Tampa Arts Alliance Formed To Create More Support For Performers

TAMPA, FLA — The creation of a new not-for-profit organization will help support the arts scene around Tampa and will help to secure funding for performers and others who work within the space at a time when organizers feel like more community awareness is needed.

Organizers of the Tampa Arts Alliance announced the formation of the group last week and declared that the group is one “Tampa is ready for,” the organization’s chairman, Neil Gobioff said in a news release.

The creation of the Alliance comes after Gobioff said that several leaders in the Tampa arts community had been meeting to discuss ways to create more support for local artists and performers. Representatives of the Gobioff Foundation and Bill Carlson of Tucker/Hall, Inc. have agreed to work together after up a series of roundtables and community forums to discuss how the arts communicating is currently operating at both an organizational and grassroots level, the news release said. Those conversations led to the formation of the Tampa Arts Alliance, which has outlined goals it hopes to achieve.

The organization wants to establish a clearer vision for the arts community in and around Tampa while also working to establish funding for the arts. The group is also looking to create greater awareness outside of Tampa of the artists and performers who are working at area venues as a way of creating more support for them, the news release said.

The Alliance will also look to connect local artists and performers together while also searching for more spaces around the city where they can gather. The group said it will also work with officials from different parts of the city like Ybor City to explore the idea of setting up a dedicated arts district as a way of further expanding the vision of Tampa’s arts community.

“With the support of the City and local leadership, we have grown momentum in support of the arts as key to Tampa’s economic well-being and quality of life,” Gobioff said in the release. “Without the arts we cannot tell our story. Tampa is not just a city trying to be like somewhere else. We want to raise up the profile of our arts and culture to show off what makes Tampa unique. There is a lot to love here.”

Start-up funding for the Alliance is being provided by Tucker/Hall and the Gobioff Foundation and legal services are provided by Sandy Rief of Allen Dell, the news release said. First steps of the organization included the formation of a Board of Directors and appointing an interim executive director.

Michele Smith of the Resiliency School will serve in that role, the group said while Dana Warner, the development director of Friends of Carrollwood Cultural Center, will serve as the organization’s vice chairperson.