The Community Foundation of Tampa Bay recently announced the awarding of $60,000 in grants to multiple organizations. The focus was on increasing accessibility to arts and culture in Tampa Bay. The grants benefit organizations from museums and theatres to community concerts.
The recipients offer a variety of resources and events that enrich the lives of area resident. This includes the grant to the Tampa Museum of Art. The museum will use its grant to support its Teen Open Studio in Hillsborough County. Students from local schools are able to use the Studio to complete art projects.
Some local entities that will benefit from the grants include the SouthShore Regional Library located in Ruskin. Thanks to a grant given to the Friends of the Library of Hillsborough County, the SouthShore Regional Library will be able to continue to provide art classes at the John Crawford Studio.
Cheryl Wolfe, Administrative Librarian said, “Thanks to the generous funding from the Community Foundation of Tampa Bay, the library is able to bring professional art educators from across the Tampa Bay region to teach at the SouthShore Regional Library. The library works with 15 to 20 experienced art instructors who teach classes on a variety of art topics including watercolor, portraiture, as well as other art areas such as cartooning and zentangle.”
The library provides the classes for free to children and adults. The Library serves approximately 4,000 art students each year. “The art classes are often the students’ only experience with an art class. All materials and professional art instructors are provided at no charge to our students,” added Wolfe.
Other recipients include The Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Florida Orchestra, the South Shore Symphony Orchestra and the Women’s Chorus of Sun City Center.
For more information, please visit www.cftampabay.org.
