Classes and Workshops

  • All
  • Creative and Professional Development
  • Culinary Arts
  • Cultural Studies
  • Music and Performance
  • Painting and Drawing
  • Sculpture, Photo and Mixed Media
  • Writing and Reading

Theater: An Inside Look with John McDonald

Take a peek behind the velvet curtains: from the audition and preparing for a role to performance and beyond, learn theatre etiquette, procedure and technique.

Rick Worth’s Painting Boot Camp with Jack McDonald

While Key West’s favorite artist recovers, his longtime friend and co-muralist Jack McDonald steps in as drill sergeant to help you discover talents you didn’t know you had.

Act Out (Again!) Kids Spring Break Workshop

Kids spend their spring break learning new skills through games and exercises, building sets, making costumes, and learning about performance.

Drop-in Figure Drawing

Models will be available once a month for anyone wishing to brush up on their figurative work, take it back to basics, or try anatomical drawing for the first time.

How to Make Ceviche with Maria C. Schramm

Learn to prepare this fresh, favorite summer dish made with locally-caught fish. After, learn how to plate it professionally, and then enjoy the fruits of your labor!

Improving Your iPhone Photography with William Carito

Take your phone photography further with guidance on the best apps and editing techniques.

Figure Painting with Light and Color with John Clayton

Grasp a better understanding of light and color through painting from life, both plein air around Key West and in the classroom, from a devoted plein air painter.

The Artist Entrepreneur with Eric Lapin

A series of workshops exploring the practical skills artists need for success in the arts economy, including idea development, marketing, business management and fundraising.

Crafting Identity Across the Arts

Explore how crafting identity is an essential component of storytelling across all arts including historical fiction writing, architecture, dress history, and performance.

Encaustic Collage with Pamela Kostmayer

Combine curation with creation in a class that offers hands-on exploration with hot wax, oil sticks, crayons, stamps, and markers

Rick Worth’s Painting Boot Camp with Jack McDonald

While Key West’s favorite artist recovers, his longtime friend and co-muralist Jack McDonald steps in as drill sergeant to help you discover talents you didn’t know you had.

How to Incorporate Research into Your Fiction Writing with Jeffrey Colvin, PEAR

Ensure that your writing is both interesting and accurate with research tips and writing exercises from Jeffrey Colvin.

Encaustic Photography with Cricket Desmarais

Add a layer to your photography with encaustics using guided exercises to help you discover new techniques, mark-making methods, and embellishment possibilities. 

Paint Pouring with Sandy West

Enjoy a fun step-by-step lesson in a loose, unpredictable and satisfying medium. Acrylic paint pouring involves a bit of chemistry, as ratios and fluidity have a direct impact on the end result.

Making Cyanotypes with Timothy Goldkin, PEAR

Cyanotypes exist at the intersection of photography and printmaking – perfect for Florida sunshine. Join Timothy in a fun, easy and informative workshop.

Batik: Painting with Wax and Dye on Fabric with Wendy Tatter

Learn contemporary approaches to an ancient fiber and dye art. Come with 3 pencil drawings on white cotton fabric and leave with hand dyed works of art.

Drop-in Figure Drawing

Models will be available once a month for anyone wishing to brush up on their figurative work, take it back to basics, or try anatomical drawing for the first time.

Writing First Chapters and Pages with John Mark Powell, PEAR

Novels and stories are remarkably different forms but both rely on strong openings that establish stakes and expectations.

Color Theory Through Drawing with Paloma Martinez, PEAR

Learn how to use color to manipulate drawing composition, create harmony, and to contextualize their desired aesthetic and conceptual framework.

Photographing Key West from a Different Viewpoint with Denise Burge, PEAR

Photograph Key West with a different viewpoint, looking for beauty in less-picturesque spaces of the city. Hopefully it will deepen your love of the lush beauty of the island.

Writing Villains and Anti-Heroes with Rachael Allen, PEAR

Ursula, Darth Vader, Harley Quinn, Maleficent. This workshop will coach writers on how to create compelling villains, anti-heroes, and antagonists.

Drawing Auto-Biographical Comics with Ajuan Mance, PEAR

Draw on your experience to create graphic renderings of your life using the works of several comic creators as inspiration.

Summer Solstice Plein Air Watercolor Workshop with Susan Sugar

Enhance your painting skill and technique, guided by a popular instructor, New York/Key West artist Susan Sugar, by painting the sea and sky at dusk on the beach.

Jumpstart Your Nonfiction Draft with Garrard Conley, PEAR

Unstick your writing with generative prompts, examples drawn from skilled writers, and opportunities to go hands-on with your nonfiction project.

Developing Personal Visual Archetypes with Nonney Oddlokken, PEAR

Tropes strip away all meaning, beauty and dignity, resulting in a loss of interest and respect. Reclaim individuality and use modern influences to create new archetypes.

Summer Solstice Plein Air Watercolor Workshop with Susan Sugar

Enhance your painting skill and technique, guided by a popular instructor, New York/Key West artist Susan Sugar, by painting the sea and sky at dusk on the beach.

Making and Printing Linocuts with Jennifer Basile, PEAR

The workshop shows how to make a relief print without a press. Participants will create original works of art or repeat patterns with their relief image.

Storytelling Through Mixed Media Collage with Lavett Ballard, PEAR

Tell your best story through visual representations with the use of historical imagery and reference materials.

Portrait Painting from a Photograph with Dianne Hebbert, PEAR

Capture a loved one or fascinating stranger in acrylic, through photo-based portraiture with tips on the grid method, under paintings, and adding details.

Comedy in Writing with Kristen Arnett, PEAR

Unpack and repack the way jokes and humor sit inside of work, looking at repetition, self-deprecating humor, copycatting, absurdism, and other techniques.

Writing From True Stories with Dionne Irving, PEAR

Write what you know. Lived experiences can be turned into engaging fiction, but how do we make the leap from the actual world to the imagined world?