If you take a stroll through St. Petersburg’s Saturday

Morning Market, and happen to hear a couple of

guys playing some old Eagles or James Taylor tunes,

there’s no need to rub your eyes and do a double

take. Your eyes do not deceive you: One of the guys

who’s strumming his guitar and crooning is, none-

other-than, Mayor Rick Baker.

Baker, St. Petersburg’s mayor for the last seven

years, regularly straps on his guitar and plays

some “easy rock” tunes at the Saturday Morning

Market—tunes that he claims no one under 30

knows. Although his guitar rhapsodies may not

blare from the iPods of every teen in town, it’s apro-

pos that the man who could easily be dubbed

Photography on this page; Gabriel Burgos, Oppostie page; by Sue Geier Studio 212, bottom right; Jorge Vidal, courtesy of the Arts Center of St. Petersburg.

By Geodie Baxter Padgett

ROCK ’N ROLL AND A BULLY PULPIT

ROCK ’N ROLL AND A BULLY PULPIT

BAKeR’s excitement & passion for the arts can be heard in his voice when he talks about the subject.

“Tampa Bay’s mayor of the

arts” is himself an artist.

Baker’s excitement and

passion for the arts can

be heard in his voice

when he talks about the

subject. “We have lots of

great museums, galler-

ies, performing arts and

performing arts centers. And we’re always trying to bring

new things in to add to what we do,” he said.

His list of accomplishments in the arts arena is nothing

short of stellar. He’s nabbed the nation’s one and only

Chihuly glass museum that is slated to break ground this

fall, and was honored with the new Vatican Splendors

exhibit at the Florida International Museum (only seven

cities in United States history have displayed this exhibit).

Other community arts successes include heavy recruit-

ment to be a regular Cirque du Soleil stop, establishing

grants for the new Salvador Dali Museum, completing

the 39,000 square foot expansion of the Museum of

Fine Arts, locating a free home for the Florida Orchestra

offices, boosting funding for First Night—St. Petersburg’s

New Year’s celebration of the arts— successfully creat-

ing the Progress Energy Center for the Arts, including a

remodeling of the Mahaffey Theater which has helped

attract the Broadway Across America series and a new

concert series (premiering with Chicago) to join the

Florida Orchestra and community theater schedule

—and the list goes on and on.

With all that under his belt, it’s no wonder Baker is so

successful as a mayor and champion of the arts. But

it’s not always easy, and it’s no secret that budget cuts

have seriously impacted St. Petersburg’s finances. Yet,

Baker still manages to pull all the stops and find funding

for art venues. Although part of his success may stem

from his warm, unpretentious demeanor, the real key to

his money raising achievements lies in the fact that he

genuinely cares about life in St. Petersburg, something

that may have to do with his own family.

“My children have

grown up with me as

mayor,” said Baker. So,

he continually asks,

“What’s the next thing

we can do to add to

the quality of life in

St. Petersburg?”

As such, Baker is by

no means fraid to go to bat for the arts, especially since

he’s also keenly aware that a strong arts movement has a

significant, positive economic impact on a city.

“I don’t have a lot of tax money, but I do have a bully

pulpit—so I can go out and raise money and find money

in different ways,” he says.

Baker’s out-of-the box thinking and solid negotiation skills

are instrumental in securing the support of key compa-

nies and community organizations to ensure that the arts

flourish. Both Progress Energy and St. Petersburg College

have answered his call and contributed significantly to the

arts. Their generosity has resulted in numerous arts pro-

grams at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts, which

houses the Mahaffey Theater and includes the new Albert

Whitted Park, featuring an airplane-themed playground,

as well as the future home of the new Dali Museum. St.

Petersburg College’s downtown arts commitment is

reflected by its bringing the Palladium Theater, the Florida

Orchestra offices, the Florida International Museum and

the new Raymond James Theater for American Stage

under the college’s umbrella.

St. Pete’s public arts program also secures support for

the arts. One percent of each eligible city construction

project budget, up to $50,000 per project, goes into the

city’s Public Art Fund. Through that fund, newer city

recreational centers, fire stations, libraries and other

facilities have monies for public art displays.

Despite being a staunch supporter of the arts, Baker jok-

ingly admits that he doesn’t “have any taste.” That said,

Baker jams with the Marshall Tucker Band at Ribfest ’06.

he relies on the services of

a public art committee to

offer recommendations. “I’ve

never not approved one

(recommendation),” he says

in spite of not personally lik-

ing a couple of the choices.

However, regardless of his

personal tastes, there’s one

stipulation he holds for all

public art in St. Petersburg,

that is, it doesn’t offend the character of the city.

A father of an 11- and 12-year-old, Baker has woven

his Midwestern values into the fabric of St. Peters-

burg’s governance by working to create a family-

friendly city. At the heart of his efforts is the belief

that parents want to create a lifetime of memories for

their children—a philosophy that frequently imbues

his decisions around the arts.

“It’s important to find ways to expose children to the

arts,” he said. “I’m still trying to figure out Dali myself, but

it’s kind of interesting to sit with your 12-year-old and

try to explain the dual imagery and watch their eyes as

that light bulb goes on. How much fun is that—to be

able to experience that with your kids.”

He also supports other art exhibits and venues that try

to connect with kids such as Class Acts at the Progress

Energy Center for the Arts—a program dedicated to

sharing arts with school children in Pinellas County—

and the Great Explorations Hands-On Children’s

Museum, for which the City provided the venue at 4th

Street’s Sunken Gardens. Additionally, Baker looks for

ways that kids can interact with art in different envi-

ronments, like the gallery at the Museum of Fine

Arts where kids (and adults) could lie on the floor

and look at a traveling exhibit of Chihuly’s glass as

it hung from the ceiling.

“You were supposed to go lie down and look up at it.

Well, I can’t tell you how much my kids got a kick out

of that. If you can lie

down on the floor at

a museum, that’s just

cool!” he said.

Another example of

creative, kid-friend-

ly art is the Florida

Orchestra’s annual

outdoor concert

held in the fall.

The program is designed for families: It’s free, held

in Vinoy Park, and includes picnicking, patriotic

songs and fireworks. “It’s an event,” says Baker who

equates it with another outdoor family arts affair--

American Stage in the Park.

Baker’s connection with the arts and St. Petersburg

really came to prominence during his tenure as

Chairman of the Board at the Florida International

Museum where he negotiated one of the most

successful and lucrative exhibits in the city’s and

America’s history—the Titantic. While Baker admits

the exhibit was good for the city of St. Petersburg,

he notes that it didn’t hurt that a blockbuster

movie by the same title had just been released.

Still, what he remembers most fondly about the

exhibit centers around his kids.

“I brought my kids to it…and they had their pic-

ture taken with the last survivor of the Titanic…

what great memories,” he recalled.

The success of that exhibit put Baker on the map,

and in 2001, he was elected mayor where he began

to put St. Petersburg on the nation’s map for the

arts. Today, St. Petersburg is recognized as one of

the top art communities in the nation—an amazing

accomplishment. But that’s not what impresses Baker

the most. To him, his greatest contribution to the

arts—although some may disagree— is playing at

the Saturday Morning Market. “It’s a good symbol for

the city to have a mayor play rock-n-roll,” he said.

Playing guitar is just one of the many facets of Rick Baker.