Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts

The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is the City of Florence’s community arts center, located on East Tuscaloosa Street a short walk from downtown Florence in the Shoals region of northwest Alabama. The center occupies three historic buildings devoted to promoting and celebrating the arts, with exhibition galleries, workshop studios and outdoor spaces, and it also serves as the administrative home for Florence Arts and Museums, the city department that runs several local historic sites.

The center opened in 1976 and has since become a hub for hands on learning and creative discovery for residents of all ages. Its guiding belief is that appreciation of the arts builds common bonds between people and strengthens the community, and its programs aim to make art accessible to everyone through exhibitions, collections and events.

The galleries host both annual shows and rotating exhibitions throughout the year, giving regional artists and community groups a place to present their work. Because admission is free, the center is an easy addition to a day spent exploring downtown Florence and other city sites such as Pope’s Tavern Museum, the Florence Indian Mound and Museum and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Rosenbaum House.

Education fills much of the calendar. The KD Art Lab offers a creative series of affordable classes and workshops in a supportive setting, covering a range of media and recently including a poetry and performance course led by Florence’s poet laureate. Camp KD provides summer art camps for children, and Arts in Education programs and a teachers grant extend the center’s reach into area schools.

The center is supported by the Kennedy-Douglass Arts Volunteers, a nonprofit organization that has encouraged appreciation of the arts and humanities in the Shoals since 1978 and formally organized in 1982 to fund arts education. Each May the volunteers host Arts Alive, a two day art festival whose proceeds go to art education and endowments, and they promote programs at all of Florence’s city museums throughout the year.

The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm and Sunday from 1pm to 4pm, and it is closed on Saturdays. Admission is free. Class schedules, exhibition dates and details about Arts Alive and Camp KD are posted on the Florence Arts and Museums website, and staff can be reached by phone during open hours.