Brandon Artists Want Local Art in The Regent, Plan To Attend April 14 Meeting

Artists and art patrons attending the Community Roundtable meeting April 13 at Center Place said they plan to attend the next meeting of the Brandon Community Advantage Center Board of Directors meeting to discuss local art in The Regent at Winthrop.

The April 14 meeting gets underway at 4:15 p.m. at The Regent, 6437 Watson Road. The civil building is in the southeast corner of the Winthrop neo-traditional community in Riverview, just west of Brandon.

“Oh, yes, I’ll be there,” said Anne Drewry, president of the Greater Brandon Arts Council and a respected local artist. “This board needs to know how the arts council members feel about having local art represented in this public building. This is a great chance to get them to know we are willing and able and determined to help support that effort.”

The BCAC oversaw construction of the publicly funded building and now leases space from the site’s owner, Hillsborough Community College. 

The college runs the six classrooms on the lower level. The BCAC, a not-for-profit, all-volunteer community board, leases the special events spaces on the upper level and the multipurpose room on the lower level. The building, funded with federal, state and county dollars, is built as well to serve as a hurricane shelter capable of withstanding winds up to 190 miles per hour.

“As the honorary mayor of Brandon, I will be there,” at the April 14 meeting, said Lisa Rodriguez, who also serves as marketing director for the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association.

“I think it is very important that this building showcase what our community has to offer in the arts. Right now, the building has just opened and it’s still a blank canvas. Art inside will enhance the building considerably.”

Drewry agreed.

“We decided at our board meeting this morning (April 13) how important it is that we attend this meeting tomorrow so that we can emphasize how important we feel it is to showcase local artists in this beautiful public building.”

Drewry said the GBAC plans to send “five or six of us” to the BCAC meeting and that representation from the Brandon League of Fine Arts is expected as well.

Winthrop Town Artist Bryant Martinez said he, too, will be in attendance.

He added that he had received an email from George T. May IV, past chair and member of the BCAC board, inviting him to attend the April 14 meeting for a discussion of the rules and policies adopted by the board for art in the building.  

“It’s a beautiful building,” Martinez said. “It’s a building, too, that needs community art pieces inside and out to make it warm and welcoming.”

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