We\u2019re asking thought leaders, business people and creatives to talk about the upcoming new year and give us catalyzing ideas for making St. Pete a better place to live. What should our city look like? What are their hopes, their plans, their problem-solving ideas? This is Catalyze 2026.<\/p>\n
The contrast between art and technology has never been so obvious, believes Jenee Priebe, as it is here at the tail end of 2025. Tech has begun horning in on art\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n
To wit: \u201cTt\u2019s very obvious most of the time when people are using AI in their designs and their murals, and in other work. I\u2019m a big believer in the fact that everything we do sets a precedent. Everything we do represents the community that we are a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n
Priebe is the founder of No Good Deeds, a consulting service that pairs business owners, property owners and municipalities with muralists and other creative types.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a gig she\u2019s eminently qualified for: Priebe spent seven years as director of St. Petersburg\u2019s SHINE Mural Festival, a complex operation that resulted in a good percentage of the city\u2019s most beautiful (and popular) public art.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 2026,\u201d she says, \u201cI\u2019d really like to see an early push away from the use of AI in visual arts. We\u2019re seeing more and more of it in St. Pete. I\u2019d like to move away from that and emphasize how this is a place that prioritizes human designed, handmade, handcrafted art. Because we have been that for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
As always, she\u2019s a vocal advocate for the intimate process of creativity. \u201cThere are so many incredible artists here in St. Pete that we don\u2019t need to be using that tool in the way that I think people are using it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think AI can be very helpful in some capacities, but when it comes to creating art, these artists already have a skill that so few people possess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local artist Rhys Meatyard, Priebe insists, said it best in a recent social media post: \u201cRespectfully, I have not spent 40 years learning materials, studying the play of light and shadow, mastering composition and nudging my craft into communicating visually what words cannot \u2026 just to let a computer speak for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Good Deeds is less than 12 months old, and Priebe reports a very good first year. In addition to connecting the right muralist with the right project, she continually makes sure everybody\u2019s happy and gets what they want. She doesn\u2019t just turn in the paperwork and forget about it.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s how she operated SHINE all those years.<\/p>\n
On the horizon, Priebe says, is an artistic overhaul of certain sections of the Pinellas Trail. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, she enthuses, recently made St. Petersburg an official \u201cTrail Town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love to see a big push for more art along the trail,\u201d she explains. \u201cNot just murals \u2013 although there are still a lot of great walls facing the trail that could use a mural \u2013 but installations, and sculpture pieces and more permanent art. Or even rotating sculpture exhibits \u2026 there\u2019s just so much I think we could be doing to really bring people to the trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super passionate about that, and I\u2019m going to continue to move in that direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
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