Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts Opens Applications for 2027 Emerging Artists Program on October 1st
Gasparilla Arts will open applications on Oct. 1 for its 2027 Emerging Artists Program, offering up-and-coming artists an opportunity to gain professional experience and exhibit their work at the 57th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts.
Fifteen artists will be selected for the program and will exhibit at the festival March 6-7, 2027, in Tampa.
Each selected artist will receive a free booth to present and sell their work to more than 30,000 art lovers expected to attend the two-day festival. Participants will also receive a $450 stipend to help offset expenses associated with preparing for the event.
Psychotherapist and author Sharon Arthur, LPC, recently joined Bloom TV to talk about the powerful idea behind Grief Has No Funeral
Grief doesn’t always come with a funeral. Psychotherapist and author Sharon Arthur, LPC, recently joined Bloom TV to talk about the powerful idea behind Grief Has No Funeral and why loss can touch our lives in ways we may not always recognize as grief.
The end of a marriage, estrangement from someone we love, a difficult health diagnosis, or a major life change can leave us mourning the life, relationship, or future we thought we would have. Arthur reminds us that these losses are real and deserving of acknowledgment. In her conversation with Bloom TV, she offers a compassionate perspective on understanding grief in all its forms and finding a way to move forward when life takes an unexpected turn.
Gasparilla Arts provides art supplies to 20 Hillsborough County middle schools
Gasparilla Arts is providing art supplies to 20 Hillsborough County middle schools through its new ‘Making Space to Create’ initiative, funded by a grant from Community Foundation Tampa Bay. The program provides participating visual arts classrooms with supplies intended to give students more opportunities to explore different materials, develop their skills, and pursue an interest in art.
Gasparilla Arts chose to focus the program on middle school students because those years can be an important period for creative development, when students often begin identifying interests and talents they may continue pursuing in high school and beyond. On Sept. 4, Gasparilla Arts representatives visited Tomlin Middle School in Plant City, one of the 20 participating schools, to deliver boxes of art supplies and meet with students and art teacher Dillon O’Donell.
Tonight, the Mahaffey Theater is dark, but one light still shines.
In memory of Bill Edwards, whose vision, passion, and larger-than-life presence
illuminated this stage and touched our community for years.
Tonight, the ghost light shines for Bill.
William “Bill” Edwards January 1945 – August 2026
A theater tradition, the ghost light is a single light left burning on a darkened stage when the theater is empty, a quiet symbol that the stage is never truly dark.
It is a longstanding theater tradition, originally used to keep an empty stage safely illuminated between performances. Over time, it has come to symbolize the enduring spirit of all those who bring a theater to life, from the performers on stage to those who work behind the scenes, support its mission, and make the magic possible.
5 ways Bill Edwards left his mark on Tampa Bay
Edwards, who died Thursday, was a major philanthropist who turned around the Rowdies and the Mahaffey Theater.
Well wishes poured in following the news Aug. 27 of prominent St. Petersburg businessman and philanthropist Bill Edwards’ death at 81.
He rose from growing up poor as one of six children in Massachusetts and earning a Purple Heart while serving as a Marine in the Vietnam War to launching businesses, redeveloping real estate and supporting sports and the arts throughout Tampa Bay.
However brash and blunt Edwards was through his business dealings and negotiations, his investments and charity unquestionably changed Tampa Bay.
Gasparilla Arts Names Selection Jurors for 2027 Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts
Gasparilla Arts has named four arts professionals to serve as Selection Jurors for the 57th Annual Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in 2027, bringing together curators, educators, and a practicing artist to help shape the lineup for the nationally recognized juried festival.
The 2027 Selection Jury includes Noah Cox, assistant curator at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg; Ola Wlusek, curator of modern and contemporary art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art; Jocelyn Boigenzahn, director of College Galleries at the University of Tampa; and Anat Pollack, assistant professor of art at the University of South Florida and a practicing artist.
The jurors will review hundreds of applications, evaluating artistic excellence, originality, and technical merit to determine which artists will be invited to exhibit at the 2027 festival at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa. Last year, Gasparilla Arts received the greatest number of applications since 2020, reflecting the festival’s continued national reach and the significance of the jury process in shaping the experience for artists, collectors, and visitors.