Christy Milliken is currently the Director at the Seaside Institute. She is the Podcast founder and host for the Seaside Institute podcast that was launched in 2022. She is a member of Forbes Nonprofit Council, The Grant Center in Arlington, VA, and the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). Christy organizes the annual SEASIDE Prize–a signature event presented by the Seaside Institute with support by the SEASIDE® Arts & Entertainment Fund and the SEASIDE® Merchants. Currently, the Seaside Institute has a couple of larger initiatives that include a Coastal Resilience Plan in partnership with The Water Institute. Building Better Bike Paths for Walton County, a collaborative project with South Walton Tourism, Transportation for America, and Speck & Associates. Finally, Christy is currently helping with incubating an Aging with Grace program. Christy is a visionary that also hosts and facilitates many smaller collaborative events and initiatives on behalf of the Seaside Institute to foster connection in our community and while driving growth in donor support.

After an extensive healthcare career and raising a family near Birmingham, AL, Christy transitioned her life to the South Walton communities along the Coast of Florida in 2010. Christy was formerly the Managing Partner at Justin Gaffrey Studio & Gallery, where she helped organize and transition many milestone moments in the art community both locally and on an international level. Her past service work includes the American Heart Association Board as Event Organizer, American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) Boards as the Historian. She also served on South Walton Tourism’s Events & Humanities Grant Committee. She is currently a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU). As life evolved from the gallery partnership, she founded and began a boutique marketing business that helps collaborate with many events throughout the United States–large scale events such as film festivals, music festivals, visual art exhibitions, and other project based work. One of the most exciting projects included working with the Ken Burns/Florentine Films team editing and organizing content in Nashville for the PBS Country Music Documentary.

Milliken also passionately supports many local events and organizations in the South Walton community including, Digital Graffiti (Alys Beach Foundation), 30A Songwriter’s Festival and Tour of Homes (Cultural Arts Alliance), SOWAL House Events (Rosemary Foundation), Escape to Create, The Seaside Repertory Theatre, The Paper Bear Film and Nonprofit, Seaside School Foundation, and Food for Thought. She recently became a board member for the SOWAL Foundation, a brand new nonprofit in the area.