Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is the City of Florence, Alabama’s cultural arts center. The three-house campus located at 217 E. Tuscaloosa St. Florence, AL lies in the heart of downtown across from Wilson Park. It is comprised of the Kennedy-Douglass Center, the Kennedy-Douglass Annex, and the Southall-Moore House. The main gallery, gift shop, Hiram Kennedy Douglass mini-museum, Florence Arts and Museum offices, and KD Volunteer offices are in the Kennedy-Douglass Center. The Kennedy-Douglass Annex houses three art galleries. The Southall-Moore House hosts organizational meetings, concerts, programs, and workshops.
Kennedy-Douglass is the headquarters for the City of Florence’s department of Arts and Museums and the Kennedy-Douglass Volunteers, a non-profit arts organization developed to support the art center and cultural arts development in the Shoals area. The art center is home to Arts Alive, a local arts festival that fills the downtown area with artist booths and vendors each May.
Reverend Hiram Kennedy Douglass willed his home (built in 1918) to the city of Florence in 1975 to cultivate an arts center for the citizens of Florence. World-traveled and Oxford-educated, Douglass appreciated those things which enriched the quality of life. It was his desire that the people of Florence have the opportunity for exposure to the restorative powers of music, drama, dance, and visual arts.
The Southall-Moore home (circa. 1894) was donated to the city of Florence in 2006 by Charles Moore as an addition to the Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts. The home was originally owned by the Southall family, founders of Southall Drugs.
Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts 