Tickets for Arts Annual 8 are available at the door in Pinewood Cultural Park in Largo.

LARGO, Fla. — Creative Pinellas says its Arts Annual is now being hosted for its eighth installment at The Gallery at Pinewood Cultural Park in Largo, marking the last time the nonprofit presents this exhibit since “being defunded by the county in September.”

The cultural organization began presenting the Arts Annual exhibit in November and will be open to the public until Jan. 4, 2026, before it vacates its offices by Feb. 2026, a spokesperson said. This will turn the exhibition into both a “celebration and a farewell,” Creative Pinellas said.

According to the cultural organization, the exhibit features 119 works of visual art presented by 73 artists. Creative Pinellas says it will showcase paintings, sculptures, ceramics, mixed media, film, assemblage, as well as a site-specific installation from the artist BASK.

“My goal was a show with a major wow-factor — high-caliber artwork that is all from Pinellas, shown in a museum-like setting that really allows the works to sing,” Curatorial Director Allison McCarthy said. “Throughout the show guests will see little groupings of works by unrelated artists whose pieces, sometimes in vastly different mediums, rhyme with each other in some way.”

Some of the artists who are featured in the exhibit shared their thoughts about the contributions of Creative Pinellas.

Laura Spencer, an artist known as Miss Crit, who will also have her visual artwork presented, credited Creative Pinellas as being an important part of her career.

“Creative Pinellas has always been there for me and our artistic community. It’s an absolute honor and privilege to participate in the final exhibit at the gallery,” Spencer said. “I’m forever changed by the power of Creative Pinellas, and hope to continue to grow alongside this prolific organization.”

Cristi López, an artist, painter and muralist in St. Pete, will show her work for the first time at the gallery in Largo during the exhibit.

“I am ecstatic to be included in their closing exhibition and to now be part of their tremendous legacy of uplifting the arts in Pinellas County… and the opportunity to exhibit alongside some of Tampa Bay’s preeminent artists is a true honor,” López said.

“After 89 years, the story of the Gulf Coast Museum of Art and The Gallery at Creative Pinellas is coming to an end,” Creative Pinellas said. The institution began as the Clearwater Museum in 1936, then moved to Belleair in the late 1940s and became the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center.

When it earned its accreditation from the American Association of Museums, it became a museum again and opened as the Pinewood Cultural Park in 1999, according to the spokesperson. Later on, in 2018, the gallery reopened to showcase artistic work from the region.

“It’s a historic moment. As the last Arts Annual in this gallery space, the show is a kind of ‘grand finale,’” said Donald Gialanella, a sculptor who has been working as an artist for 10 years in St. Pete.

In September, the Pinellas County Commissioners defunded the county’s designated Creative Pinellas, according to a report by Creative Loafing, prompting the gallery to have its Pinewood Cultural Park scheduled to close in 2026.

To attend Arts Annual 8, you can buy tickets at the door of the gallery located at 12211 Walsingham Road in Largo. Cost of tickets are $25, $50, and for VIP access $100.