Top Scientology donor in running for a Clearwater library exhibit

Trish Duggan owns the Imagine Museum, which city staff ranked No. 1 for an installation in the Clearwater Main Library.

The Weekly, Florida/September 10, 2025

By Colbi Edmonds

A top donor to the Church of Scientology is in the running to install an art exhibit in the Clearwater Main Library.

Trish Duggan opened the Imagine Museum in downtown St. Petersburg in 2018, showcasing more than 500 pieces of glass artwork. In 2019, she met with officials to discuss turning Clearwater’s former City Hall, a key property in a downtown redevelopment plan, into a second location of her museum.

Now, she’s a top contender for a partnership with the city, which would allow the Imagine Museum to lease out a portion, or the majority, of the downtown library.

“Imagine Museum got involved in this project to share our stunning glass art with a broader audience,” Kelly Lee, project manager for the museum, wrote in an email. “The library building itself with all the natural light is spectacular for showing the beauty of glass art. It could also be a fantastic opportunity for visitors to Clearwater Beach to enjoy a unique, uplifting fine art experience.”

Clearwater officials are on a mission to make the library a “destination experience.” They’re looking to build off the similarly named but unrelated Imagine Clearwater development plan for the city’s waterfront, which is home to Coachman Park and The Sound amphitheater.

In November, Clearwater Vice Mayor Lina Teixeira pitched the idea to reimagine the library to City Council.

“When I presented this to the council, I was thinking of the Smithsonian, the Dalí, the Museum of Fine Arts,” she said. “We’re talking about well-established, successful, nationally known museums because I think that’s what we deserve.”

The city put out a request for proposals this year to museums, planetariums and performing arts institutions to lease a portion of the library. City staff have ranked the Imagine Museum No. 1 out of three finalists.

In a project proposal submitted to the city, the Imagine Museum pitched three different plans detailing its vision for community events, kids’ activities and glass exhibits.

Duggan is one of the top donors to Scientology in the world. Her ex-husband told Forbes magazine in 2016 he had donated $360 million to the church.

She is also connected to the church’s growing footprint in Clearwater.

In 2017, the City Council approved the Imagine Clearwater plan to revive a struggling downtown and redevelop the waterfront, like Tampa and St. Petersburg had done in years prior.

As a part of the project, the city purchased a piece of land the church was eyeing for its own redevelopment plan. In the years since, the Tampa Bay Times has documented a wave of purchases of downtown properties, made by companies with ties to Scientology. Most of these buildings remain empty.

During this time, a limited liability company run by the Imagine Museum vice president bought a North Garden Avenue office for $1.4 million in cash.

The old City Hall was demolished in 2019. Construction on an apartment complex in the lot is slated to start in January.

“There are no current plans aside from the Clearwater Library space to have another location in Clearwater,” Lee said. “Our goal is to strengthen the art scene on the “Glass Coast”, including collaborations with other partners in the arts.”

An evaluation committee comprised of city staff reviewed the proposals, and after receiving presentations from three museum finalists, they ranked the Imagine Museum first, the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum and Library second and the Wizard of Oz Museum third.

This ranking is not final. The top proposals are invited for a presentation at a Sept. 18 City Council meeting, and council members will ultimately make the decision.

The National Comedy Hall of Fame was most recently located in Holiday, north of Pinellas County, but closed after the pandemic halted business. It began as a traveling museum more than 30 years ago, but eventually landed in Florida. It showcases comedy memorabilia and short films.

“I think it’s a fair process,” said Comedy Hall Director Mark Heidt. “From our standpoint, we were delighted to have been selected as one of the finalists, and we would love to relocate to Clearwater.”

The Wizard of Oz Museum is based in Cape Canaveral, off Florida’s east coast. It opened in 2022 and has immersive experiences and original memorabilia from the film.

Fred Trust, who owns the Wizard of Oz Museum with his wife, said he is not interested in completing the process to install an exhibit in the library.

He wants to invest in Clearwater, which is a hub for tourism. But the library location has challenges, and he said he’s worried these factors could negatively affect his business.

Trust said he would rather focus on finding a property independently.

Clearwater’s downtown is “on the cusp of renaissance,” Teixeira said, and she is still mulling over the project proposals.

“This is a critical project, in a critical site, involving a municipal building,” she said. “We have to get it right.”