What's that? You didn't know there was an Arts Council of HIllsborough County?
Well, that's part of the problem.
The Council operates multiple websites (including its primary site, tampaarts.org); acts as a clearinghouse for information on arts events, jobs and funding opportunities; collaborates with Hillsborough public schools on arts-in-education programs; places performing artists in eldercare facilities; and awards tens of thousands of dollars in grants to individual artists and to arts and culture organizations in Hillsborough. To be more specific, it has awarded $11.5 million in grants to nonprofit arts organizations since 1991, including $400,000 to 27 organizations (large and small) in the current year alone. Those funds came from Hillsborough County. More than $750,000 in grants have been awarded to individuals since 1989 — $40,000 to 14 artists in a variety of disciplines in the current year. These funds came from Hillsborough County and the ACHC’s FIVE by FIVE fundraiser.
Yet, with all this, the Council has a bit of an identity problem.
Maybe it's the name? Maybe it's all those websites? Whatever the reason, ACHC's dynamic, determined new executive director, Martine Collier, wants to find out. She's been on a listening mega-tour during her first 100 days on the job, meeting with arts leaders, artists, business leaders and government officials to help determine the Council's course for the next 50 years. And to make sure the organization connects with as broad a cross-section of Tampa Bay as possible, it is circulating the Survey to Create Arts Council 2.0.
The survey is easy to fill out (it took me maybe 10 minutes), and anyone and everyone is encouraged to do so, whether you live in Hillsborough or not, whether you're an artist or not, whether you go out to arts events every night of the year or prefer just to Netflix and chill.
“We are trying very hard to reach outside our universe,” says ACHC's director of program services, Terri Simons, “and into areas that might not normally hear from us or about us.”
Want to help forge a new path for arts and culture in Hillsborough (and beyond)? Here's the link: http://tampaarts.org/achc-survey/
This article appears in May 18-25, 2017.