Jed Dodds Shapes Key West Arts Scene Through Studios, Residency Programs

Jed Dodds arrived in Key West in 2012 expecting to run an arts organization. What he didn't expect was to essentially become a construction foreman.

When Dodds moved to Key West to become executive director of The Studios of Key West, he hardly expected to be immersed in construction projects. But that immersion turned out to be the foundation, literally and figuratively, of one of the most significant chapters in the island's cultural history. A self-described city guy who once worried he might get bored on an island this small, he found the opposite to be true.

From Baltimore to the Southernmost Point

The organization Dodds ran in Baltimore was in some ways quite similar to The Studios: he and his team had taken an old movie theater and converted it into an art center, with a theater, classrooms, galleries, and a residency program. So when he saw this group coming together in Key West, he immediately had a vision for what it could look like, because he'd just done it.

That organization was the Creative Alliance, a Baltimore nonprofit where Dodds spent 13 years as artistic director before making the move south. He arrived in Key West with his wife Molly, their daughter Sadie, and what Keys Weekly described as "a deep belief that art should bring people together and strengthen our understanding of each other." It was a conviction that would shape every decision he made at The Studios.

Securing a Permanent Home at 533 Eaton St.

Almost immediately after taking the helm, Dodds began working with The Studios' board to find a permanent home for the growing organization. The choice they landed on was bold: the three-story building at 533 Eaton Street in the heart of downtown Key West, a piece of Miami Deco architecture built in 1951 at the corner of Simonton and Eaton, formerly the Scottish Rite Masonic Center.

Once the decision was made, Dodds spearheaded what became an extensive overhaul of the former Masonic Temple. A huge internal steel skeleton was inserted into the historic building, necessary to support a planned rooftop garden and the events that would be staged there. The scope of the work was considerable enough that, as Dodds joked to Keys Weekly, he learned enough along the way to practically qualify as a general contractor.

After the total renovation, the building now includes Key West's largest exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art, a full bar, a box office and information center, a 200-seat auditorium, nine artists' studios, and two classrooms. The rooftop, known as Hugh's View, sits atop the three-story building, providing space for outdoor programming such as concerts, plein air classes, and more.

What The Studios Offers Today

The breadth of what happens at 533 Eaton St. on any given week reflects Dodds' philosophy that a great arts center should be in constant creative motion. He loves the fact that every day is different, describing a typical stretch where staff might be with a group of kids in the gallery in the morning, hosting an artist talk a couple of hours later, and then staging a concert in the evening: "just this constant creative churn, which is really fun."

The facility's programming spans:

• Dedicated gallery exhibitions, including the Sanger Gallery and the Zabar Project Gallery
• Weekly classes, workshops, and longer-term courses serving over 1,000 people each season, with more than 50 distinct classes in a range of media for artists from beginners to professionals
• Live theatrical and musical performances in the 200-seat auditorium
• Working studios for local artists on the third floor
• Rooftop sunset gatherings at Hugh's View
• Books & Books at The Studios, the newest branch of the locally-owned, independently-minded neighborhood bookstore beloved by literary aficionados in Miami, New York, and the Cayman Islands

Dodds believes The Studios is an organization that can hold its head against anyone else in the country, arguing that you'd have to go to a city probably 20 times the size of Key West before finding a comparable cultural life.

The PEAR House: Bringing the World to Key West

Once the main campus was established, Dodds turned his attention to the property next door. The Studios of Key West bought the historic property long known as the Carriage Trade House, and a $2.5 million renovation by architect Matthew Stratton and contractor Marino Construction transformed it into the PEAR House, short for Peyton Evans Artist Residences. The address, 529 Eaton St., puts it just steps from the main campus and, as Keys Weekly noted, an easy reach from Duval Street.

The newly renovated PEAR House offers four artist residencies, including one ADA-accessible unit and one loft space, with a shared kitchen, covered courtyard, and lushly landscaped grounds. Even being so close to the downtown action, the PEAR House is an oasis of quiet, with a beautiful, spacious courtyard shaded by a massive banyan tree.

The residency program it houses, the Peyton Evans Artist Residency (PEAR), is now one of the most competitive of its kind in the Southeast. The PEAR program grants nearly 40 artists each year the time and space to imagine new artistic work, engage in valuable dialogue, and explore island connections. The program provides month-long residencies, selecting artists from more than 350 annual applications. Since 2008, nearly 500 multidisciplinary artists from across the U.S. and around the globe have joined the PEAR Residency, bringing diverse voices and practices to the heart of Key West's creative community.

Dodds has spoken plainly about the idea animating it all. "The idea behind the PEAR House is simple, really," he said. "It's this amazing house we use to lure incredibly talented artists and writers and musicians from all over the country and other countries to Key West. We put the PEARs up for a month at a time, and try to give them an environment to thrive in and be productive. It's not exactly distraction-free, this is Key West after all, but hopefully it offers just the right kind of distractions."

He adds that he's always amazed at how productive the PEARs are in a month's time: "Folks will leave with an exhibition's worth of work, or a whole novel or a symphony finished."

Artist Development and Cultural Legacy

For Dodds, the most meaningful measure of The Studios' success is what happens to artists after they leave. He finds great satisfaction in seeing artists achieve widespread success after early support from The Studios, pointing to Stephen Kitsakos, creator of the opera "A Thousand Splendid Suns," as a prime example.

That kind of outcome is baked into how Dodds articulates what The Studios is actually doing for the community. Artists need time, space, money, and an audience, and The Studios works to provide a framework to funnel those resources to them. They do their thing, and it reverberates back out into the community, leaving people who understand themselves and the world they live in a little bit better.

A Staff Built Around Shared Purpose

Dodds guides a staff that shares his commitment to Key West's cultural community. That team includes a Deputy Director, an Artistic Director, an Advancement Director, an Operations Director, an Exhibitions and Education Director, a Theater Manager, a Schools at The Studios Coordinator, and customer relations and marketing staff, among others, making The Studios one of the more fully staffed cultural nonprofits in Monroe County.

The organization Dodds now leads looks almost nothing like the one he inherited in 2012, and yet its founding purpose, to give artists time, space, and community, remains at its center. He wants every visitor, whether they're attending an exhibit or an event, to feel that everywhere they turn on this island, there are discoveries to be made, and to be impressed by the quality of what they find. On Eaton Street in Old Town, that promise is now built in stone, steel, and a beautifully renovated house shaded by a banyan tree.