Professional Development Grant
05 03, 19 Filed in: Video Production
Arts Council Professional Development Artist Grant Recepient
Today I drove downtown to the Arts Council of Hillsborough County (@artscouncilofhillsboroughcounty) to sign the contract for a Professional Development Grant. I was awarded this equipment grant based on my application for the project, “Historic Movie Theatres In Tampa: 1906 to Present” (@historictheatresintampa).
In November of 1906, Tampa's first motion picture theater, The Nickelodeon, opened in downtown Tampa in a converted storefront. Nickelodeon theatres were popular from 1905 to 1915 and were the first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to the projection of moving pictures. The cost to enter was a nickel.
Tampa's earliest movie theaters were located throughout downtown, in Tampa Height, Ybor City, Sulphur Springs, and West Tampa. The first priority is to record interviews of members of Tampa's aging population with direct knowledge and memories of these early theaters. Neighbors who watched movies as children and went on dates as teenagers. Theater employees from ushers to members of the projectionist union each have unique perspectives to share. In addition to newspaper archives, there are 2 large historical photography archives available. The Burgert Brothers collection is housed at the Tampa History Museum in conjunction with the Hillsborough County Library System and the Robertson and Fresh collection which is curated at the University of South Florida. Researchers have been scouring these archives for images of these theaters and their immediate communities across the decades. We will also seek out repurposed theatre buildings still standing to show how the space is used today. While in many cases, these buildings are lost to history, one stand out exception is the historic Tampa Theater which has recently completed another remodel and is still in operation.
Before the video project begins in earnest, I wanted to thank The Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Board of County Commissioners personally for their on-going support of arts funding in our county and for approving this Professional Development grant in particular. As a native and life-long resident of Tampa, the arts have always been an important part of my life and I am grateful that we live in a community where the arts are seen to enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.
In November of 1906, Tampa's first motion picture theater, The Nickelodeon, opened in downtown Tampa in a converted storefront. Nickelodeon theatres were popular from 1905 to 1915 and were the first type of indoor exhibition space dedicated to the projection of moving pictures. The cost to enter was a nickel.
Tampa's earliest movie theaters were located throughout downtown, in Tampa Height, Ybor City, Sulphur Springs, and West Tampa. The first priority is to record interviews of members of Tampa's aging population with direct knowledge and memories of these early theaters. Neighbors who watched movies as children and went on dates as teenagers. Theater employees from ushers to members of the projectionist union each have unique perspectives to share. In addition to newspaper archives, there are 2 large historical photography archives available. The Burgert Brothers collection is housed at the Tampa History Museum in conjunction with the Hillsborough County Library System and the Robertson and Fresh collection which is curated at the University of South Florida. Researchers have been scouring these archives for images of these theaters and their immediate communities across the decades. We will also seek out repurposed theatre buildings still standing to show how the space is used today. While in many cases, these buildings are lost to history, one stand out exception is the historic Tampa Theater which has recently completed another remodel and is still in operation.
Before the video project begins in earnest, I wanted to thank The Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Board of County Commissioners personally for their on-going support of arts funding in our county and for approving this Professional Development grant in particular. As a native and life-long resident of Tampa, the arts have always been an important part of my life and I am grateful that we live in a community where the arts are seen to enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.