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Tampa

Arte 2005 spreads around the bay area

For 10 days, all things Latin will fill stages, museums, even outdoor art spaces as the festival evolves.

By ELISABETH DYER
Published April 1, 2005

Everything's Latin this month in Arte 2005, a celebration of performing and visual arts from Latin America and the Caribbean.

"The idea is that everywhere you go in Tampa Bay, you'll run into a piece of our festival," said Paul Wilborn, Tampa's creative industries manager.

Wilborn has spent the past year coordinating the event and raising money, including $50,000 from the Hillsborough County Tourist Development Council.

Originally pegged as a Cuban festival, Arte 2005 evolved into an event with more than 100 Latin artists performing and showing their works at venues in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Largo.

Pulling it together wasn't easy, Wilborn said.

"There were some points when everyone said this is never going to happen."

The 10-day event opens Thursday at the University of South Florida with the premiere of Cuban Bread, a play about an aging anarchist who reads newspapers and the book Don Quixote to cigar workers while they work. The USF Jazztet will perform and Cuban artist Esterio Segura will exhibit large-scale mixed media, a sculptural installation and drawings.

The festival ends April 16 with Teatro Negro de Barlovento, an Afro-Venezuelan dance performance with percussion, instrumentals and vocals at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Other Arte 2005 events include Los Carpinteros' "Transportable City," a group of tents set up on the grounds of USF's Contemporary Art Museum that resembles famous buildings in Havana and watchtowers.

On April 9, Maura Barrios will lead a walking tour of Ybor City's historic sites, with a lunch stop at the Columbia Restaurant. Venezuelan singer and songwriter Franco De Vita will perform April 10 and Claudia Calderon will play folkloric piano music, drawn from the ethnic music of the mountains, plains and coasts of Venezuela and Colombia April 13. Both shows are at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Organizers had to scratch original plans to kick off the event with a downtown street festival in Tampa.

"What we found was we just didn't have the money this first time out," Wilborn said.

Supporters hope the event will grow into an annual festival as large as the 17-day Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., featuring more than 100 events at different venues.

Growing the festival will take time because art venues often book years in advance, Wilborn said.

"It may come back in 2006, but more likely in 2007 as a much, much larger event tied even more with business and trade," he said.

The goal is to create an event that unites the area's art organizations and builds business partners with Latin American governments.

"We are one large arts community," Wilborn said.

Elisabeth Dyer can be reached at 226-3321 or edyer@sptimes.com

Arte 2005 runs Thursday through April 16. For a complete schedule of events, visit www.arte2005.org or call 222-1276. Venues include the University of South Florida, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa Museum of Art, Skipper's Smokehouse, Gulf Coast Museum of Art, St. Petersburg's Museum of Fine Arts and Salvador Dali Museum. To purchase tickets, contact the venue directly.

[Last modified March 31, 2005, 08:53:03]