Page 16 - PGA Community News - February '25

Page 16, PGA C.A.N.! 2 Spaces February 2025
February 2025

Benzaiten Center For Creative Arts

A 10-Year Odyssey: Lake Worth. I met with the head of the CRA, Joan Oliva, visit this past February to
and she showed us a map. I said, what’s that block-long
help commemorate our
The Origin Story building? She explained that it was a historic FEC train tenth anniversary season.
depot building, which had been gifted to the city but has A pivotal partner in this
The long journey started with just a dream. After seeing been in a state of disrepair for several years, and currently adventure who has been
so many artists shipping their artwork out of the area there was nothing planned for it. I asked if I could see it. by my side from before
to get it cast, I decided it was time to create a fine art The minute I walked into the building I knew I had we opened our doors and
fabrication closer to home. In my case I only had a three- found my center’s home. Of course, convincing my board who I stole from Pelton
hour commute to Sarasota, but other artists sent their clay was a whole other can of beans. The condition of the and Associates, is my CEO
pieces as far away as Colorado or even to Mexico and building was so bad that on several occasions it had been and grant writer, Anita
Taiwan. What an ordeal I thought to myself. All that extra used to film zombie pictures! However, after receiving Holmes. She was a long-
shipping can’t be making it cheaper for these artists to several major grants from the State of Florida, the Cultural time nonprofit executive in
fabricate their work. So why didn’t we have a center of Council, my husband Steve Tendrich and I chipping in a the world of diseases who
our own in Palm Beach County? lot of our own money to the cause, and, of course, a lot had never worked in the Working one-on-one with
of generous individual donations, we were on our way. difficult world of nonprofit one of the many children who
Together we were able to clean up the building, make art organizations. I say come through our door for free
major renovations, replace every windowpane – all 650 difficult because it can be a
of them, obtain all the necessary equipment and open whole lot easier to obtain donations for a cure for cancer
within six months after receiving permits and approval or a hospital as compared to an art organization. It’s
from the City of Lake Worth. Our grand opening was true that large art institutions get a lot of money, but for
held on January 23, 2015, was attend by 1,200 people and smaller, emerging art facilities, it can be a real struggle. I
was covered by our local NBC new affiliate. Performing never quite understood why this is, since it is the smaller
a four-hour demo that evening was world renowned
Canadian artist, Shelley Muzylowski who made a return Benzaiten Center For Creative Arts on page 17

One of Shelley Muzylowski’s works on display now in the
Benzaiten’s Gallery

One thing I realized early on was it should be run as a
nonprofit. Most foundries and other types of fabrication
centers operate on such slim profit margins that it is
difficult to remain in business. They are constantly
losing their work force to other higher paying trade
jobs such as construction. Consequently, many of them
have closed throughout the country. To stay solvent, the
operational costs must be subsidized by other resources
such as grants and/or donations. Plus, another big part
of my mission was to educate the public on what it takes Our Grand Opening in 2015 Shelly working at our Grand Opening
to create 3-dimentional artwork. Running galleries for
over 30 years left me with the knowledge of how few
people understand the arduous, time-consuming nature
and expense that goes into the process.
Therefore, it was a natural fit to run the center as
a nonprofit with education being a large part of the
mission. But what did I know about running a nonprofit?
Absolutely zero. So, I hired a great team and started
assembling a board of like-minded art enthusiasts and
brought in a consulting firm, Charlotte Pelton and
Associates, to help guide me through the minefield of
opening a 501 (c)(3) organization. We started out in the
Northwood area of West Palm Beach until politics got in
the way. That’s when Charlotte convinced me to look at

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Louise & Jeff Feldkamp having a ball over the holidays in Spain.
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