Last week, I was walking through the newly redesigned Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park in downtown Tampa when a friend stopped me in my tracks. Pointing to a crowded playground in front of the Tampa Museum of Art, he said, “Those kids are going to grow up expecting this.” By “this” he meant not only the park but, more generally, a downtown with institutions and amenities befitting a city. Then my friend asked a really provocative question: “What will Tampa be like when a new generation thinks ‘all this’ is normal?”
I’ll ask the same question specifically of the new Tampa Museum of Art. What will Tampa be like when a new generation thinks it’s normal to have a formidable institution devoted to the visual arts downtown? Three months since its re-opening, the TMA has already set a new standard, dropping banker’s hours to stay open until 7 p.m. four nights a week (and until 9 p.m. on Thursdays); providing a riverfront destination for lunch or a casual dinner; and offering an array of solid, even impressive, exhibitions. Apparently, people — both local residents and tourists — like the TMA’s new M.O.: more than 38,000 visitors checked in during the two months of the inaugural Matisse exhibition, in comparison with an annual average of about 52,000 visitors in 2006 and 2007 (at the old building).
Look no further for a sign of TMA’s newfound sophistication than one of its current exhibitions, Jesper Just: Romantic Delusions.
