The arts in Bay County have long been a vital part of everyday life for a lot of residents. The Bay Arts Alliance wants to make sure that tradition continues.

"When you have a cultural community, you attract people who want to be a part of that," Jennifer Jones of the Bay County Arts Alliance said.

Friday's forum explored the role arts can plan in various backgrounds from business, health care, social services, and even criminal justice.

"It's really important to bring different segments of the community together in order to find ways they can work together to make more exciting opportunities and opportunities that will help people grow," Mary Palmer of the Florida Alliance for Arts Education said.

Organizers say this event was designed to bridge the gap between communities, business leaders, and even a segment of the community you might not have considered - the corrections system.

"It helps with the idleness of the inmate, it helps with disciplinary problems," Richard Davison, Deputy Secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections, said.

Florida Department of Corrections Deputy Secretary Richard Davison was the forum's keynote speaker.

"It is proven to be extremely important and extremely effective. Research is just supporting what we've seen on a day-to-day basis," Davison said.

Florida's current inmate population is 97,400, but experts project that number to grow to 120,000 by 2015.

Davison says the addition of more arts programs in prison could help to decrease the number of people behind bars.

"It gives them something to look forward to both everyday in the prison and the fact as they begin to transition out outside the prison," Davison added.

For more information you can log onto the Bay Arts Alliance's website: www.bayarts.org, or the Florida Alliance for Arts Education's website: www.faae.org.