PAVA, the Professional Association of Visual Artists, Inc.
An organization founded BY artists FOR artists, based in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, USA.
The mission of the PAVA organization is to support and promote the arts and arts education in through its activities within the organization and in the broader community.
PAVA is a 501C3 non-profit corporation, incorporated in the State of Florida and legally responsible to both state and federal regulations regarding non-profit corporations. Our articles of incorporation and our annual reports can be found in the public records of the state of Florida. We file federal tax returns with the IRS yearly, ad valorem tax and sales tax to the state and have a tax receipt (business license) in the city of Dunedin. We are different from other non-profit organizations, in that we ARE an all-volunteer organization with no paid employees.
How the business of PAVA is run is specified in the by-laws of the organization, which provides for a governing board empowered to make all business, financial, policy and directional decisions on behalf of the organization, i.e., the membership. The board is elected by the membership by a specific process.
FOR A COPY OF THE BY-LAWS GOVERNING THE ORGANIZATION, CLICK HERE.
The Professional Association of Visual Artist was formed in 1988, when a group of artists on a social outing, discussed the idea of having an indoor art festival to pass the time in the hot Florida summer. On a couple of cocktail napkins, the “Cool Art Show” was born.
The Cool Art Show, so named because it was air conditioned and cool, has endured. And so has the organization that started it. For decades, the organization met at someone’s house or studio, in borrowed meeting rooms and an occasional restaurant (with more cocktail napkins). But the dream was always to have a permanent and autonomous space to call home.
