Twenty years ago, Nancy Cohen tossed the shoulder pads, pantyhose, and high heels that had been her corporate uniform into the trash and began classes at the Art Students League of New York.  She spent four of the happiest years of her life there, painting and drawing six hours a day in a community of wildly diverse people who had in common a love for making art. All these years later, she found the same joy and community from art school every time at her studio in the ArtsXchange.  She calls it her happy place. “I am grateful every day to be a part of such a wonderful artist community, doing what I love in such an amazing city,” Cohen said. 

Cohen has been at the ArtsXchange since it opened in 2017, knows the hard work it’s taken to get it going and keep it going.  She wanted to lend her business acumen from her time as a Director of Marketing and Communications for one of the largest banks in the country, combined with her understanding of the concerns of fellow artists to make a contribution toward the future of the place she loves so much.  Cohen believes the Warehouse Arts District can help make St Petersburg a mecca for artists and a top destination for art in the country and says she’s honored to have been chosen to be a member of the board to help in that effort.