First City Art Center

First City Art Center is a nonprofit, hands-on art center in Pensacola’s former waterworks building, and it bills its hot shop as the only public glassblowing facility in Northwest Florida. The organization started in 1999 as the Belmont Arts and Cultural Center in the Belmont-DeVilliers neighborhood. In 2012 the City Council approved its move to the larger Guillemard Street campus, and today it serves roughly 10,000 adults and children a year.

The campus is at 1060 N Guillemard St, Pensacola, FL 32501; the office phone is 850-429-1222 and the website is firstcityart.org. Classes cover hot glass, flameworking, stained glass, kiln-formed glass, pottery on the wheel, handbuilding and sculpture, painting and drawing, and sewing, with youth art programs and camps through the year. Gallery 1060 hosts exhibitions, including an annual juried show, and open studio rentals are available.

For a first taste of glassblowing, book a Make Your Own Glass session in the Creative Warehouse hot shop; check the website for current dates and prices. The office is open Monday through Thursday 9am–5pm and Friday 9am–4pm and is closed weekends, though classes run outside those hours.

The center holds six fundraisers a year, including Hot Glass Cold Brew, An Artful Home and the Pumpkin Patch; the 20th annual Pumpkin Patch is October 9–10, 2026. Its Little Dragon mobile glassblowing studio also takes glass on the road.