Okesene Tilo, co-founder and co-owner of Square One Creative, Tampa, celebrated his 30th birthday in a whirl of art and costume last Saturday at Square One's latest major event, Magnum Opus. The theme of the event was creation and self-preservation, linking the disparity of support in the arts community with that of the environment, with a call-to-arms in the names of both. Guests were encouraged to wear green and white in keeping with the theme. Square One operates out of The RITZ Ybor.
More than 80 local artists were featured at the event, along with live performances by local musician Jeremy Gloff, Kinetic Dance Group featuring Square One's own Jason Moriarty, and HEMISPHERE Dance, among others.
Okesene ("Okie") Tilo estimates that, "About 2,000 people were in attendance on Saturday." This is corroborated by yours truly, who had a difficult time finding the bathroom for all the people standing in the way on more than one occasion.
This article appears in Nov 11-17, 2009.