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Arts & Entertainment

Arts Task Force Aims to Turn The Regent Into a Major Arts Venue

The Brandon Community Advantage Center's Arts Task Force, co-chaired by Antonio Amadeo, met in July to discuss arts venue plans for HCC at The Regent. Hopes are for an art exhibition in September.

A new Brandon-based arts group hopes to have an exhibition of local artists next month at The Regent.

It’s the first step in turning the center into a major arts venue, said Antonio Amadeo, co-chair of the Arts Task Force of the Brandon Community Advantage Center.

“Our meeting went really well,” Amadeo said. “I have a very positive feeling about this moving forward.”

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The task force held its first meeting in June but Amadeo was disappointed when only six people showed up.

“We didn’t do a very good job of getting the word out but this time we got a lot more people and not just visual artists. What excited me was that we got a good cross-section of visual and performing artists," he said.

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The July 21 meeting at The Regent, 6437 Watson Road in Riverview, drew 14 artists, curators and performers.

An architect and former chairman of the Hillsborough County Public Art Committee, Amadeo said he would like to see a variety of arts at the center, from exhibitions of local artwork to rotating exhibitions.

Amadeo and task force co-chair Healther Ochalek told the July 21 gathering that, because the center is not funded for operations, the arts task force would assume a leadership role in crafting a plan to present to the Regent’s board.

The group also agreed to make a concerted effort to include the entire arts community, reaching out to artists and sending e-mails with a view toward creating a registry of local artists.

While task force members are thinking long term, the consensus of the group was to focus on an art exhibition at the center in the near future.

“We decided we would focus on one thing first," Amadeo said. "Something that we could make happen so we are putting out a call for artists to display their art in the building. It’s something we want to do fairly soon. We hope to have some artwork up in September.”

“I thought the meeting went very well,” said artist Vince Kral. “I live very close to [The Regent] and I didn’t even know the facility was there. It is a great space.”

Kral said he feels the center could put the Brandon area on the arts map.

“I went there not really knowing what the meeting was going to be about but there were a lot of good ideas," Kral said. "The trick will be how we put something on and coming up for the funding for it.”

“Incredible,” was the review from art broker Peppe Dragoni.

“We had a great cross-section of people who came up with fabulous suggestions like antique car shows or bike shows. This is going to be a very important group for the community. It’s an excellent avenue to bring people together.”

Dragoni, owner of Ground Zero Designs in Riverview, said the Regent can become an important hub for the community.

“The most important thing is to make people aware the center is there and it's theirs," Dragoni said. "This can be the start of something new for the center.”

While the group has its eye on larger events, such as multi-artist exhibitions, juried art shows and festivals, it wants to get off the ground quickly with something on a smaller scale, Amadeo said.

“We talked about the possibility of arts festivals but those will require more coordination and are more time consuming," he said. "Displaying art in the public spaces at the center is a very doable thing. We can get that space filled with art that we can even rotate.”

The meeting was an important starting point, Amadeo said.

“It was a good first step but there’s lot of work to be done. It’s now about keeping it going and establishing a good foundation. We want to get the word out to the community that the center is a place for the arts.”

For more information, call Amadeo at 813-294-7373.

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