New Executive Director for St. Pete Arts Alliance is Ready to Move

Photo: As a lifelong creative, French understands the profound importance of a thriving arts community. And as a performer, she’s no stranger to the spotlight. Photos courtesy of Helen French

There is a new face in local arts leadership, and her name is Helen French. Appointed executive director of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance in August, this spry, energetic woman with sparkling eyes and red hair is thrilled to take the helm of this pivotal organization. 

Started by John Collins in 2012, the nonprofit SPAA supports our city’s vital arts community through fundraising and advocacy, and by sponsoring myriad creative initiatives, including popular Second Saturday Artwalk and SHINE Mural Festival, to name just a few. 

As a lifelong creative, French understands the profound importance of a thriving arts community. And as a performer, she’s no stranger to the spotlight.  

“I don’t have a pinpoint moment in my life when I decided that I would be a dancer,” French explains. “I just know that at a young age, maybe 7 or 8, while some kids said they wanted to be a ballerina, I said ‘No, I am going to be a ballerina.’ While I love music, I could never get the music in my mind to translate when I played it, but I can through dance. I hear music or read a story, and I’ll know that it feels like this in my body.”

Dance is so much a part of her essence, French says, she “performed pieces, taught, or choreographed while I was pregnant with both of my children right up to the day of labor!”

In her down time, French enjoys more sedentary pursuits. “I am an avid reader. I read all the time. I am currently obsessed with the book, Your Brain on Art,” she offers. “I am a quick reader and can read a book a day. Even as a child, if I wasn’t dancing I was reading.”  

French is a rare St. Pete native, and her roots here run deep: “My husband and I were both born and raised here, and our families are here. My husband’s family is in the Fossil Park area, and mine lives in Old Northeast.”

But it was his connection to the area, she explains, that landed them back at home.

“When we married in 2010, I moved back from a 15-year period of living, and dancing, in New York. He was stationed at MacDill Airforce Base. We saw how our city was growing and changing, and I saw new growth in the performing arts field. We did move again when he was transferred to Washington DC, and then Louisiana. When he was deployed overseas, we decided to move our family base back to St. Petersburg.”

French’s career has been expansive. In addition to performance and choreography, the Julliard graduate is committed to education, teaching in adjunct positions at George Mason University and Juilliard as well as locally at Gibbs High School and St. Petersburg College. 

With education comes advocacy, which is why she co-founded BEACON, a dance series at the Palladium that just celebrated its 10th year.  

“BEACON was designed for the community to be about the community, and to help drive an ecosystem for dance to have a platform,” French explains. “When I looked at the Palladium’s ability to support artists, and I received two SPAA grants, I was able to help bring this dream together. I am proud of Beacon, because it’s not a solo endeavor. It’s a true collaboration with the Palladium and my co-producers Lauren Slone and Sharon McCaman.” 

The passion project began around the time French joined the SPAA. She wanted to make connections in the local arts community and went to the organization’s MUSE award event.  

“In 2016, [SPAA] then-director John Collins asked if I would do a dance interpretation of a work by that year’s visual arts winner, Steven Kenney,” French recalls. “I worked with Kelly Harmon, another local dancer, and we created a work called Fledgling No More. It was a year or two later that John asked me to join the board. I was vice chair and then board chair.” 

Eventually, she explains, they approached her to consider being the next executive director at what she sees as an exciting moment for arts in the city. 

“We have a well-established and growing visual art community,” says French. “In addition to that, I can see now where we have performing arts getting more recognition.”

It’s momentum French hopes to encourage and help to thrive no matter what the future holds. 

“The arts have such a presence in St. Petersburg, and they are such an economic driver,” she notes. “The city is recognizing the arts with new art grants. I want to continue that movement and discover additional ways we can serve the community. What shifts need to happen as we move into 2026 and 2027? What happens as the SPAA continues to mature? What is the next push that needs to happen?”

These are questions French will continue to ask going forward, but we had one last question for her: How can artists and residents help support her vision?

“For residents: Show up! Buy the art. You’re an advocate when you buy art from a gallery or buy tickets to a show,” she says. “Advocacy doesn’t always have to look like writing politicians and asking for support for the arts. It can look like going to a class, to a show, or donating to scholarships for a young artist that wants access to the arts experience. It can be inviting a friend to go to an event, and then to recognize how you can benefit from the arts.”  

For artists, the new executive director extends an invitation: “Come and talk to me. Invite me to your gallery opening; let me know when you are performing. There should be a conversation and a dialogue, support and guidance to artists,” she says. “Get to know the Arts Alliance. Keep fighting to keep the arts relevant in the community. I always want to say, ‘Thank you for being here and keep making your art here.’”

More about the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance at stpeteartsalliance.org.