Elisha Belden promotes arts for children and young people in Citrus County

CITRUS COUNTY, Fla. — A Citrus County woman is making sure kids and teens in her community get a chance to experience the arts.

Elisha Belden said she saw a need for young people and started a nonprofit that runs out of the same building as her tattoo business.

Belden’s business called Twistid Ink is located on Highland Boulevard in Inverness. That’s where there are three tattoo artists working including her husband, Danny Belden. The building also includes rooms for art classes and a former small church sanctuary that now acts as a theater.

Belden started to promote arts for young people by having Twistid Ink sponsor a sidewalk chalk art competition in 2022.

It was such a hit that community members asked her if she could do more for the arts. She then started art classes for children, art shows and putting on theater productions in a city-owned theater. But the theater was so busy with other community productions that she made the move into her current building in February 2025.

“When we were running around town using other buildings for the arts center it was very stressful, very stressed,” said Belden. “Here if we have a break, we can walk into the back and do anything we need to.”

Belden started a nonprofit called Twistid Arts Initiative to promote and fund the arts projects for young people. She says much of the funding comes from her Twistid Ink business.

Twistid Arts Initiative has put on a number of productions for the community.

“We do a lot of kids’ shows. But we do balance it out,” said Belden. “We do some teen and some adult stuff as well.”

That includes a production of Macbeth, Beetlejuice, Snow Queen, The Wizard of Oz and an original production called The Cursed. The current original production in rehearsal is called Story Island.

“We are just fine-tuning at this point,” she said. “They’ve got it all down. They’ve got their lines. They’ve got their blocking. Most of it. Ha. Ha. They are doing a great job.”

Story Island will premiere the last weekend of January and the first weekend of February.

“The arts are important,” said Belden of the theater productions with young actors. “I feel like it helps them learn critical thinking skills. They get to bond and experience emotional roller coasters through different characters and empathize.”

Danny Belden, who is the artistic director of the Twistid Arts Initiative, echoed Elisha’s thinking.

“We are putting everything we can into these kids and what they are doing because it’s changing their lives like it changed mine.”