St. Johns Cultural Council announces the retirement of Executive Director Christina Parrish Stone

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. - April 2, 2024 - PRLog -- The St. Johns Cultural Council which promotes arts, culture, and heritage in St. Johns County, Florida, announced today that Christina Parrish Stone will retire from her role as Executive Director at the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, after a dynamic and highly successful five years of leadership. The Cultural Council's Board of Directors has initiated a comprehensive process to select a new executive director. Parrish Stone will provide consulting services after her retirement to ensure a smooth transition.

Highlights of her tenure include negotiation of a new five-year contract to provide destination marketing services for St. Johns County; an agreement with the City of St. Augustine to lease and activate The Waterworks as a venue for arts, culture and heritage programming; work with the City of St. Augustine Beach to secure National Register status for the St. Augustine Beach Hotel, facilitating significant grant funding for renovation of the building; expanding and improving the County's Art in Public Spaces program with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; and dramatically increasing funding for individual artists and arts organizations through new and expanded grant programs.

Also during Parrish-Stone's time as executive director, the Cultural Council created a variety of products to enhance cultural tourism including a new culinary guide; cultural visitor guides in English and Spanish; and an episode of Samantha Brown's Places to Love on PBS.  Additionally, the permanent exhibition Waves of Change at  St. Augustine Beach was created with funding from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a new St. Johns County Black Heritage Trail, also funded by grants, is currently under development.

Parrish Stone was instrumental in bringing new visitor events to St Johns County including the St. Augustine Food and Wine Festival at the World Golf Village and Whiskey Wine and Wildlife in Vilano Beach. She also worked to expand the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival and Concert Series, and the SEA Community Gullah Geechee Heritage Festival.  Through her efforts, additional support was provided for establishment of Hastings Main Street and the return of the Hastings Cabbage and Potato Festival. The significant accomplishments were achieved during one of the most disruptive economic and social periods of recent history, immediately before, during, and after the COVID pandemic. Visit the websites at https://www.historiccoastculture.com and https://www.stjohnsculture.com