2024 Professional Profiles: Kathleen Spehar

Being highly involved in the Tallahassee community, Kathleen Spehar knows it takes many parts to keep the body of a city moving, but art is its heart and soul.

Spehar is the executive director of The Council on Culture & Arts (COCA), a nonprofit that facilitates and advocates for the arts and cultural industries in Florida’s capital region.

As a self-proclaimed arts kid and lifelong artist, Spehar knew she was destined for a career in promoting and preserving the arts.

Her role focuses on composing strategic business initiatives, board development, operations, funding and programming for the organization. She serves as the bridge between the arts and culture and other influential industries, such as government, health care, retail and business. In this position, she gauges what the community and city want and need regarding the arts.

“I believe arts and culture are basic human rights that make our lives fuller and richer and fill us with wonder and curiosity that makes us each uniquely human,” said Spehar. “COCA’s purpose is to make art accessible to all who live here and visit.”

While COCA is not a government entity, it works alongside the city, county, state and local schools to produce programs and public art initiatives.

A recent notable initiative is the Greater Art for Greater Bond, a public art experience that honors the history of one of Tallahassee’s oldest African American neighborhoods.

Spehar with Vice President of Research of the Americans for the Arts, Randy Cohen, and the City Commission on October 25, 2023, in signing a proclamation for Arts and Humanities Month. From left to right: Jeremy Matlow, Jacqueline “Jack” Porter, Mayor John E. Dailey, Kathleen Spehar, Randy Cohen, Dianne Williams-Cox and Curtis Richardson. Photo by Bob O’Lary

Throughout the neighborhood, art expressions abound, including a mural on the historic Speed’s Grocery Store, an art garden in Linear Park, utility posts featuring the intergenerational art of residents and three asphalt art murals on Saxon Street.

The latest Arts & Economic Prosperity 6 (AEP6) survey, an economic and social impact study of the nonprofit arts and culture industry, revealed that Leon County generated over $204 million in economic activity, which provided employment, drove local commerce, promoted tourism and contributed to community pride.

As COCA approaches its 40th anniversary in 2025, the organization desires to continue increasing those numbers while expanding the spaces in which art can be created and consumed.

“It’s a very exciting time to be a part of the cultural mecca that this region is becoming,” said Spehar. “We will continue to build relationships with the community and promote its artists in ways they feel listened to and encouraged in imaginative ways. We hope people feel uplifted and energized to keep investing in and engaging with art in our area.”

The Council on Culture & Arts

914 Railroad Ave. | (850) 224-2500 | tallahasseearts.org