Arts, its leaders say in a mission statement, while acknowledging “recent upheaval,” and a pledge to “rebuild” and regain the community’s trust.
The center canceled this year's festival.
The city recently awarded a $10,670 grant that was locked up when board members admitted it discovered possible “financial irregularities” back in October. That launched an investigation, and in April, Lake County sheriff’s deputies arrested Maria Stefanovic, who resigned as executive director, and charged her with stealing from the nonprofit.
The amount was relatively small – about $4,100 – and she quickly repaid about half – but the news rocked the organization.
“We were like a family,” said Amanda McLea, now board president. “It hurt.”
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Now, armed with new financial policies that ensure checks and balances, written contracts with auditors, and new board members, the center is pledging to reload and win back the trust of the community.
“At some point, you’ve got to move on,” McLea said.
Among the changes is the hiring of Richard Colvin as executive director, who has been doing the job for free. He is in charge of programs, including painting and pottery.
“I’ve been doing art since the 1960s,” the painter said.
He has worked for museums in Orlando, was the director of the Lake Eustis Museum from 2012 to 2018, retired, and then began doing some teaching in Mount Dora.
McLea, who graduated from South Sumter High School, has lived in Lake County since 1998 and is in the Leesburg High School boosters club, 4-H and other activities in the community.
“I’m not an artist,” she said, but both agree on one key point: “art transforms lives,” he said.
They also share the view that the center needs to reach children.
“We’ve got to invest in our youth,” McLea said. “Not everyone is an athlete or in the band."
It has been shown that art improves other aspects of their education, like math and science, Colvin said. “It is also therapeutic,” he adds.
It won’t be easy. Older kids tend to drop their paint brushes in favor of a cell phone. However, Colvin is working on putting together some art classes, complete with a few scholarships for the older children.
He is also planning workshops, perhaps with an artist's exhibition.
“It’’s not just visual arts,” McLea said of future projects. There are even talks with people at the Melon Patch theater.
Volunteers are crucial. The center is getting help from Beacon College students.
“We’re thrilled with that,” McLea said.
Raising money is important, too, including corporate sponsorships, like the one from Plaza Lincoln Mercury that is funding the scholarships Colvin is planning for the children’s art classes. Then, there are grants.
As for the return of the Art Festival, “we’re not necessarily going to follow Mount Dora’s footprint,” Colvin added, especially the first year.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: Leesburg Art Festival to return next year after 2023 cancelation
