The Children's Board of Hillsborough County funds more than 150 programs designed to "help children lead fuller, healthier and more productive lives." So it makes sense, says Paula Allen, that art is part of the mix.
Allen is director of the TECO Gallery of Children's Art at the Board's Ybor resource center. Visitors stopping by to pay an electric bill or take an ESOL class get a bonus: Art is everywhere. On the right-hand side of the lobby, cardboard cutouts of life-sized people in a rainbow of colors adorn the walls; on the left, a vibrant quilt hangs next to a collection of crayon and ink drawings. Virtually every inch of hallway and lobby space in the new 30,000-square-foot facility housing the Children's Board offices and public meeting facilities is loaded with art created by or in collaboration with kids.
Allen is a professional artist specializing in collaborative performance. She works at the Children's Board to pair diverse groups of children (often from under-served schools or at-risk families) with working artists, providing them a safe space for creativity.
The latest project at the gallery — the electric company donated seed money for the space, though the Children's Board now funds it — brings students from Academy Prep Center of Tampa together with acclaimed puppeteer Raquel Aché Leonard. Leonard, a Bay area resident who frequently performs in South and Latin America, worked with the children to create handmade marionettes from recycled materials like light bulbs, bottle caps and lampshades. The exhibit is scheduled to travel to the Patel Conservatory at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center early next year.
Luanne Panacek, Children's Board executive director, believes there's nothing like the TECO Gallery of Children's Art — a nonmuseum venue dedicated to museum-quality exhibits of children's art. At least, not in the Southeast.
"It's about bringing different populations together," she says.
