PRESS RELEASE: OCTOBER 29, 2026

FloArts unveils renovated facility, celebrates 50 years

Fifty years after welcoming its first students, Florida School of the Arts (FloArts) continues its bold vision of intensive professional arts training with a newly renovated facility..

Florida School of the Arts

Chancellor Kathy Hebda

Nearly 200 guests gathered to celebrate the commemorative event marking five decades of artistic excellence, recognizing the students, faculty, and alumni who have helped shape Florida’s first state-supported professional arts school. The $12 million, yearlong renovation includes a transformative update to the existing theater, back-of-house, gallery, and classrooms.

Chancellor for the Florida College System Kathy Hebda —who began her own journey in education as a middle school chorus teacher, said she jumped at the chance to attend the FloArts reopening.

“How proud I am as a music educator to be here, to see and witness this community’s support from the state level, to the local level, the families, and everybody who came together to make this happen,” Hebda said. “When you are a music major or a theater major, it’s your family… You spend a lot of time in practice rooms and rehearsals. You spend a lot of time in the space, too. These students are getting an experience they will not only never forget, but it prepares them and shapes them for things they’ll do in the future.”

SJR State Board Chair Rich Komando looked back at the hurdles the institution overcame, praising the collaboration that brought the renovation to life. He offered special recognition to fellow Board members, President Joe Pickens, the administration, Representative Bobby Payne, and former Board member Jim Reid.

“It’s really amazing to be standing here today when just a few short years ago we were trying to figure out how and where we were going to get the money to make improvements to attract the highest quality students, to give them the best education, and the best opportunities toward a career,” Komando said.

“The students who come through don’t just come through looking to get a degree from St. John River State College,” Komando continued. “They come here to do something bigger, to do something better... They now work in places like New York, working in places like L.A., places around the world showing that the quality of education they got here is something they can live on and depend on for the rest of their lives.”

Emily Schafer, who taught costume design for 12 years at FloArts before stepping into the role as Dean, said the College is celebrating more than a new facility. “We’re celebrating an investment in our students, in our community, and in the future of Florida School of the Arts,” Schafer said. “Projects like this require vision, collaboration, and a belief in what SJR State can accomplish. It is a privilege to be part of this moment in FloArts history… I know first-hand the talent and hard work that define this program. To see FloArts enter this next chapter with the space designed to turn a student’s passion into profession is truly meaningful.”

Schafer also expressed gratitude for the addition of bachelor’s degrees at FloArts, which offer students an affordable path to complete a four-year education locally.

SJR State President Joe Pickens shared his admiration for FloArts. “This is a happy place… When you come to this building, you witness students in a way that you really can’t experience our students in any other way… Here you see young people come alive.”

“The most wonderful thing about this building is not that it is new and it’s bigger and what our students deserve,” Pickens continued, “It is that it represents and will represent in perpetuity, our Board, our students, and this community, all coming together, all sacrificing whatever it is they were asked to sacrifice, to make this one moment happen and it has.”

FloArts took shape through the leadership of former college President L. McLendon Jr., founding Dean David R. Humphrey, state arts advocates and dedicated faculty. In 1976, after two years of planning, fundraising, recruiting, and facility preparation, approximately 50 students arrived at the St. Johns River State College Palatka Campus, where the founding faculty established traditions of discipline, creativity and mentorship that continue today.

The renovation enables new use opportunities and a transformative update to the existing theater, back-of-house, gallery, classroom, and office spaces. The addition includes a central lobby with new classrooms. The new blackbox theater is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and will provide students with a new range of performance and learning opportunities.

Today, the school’s renovated facilities and 50th-anniversary celebration connect that pioneering history with a new generation. FloArts offers degrees in acting, dance, musical theater, stage management, theater technology, costume technology, graphic design/new media, studio art, photography and animation. New to the curriculum are two bachelor’s degrees: digital art & media and performance design/ production.

FloArts is part of the academic and administrative structure of SJR State and awards 10 associate degrees and two bachelor’s degrees. For more information, call (386) 312-4300 or visit FloArts.

PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT CAN BE VIEWED ON FLICKR.