Rose Kue is Hmong American, 22, a Juilliard-trained opera singer, a mezzo-soprano — and a Tampa Bay resident.
But can she remain one for long?
That was her question for five well-known figures in the arts community at the Weekly Planet's first "Political Party" forum, held Oct. 17.
Kue told the panel, moderated by Planet editor David Warner, that she felt she had exhausted limited opportunities in Tampa Bay (she was born here and attended Bloomingdale High). She related how she'd staged her own recital — attracting an audience of only about 10.
"I came here today," she said, "because I hoped you would change my mind."
The question of keeping young artists in Tampa Bay — and creating an arts environment that supports artists young and old — was the focus of the Political Party, first in a series of Planet-sponsored "talk shows" to be held at the Shimberg Playhouse in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and other future locations.
The topic emerged from a recent Planet article on top artists under 25, many of whom told the newspaper that they didn't see themselves in Tampa Bay in five years. That followed a Creative Tampa Bay study that found the area losing talented young people to other major Southern cities and trailing the nation in the percentage of residents who are 25-34.
For actor and Hat Trick Theatre co-founder Jack Holloway, the youngest on the panel at age 24, keeping young artists here means "more spaces for companies, more companies, and I guess more awareness of what is going on."
To have that requires artists to be relentless self-promoters, added David Jenkins of the Jobsite Theater. He urged them to be a nuisance about it.
Panelist Carrie Mackin, the owner of Covivant gallery in Seminole Heights in Tampa, said she came to learn that in her business, she hadn't been insistent enough at first about promoting her gallery and her art.
"I should have been a shameless self-promoter," Mackin said.
There were common themes: A lack of media attention to arts events; St. Petersburg's young and organic downtown arts scene vs. Tampa's more mature but fragmented (at least geographically) community; and the role of government in supporting the arts.
"Government ought to be somewhat of a last resort in these things," said Paul Wilborn, the city of Tampa's creative industries manager, as well as a playwright and musician. He said government's role is to help build stability and infrastructure for the arts through marketing and incentives, rather than simply acting as a deep-pockets patron. "We need to build that infrastructure, and you can do that through incentives."
He pointed to two positive moves at the state level regarding filmmakers; $10 million to provide incentives to produce films in Florida, and a recent vote by the Hillsborough County Commission to give Tampa's film commissioner a $100,000 fund to help close film deals.
There was one caveat for government involvement in the arts, according to other panelists: "They can aid and abet — and then step out of the way," said Margaret Murray of The Arts Center in St. Petersburg.
There were criticisms, too, both during and after the event. Music was not represented on the panel; it was also not racially diverse. Much of the discussion has been heard before, and the woes of Tampa Bay's arts community on that night didn't sound a whole lot different than they sounded two decades ago.
The real problem is a lack of audience, said Jeff Whipple, an artist, writer and filmmaker in Tampa.
"How do you teach a community to support the arts," Whipple asked.
"Very slowly," Jenkins quipped.
But, most in the audience and on the panel agreed, there is progress and hope.
On the upside:
* There are more theater companies, even if there are fewer spaces to perform.
* St. Pete's and Tampa's arts scenes are more connected and aware of each other than ever.
* More and more, performing arts are blending with visual arts for multisensory events that cross-promote (or cross-pollinate, to appropriate the title of The Artillery's show at Covivant) different arts organizations and expose audiences to new experiences.
* Tampa Bay remains a land of opportunity for ambitious startup arts organizations because there is "no one to tell you no," Wilborn said.
* Good things are happening right now; on the night of the forum, for instance, other public officials and arts companies were hosting film producer Michel Shane (Catch Me if You Can, I Robot) in a pitch to attract his production company to make films here. Tampa Digital Studios (which co-produced Political Party with Jobsite Theater and the Planet) set up the Shane visit. Spokesman Michael Piotrowski said Shane was given an introduction to Tampa Bay locations and officials during the "very preliminary" visit.
Warner said the forum was just the start of a dialogue aimed at expanding the arts in Tampa Bay. More spin-off panels on specific arts disciplines are being planned.
And did Kue get her answer?
"I asked for them to change my mind and they did, at least about one thing: … I've come to realize that I have many options," Kue said in an e-mail after the event. "It just requires more energy, creativity and bravery than I ever assumed. The situation changes into, 'It's not about what Tampa can do for me, but what I can do for Tampa.'"
A day after the forum, associate conductor Susan Haig — who also attended the Political Party and heard Kue's question — unexpectedly pulled Kue onstage to make her Florida Orchestra debut singing the national anthem.
Kue said, "Things like that could only happen in a place like Tampa."
This article appears in Oct 26 – Nov 1, 2005.