Celebrating the arts is a year-round thing in the Bay area.
We've got the climate, we've got the creatives, and we've got the motivation to show hometowners, snowbirds and travelers alike that this is a true arts community. There's always something going on. In March, that passion reaches a timely fever pitch in Tampa, in the form of Gasparilla Arts Month — a series of festivals covering every medium you can think of, and a combination of media you probably haven't.
There's the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, a massive outdoor show celebrating visual artists of every stripe and level of experience.
There's the Gasparilla International Film Festival, now in its tenth year and a formidable presence on the American film-fest scene.
There's the Gasparilla Music Festival, an almost perfect balance between locally driven community tune-party and tastemaking national concert destination.
There's the Gasparilla Interactive Festival, an innovative tech conference that brings buzzy ideas and brands to town without sacrificing a local perspective.
And there's Gasp!, the fringe-arts/multidisciplinary spectacle spearheaded by CL editor-in-chief David Warner and the Tampa Museum of Art, and curated to fill in the gaps, spotlight the weird and unsung, and inspire expressive mash-ups that can't be seen anywhere else.
So check out our advance coverage, and try to rest up in the next week or so — if you're a Tampa arts fan or curious festivalgoer, you're gonna be awfully busy once the calendar flips.
