To quote an old cigarette ad — a brilliant one — we’ve come a long way, baby.
Especially in terms of art. When I was in high school — 'round about the time we invented light bulbs and the wheel — Tampa Bay had precious few art centers. Sure, the Morean was around, as were the MFA and TMA, but as for finding art outside their storied halls? Pfft. And theater? Well, that was simple: You went to whatever American Stage or Stageworks was producing because there was no Straz, freeFall or Jobsite. Music? Sure, we had music: Jannus Landing. And, uh… the Sun Dome? Tampa Stadium? Sure. Duran Duran and Sting would swing on through. Local bands? We had… some. I can’t name a single one, but I know we had at least one.
Clearly, it’s a different arts world these days, and while I don’t want to spend a lot of time with self-congratulations about our vibrant arts community — it’s like the nouveau riche’s ostentatious displays of wealth — I do want to point something out to you: Those new art centers — the Straz (nee Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center), Jobsite — in essence, the places that, in 1988, weren’t even really things? They’re our standards now. Or, to extend the allegory we’ve chosen for this issue, our anchors.
ANCHORS
We hope our anchors — Stageworks, American Stage, the Straz, freeFall, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Morean, Tampa Museum of Art, Jannus Live, the Amalie, the Mahaffey, Ruth Eckerd — will always be there, of course (and to that end, in the following pages we include information on how you can buy season tickets or annual memberships, which we implore you to do) — but there’s more to the story: The pearls and the buried treasures.
PEARLS
Every arts community has oysters — things that, with the right amount of agitation, can make pearls — but not every community helps oysters make pearls. Tampa Bay gets it right: We have just enough agitation that we have pearls everywhere. Think: Innovocative Theater, Silver Meteor, Leslie Curran, Funky as a Monkey, Bekky Beukes, Frank Strunk III (that's his work on the left —catch his exhibit opening Feb. 24 at Leslie Curran's ARTicles Art Gallery, 1431 Central Ave., St. Pete. articlesstepete.com), Tempus Projects, Cunsthaus… really, we have more pearls than we do anchors. But those anchors make it possible for people to get off the ship, dive in, and find the pearls.
Oh, and let’s not forget our buried treasures. In this issue, we’ve made a concerted effort to highlight artists and arts organizations we’ve not covered with any substance before. Some are new, like Karen Love; others, perhaps, don’t have an abundance of local shows. None of those things mean they aren’t talented and worthy, and so we’re fixing that, starting now. This isn’t the only time we’re going to cover them; it’s a jumping off point for what you can expect in the coming months.
BURIED TREASURE
So dive in and discover your own treasure and if, along the way, you discover a new artist you think deserves coverage, be sure to let us know.
Avast ye, matey!
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2018.