DTC Expands Support For Youth Art Initiative

From its inception, the annual Deck the Chairs holiday event was established to support and encourage children’s imaginations through an integrated approach to the arts.
Now in its 14th year, founder and executive director Kurtis Loftus is expanding his reach with bold, new programming developed to activate public spaces and tap into the childlike wonder year-round.
With the new nonprofit Students in the Arts Alliance (SITAA), Loftus hopes to provide an outlet for children to unlock their creative potential with bold opportunities for public art initiatives. The effort is an extension of the DTC model which relies on the emblematic lifeguard chairs as the foundation for creative expression.
Over the past two years, Loftus has expanded programming to include children’s dance and vocal performances on the daytime stage before the evening light displays.
“There are two things that have to happen. We definitely want our city and the North Florida area to understand that we are an arts nonprofit. Who we benefit I don’t feel is totally understood to this day,” said Loftus.
“The whole goal is to identify public spaces and be able to have access to those spaces and engage children and creators, the visual artists and performing artists into those spaces. Deck the Chairs is the flagship demonstration of public art with these students but we want to grow that and hopefully improve it.”
Inspiration covers nearly every surface of Loftus’ Jacksonville Beach office. The walls are lined with memorabilia from the last 14 years, recognition from public partners, mini versions of the structure that now take center stage at the seasonal extravaganza.
While the Deck the Chairs display is accessible to the public for the five weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Loftus is focused on the bigger picture. Last year, the event showcased more than 1,800 students in 60 performances on the SeaWalk Pavilion stage including a production of “The Nutcracker” by members of the Florida Ballet company.
This year, DTC is partnering with the Cathedral Arts Program to grow the visual and performance elements even more. Florida Ballet will also return to providing a free art experience for students in a public space.
“It’s kind of unheard of that you have five weeks of shows. It’s got all the responsibilities that any outdoor festival has with scheduling and insurance,” said Loftus.
With the development of the SITAA, Loftus can invest more time and energy into children’s arts. He created the Deck the Bins project to encourage students to submit original art which is used to wrap the wooden trash bins throughout Jacksonville Beach. New scholarship opportunities will also be available for student artists to take their local experience nationwide.
“The goal for me is to one day have other people seeing our city. We don’t plan on just the beach. There is space all over Jacksonville,” said Loftus, eyeing such recreational spaces as the new Emerald Trail as a beneficiary of public art.
“The city has the largest land area and biggest parks system. Think about the stair-step idea from this flagship thing to growing that network by identifying all the schools with their arts programs, teachers, parents and principals throughout Duval and even into St. Johns counties, knowing who they are, what they’re doing and what they need.”
It also builds relationships with private institutions, dance troupes, visual arts initiatives and other performing arts leaders.
“Deck the Chairs only has 60 programs but one day it could be that we know of 200 programs out there and we know the communities they exist in and the park spaces that are nearby them,” Loftus mused about the SITAA’s unlimited potential.
“Instead of these key locations, we could do it in a really neat part of town that has a need for a community-based program. It’s us being considered one of those leaders when it comes to students in the arts, visual and performing, in something that could help people activate a space.”
Loftus points to the success of the popular student decorating contest through Deck the Chairs. That challenge could double with the right bandwidth, he said.
Without a need for auditoriums or other indoor facilities, the vision has no ceiling. It simply requires a passion and commitment to coloring outside the box to ensure its continued success.
Loftus dreams of an Arts League that operates like an athletic league with stations and all the materials provided for kids of all ages to exercise their art.
“It doesn’t just have to be chairs, and it doesn’t just have to be holiday. Think about a fall festival where somebody puts 20 hay bales out in a park and says ‘okay kids, you have these structures to turn into stories’. Somebody manages materials, someone handles development and kids get this amazing experience,” he said.
“Deck the Chairs is the flagship but it was always kids build, make, create. Make it safe, free and accessible and it becomes even that much stronger. There are a ton of kids who are designers and thinkers and creators. Now, we’ve got to insulate and protect the vision to move this art experience forward. Our goal is to keep developing, keep learning, keep bringing people in with similar mindsets who want to help stimulate and inspire this next generation.”