As a child growing up in St. Petersburg, Julia Crabtree dreamed of the Serengeti, or more specifically, of photographing it. In middle school, she attended a photography camp and recalled, “it all started there with my little disposable camera.”

Though her high school did not offer much in the way of arts instruction, she continued to study photography at her local arts center and her love blossomed. “I got really interested and knew that I wanted to major in photography when I went to college and that’s exactly what I did.”

Now 21 years old and a senior at Florida State University, she has immersed herself in the art form and honed her technical skills. Her choice of FSU, however, was something that her friends were originally skeptical of. “When I told people I was going to school for art here, everybody was pretty surprised because nobody down where I came from thought there was an art community in Tallahassee. They’ve definitely been proven wrong.”

Tallahassee has provided Crabtree with a diverse education in photography. In addition to her course work in FSU’s photography program, she has done fashion and wedding shoots as well as family and graduation portraits. Most recently, she’s been able to add commercial photography to her resume through a unique project.

Last year, the Council on Culture & Arts launched an Arts Education Grant supported by a one-time donation. That donationallowed art, music, theater, and dance teachers in our local schools to access arts experiences for their students, materials fortheir classrooms, and arts-specific professional development opportunities for their own continuing education. Kia of Tallahassee has provided the funding to sustain the grant program and another cycle is currently underway.

In thanks, COCA designed the “Kia Drives Creativity” promotional campaign. To reinforce the theme, local elementary, middle, and high school art students served as the models for the photographs which were taken by Crabtree with the help of two FSU student assistants Lauren Alsina and Elijah Barry. “It’s really encouraging seeing all these kids who are involved in music, dance, and the arts,” said Crabtree.

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