A bumper crop of new leaders is in place as the Fall 2014 arts season begins. Creative Loafing spoke with them at a roundtable discussion Aug. 14. Here are their vital stats — including their new titles, their predecessors and their choices for must-do's this season. The photos are by Todd Bates.
Tony Armer
Executive Director, St. Pete/Clearwater Film Commission
Appointed: June 2014
Succeeded: Jennifer Parramore (22 years as film commissioner)
Ongoing gigs: ED, Sunscreen Film Festival; Adjunct Professor, Art Institute of Tampa and University of Tampa
Film must-do: Blue Ocean Film Festival, St. Petersburg, Nov. 3-9
Zora Carrier
Interim Director, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
Appointed: June 2014
Succeeded: Jane Simon (1 year as director)
Previous gigs: Founder & ED, Open Concept Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI; Founder & Curator, Perugia Gallery, Slovak Republic; Gallery Art Factory, Prague.
FMoPA must-do: Ruth Bernhard: Body and Form, Sept. 6-Nov. 30
Karla Hartley
Producing Artistic Director, Stageworks Theatre
Appointed: Jan. 2014
Succeeded: Anna Brennen (30 years as PAD; founder)
Previous gig: Associate AD, Stageworks
Ongoing: Freelance director and designer
Stageworks must-do: The Motherfucker with the Hat, July 9-26, 2015
Meg Heimstead
Interim Artistic Director, American Stage Theater Company
Appointed: June 2014
Succeeded: Todd Olson (11 years as AD)
Ongoing gigs: Director of Education, American Stage; actor (American Stage, Jobsite)
American Stage must-do: Nureyev’s Eyes, Oct. 15-26
Tonia Krueger
Managing Director, A Simple Theatre
Appointed: June 2014
Succeeded: Meg Heimstead (Gavin Hawk is artistic director)
Ongoing gigs: Visiting Assistant Professor, Eckerd College; Theatre Tampa Bay Awards judge; actor (She will play Gertrude in New Stage Theatre's production of Hamlet Oct. 10-Nov. 2; Chris Jackson will play the title role.)
Previous: Instructor, U. of Minnesota, Johns Hopkins, Berkeley Prep; education and administration coordinator,
Great River Shakespeare Festival
AST must-do: Staged reading at the Dali Museum, date TBD
Rory Lawrence
Founder, Tampa Bay Theatre Festival (Aug. 29-31)
Launched: 2014
Ongoing: Owner-Operator, RQL Productions; actor/director/producer/playwright
TBTF must-do’s: Saul’s Juke Joint and The Year of Independent Living, Aug. 30
Margaret Murray
Executive Director, Tampa International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival
Appointed: Jan. 2014
Succeeded: Larry Biddle (ED for 2½ years)
Previous gigs: ED, TIGLFF, 2001-2003; Programming Dir., 2009-10; ED, One in Ten, Washington, D.C.
TIGLFF must-do: John Waters one-man show in celebration of TIGLFF’s 25th anniversary, Oct. 4
Seth Pevnick
Acting Director, Tampa Museum of Art
Appointed: July 2014
Succeeded: Todd Smith (Director for 6 years)
Ongoing gigs: Chief Curator & Richard E. Perry Curator of Greek and Roman Art, TMA
Previous: Curator, J. Paul Getty Museum’s Getty Villa
TMA must-do: Poseidon and the Sea: Myth, Cult and Daily Life, through Nov. 30.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story indicated incorrectly that Tonia Krueger was the first to hold the managing director position at A Simple Theatre. In fact, she succeeded Meg Heimstead, A Simple Theatre's co-founder, in that position.
This article appears in Aug 21-27, 2014.