Though I left my post as operations and producing manager at The Patel Conservatory two years ago, I retained a responsibility that has proved to be a highlight of my time there: I am charged with recruiting over 100 financial-need students for full scholarships to Patel's summer performing arts programming, up to three weeks of camp or one 10-week class.
The Access Arts Scholarship program morphed out of a program called the Community Arts Ensemble, started by Fred Johnson years ago before the Patel Conservatory was even a glint in the eye of the former Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center (now the Straz Center for the Performing Arts). The Community Arts Ensemble (CAE) was a free program for the first 200 community members to sign up. Period. It was a hugely successful program and brought 200 community members into the building every summer — people who may not have had the opportunity to do so had the program not been in place.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 2, 2010.