We haven't found our identity so to speak, the st. Pete area is a diverse group that embrace culture in its purest form. Different genres are exhibited throughout. I have people tell me that the are embraced in the St. Pete Area when it comes to something different. We may not agree with it but they still embrace it.

Your article is questioning lack of culture in this area ... when indeed it is verified by another particle on this same day, promoting a Nude race. Pasco will never find it's way out of the negative stigma it has held for decades with top billings like that. That is one reason Pinellas has it all over us.

I agree with Duane's synopsis - that St Pete has found its identity, at least in its arts district. Tampa's population has faced so much urban sprawl with "isolated" PUD's that there is a lack of a sense of complete community. Not to mention that downtown is mostly closed for business on nights and weekends... So it's not that we lack culture, rather, it's we lack the continuity that fosters culture.

We are lucky that the Tampa Bay region offers many cultural attractions to enjoy. This region has much more than the typical beach culture that you will find in other areas of Florida. Like most other metropolitan areas in the country, our cultural attractions are concentrated in our larger cities like Tampa and St. Pete, with fewer cultural attractions in the outlying surburban areas. We have many art museums, a science museum, performing arts centers, a zoo, an aquarium, etc. The problem is not that we don't have cultural attractions here in Tampa Bay, it's that we just don't support them enough.

We have plenty of culture through out the bay area. We just have to look for it and be willing to travel if an act or exhibit interests us. Our cultural attractions are not just in Tampa and St. Pete. Dunedin has the Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Clearwater has the Clearwater Aquarium, Tarpon Springs has the Leepa-Ratner Museum and Largo has their own performing arts center that brings in national acts too.

Having grown up in Ft. Myers I'd say this area is one of the most culturally diverse areas in FL, we have a lot to offer really in comparison with other parts of the state. What it lacks is some identity, I agree. People who identify themselves with the city and have a connection with it are few and far between. When you talk to people from NYC or Atlanta, Seattle, Baltimore, whatever city it is, they somehow have the feeling of that place in their personality. The city's identity becomes part of theirs, that's how much they are invested in it and love it. Here, our young people are always talking about Miami like it's something special and the older crowd don't seem to care most of the time. The identity of Tampa-St. Pete hasn't been cultivated enough to infiltrate its way into our own identities as something we are proud of. At least that's how I feel sometimes. But as far as culture, we have people from all over the world, a Buddhist temple, a Hindhu temple, a local music scene, museums, good restaurants, breweries, sports teams and the list goes on. I just feel sometimes that all we need to do is take pride in it a bit more and start looking at Tampa as a metropolis instead of a big town.

Culture is an active relationship between arts organizations and community members and as such is commerce like any other commerce. Arts organizations have to develop products that are of value to the community members who have to actively purchase tickets to those events. With so much that keeps people home or attracts them to other commercial past-times and with so much less disposable income, everyone in the arts and entertainment industry has to work harder to keep the community connection active. As the director of the Center for the Arts at River Ridge, a school district facility, I must balance providing performance services to the forty schools in western Pasco county with providing time for community groups to use the facility, as well as purchasing any additional concert or play event for the public. It is always difficult to even make back the costs of the programs no matter how much time and money we spend in getting the word out. The bottom line is that unless arts presenters can cover their costs and make a little profit from their offerings, they cannot afford to offer much. Arts diversity is possible only with consistent and wide spread community support; spending money to purchase tickets to live events. So community members, get out and actively attend arts functions. Artists and presenters, offer your patrons products worthy of their hard earned dollars. Active grassroots support of the arts comes first; diversity develops naturally from there.

The Tampa Bay area, which I define as Hillsborough and Pinellas, are historically a port town and a retirement haven. Neither have a history of supporting the arts or culture. Pinellas is probably ahead of Hillsborough in this repect but both lag behind other FL areas like Sarasota, Naples, and Miami. The Tampa Bay Area can't be mentioned in the same sentence with places like Austin, San Fransisco, or Boston. Percentage wise the Tampa Bay Area is pretty uneducated, and it takes some education to value and appreciate the cultural arts.

Culture isn't just about the visual arts.It's a feeling that their is culture, seeing people that express themselves in different ways frequently.IE. in NY or S. Cali,every few people you meet out look artistic or interesting;the way people communicate are full of debth, experience, & openness.There may be 1 Buddhist temple,but the majority of people here don't hold much knowledge about E. Asian principles.Culture means their are many options. Health food is sparse with long drives to whole foods and rarely a cafe or restaraunt that serves raw or vegan fare.Whereas in other cities, different options for alternative choices are abundant.Musically, only a few live music venues.To shop you have to go to a mall.Boutiques and designers are void.The streets are lined w/ stripmalls & commercial business.Even S Tampa, I did not see 1 person who looked alternative.It was like a big frat party w/ girls in miniskirts.Where r people with multicolored hair?Hippies?Or even the comfort with people that look this way?Real cultural centers are so used to different kinds of people that it is natural to talk to someone who is pierced or has different spiritual views.Tampa is barren of what true culture means and it does feel identityless like a bunch of puppets walking around who think going to a museum means they have an open mind and are worldly!

I think we have a decent amount of cultural places in our area but they're a little inaccessible. As someone else said, St Pete has some lovely art museums and supports their artisan culture better than Tampa does. The biggest problem I see is the cost of going to the museums and arts centers between admission and parking.
Another problem is that nothing is located near anything else so it's a production to go to one place. Cities like New York have public transportation and many cultural meccas are located withing walking distance of each other. We're spread out area wise and don't have even halfway decent public transportation so you really have to plan a day trip to go to one or 2 places.
It's a catch-22; people don't go so nothing opens. Even with Free Museum Day on Sunday, there aren't any that I want to go to given how far I have to drive to get to them.

we do indeed have culture, but it is not apparent everywhere you look- it really has to be found. when the article talks about the treasure trove that is Sarasota, it needs to understand that Sarasota is not around the corner for residents of Tampa Bay Proper. I see no real metropolitan area here in the Bay area. Our "cities" look and act more like suburbs than they do cities. When I see convenience stores on every conceivable corner and pawn shops on top of pawn shops, strip clubs and not to mention fast food everywhere, I question as to whether a visitor can find culture if they are not familiar with the area. I won't apologize for saying that a great many residents in this very large geographical area not only lack any type of culture, but certainly lack any type of education and wouldn't care about fine dining, live theater or an art gallery if it were free. We certainly lack any type of identity and what we have to identify ourselves - pirates and gaspirilla indeed show an extreme lack of culture. yes, we have fine restaurants and theater and galleries and even museums, but they have to be sought after and the same few people go to these events, not the masses. I have noticed that there is a general lack of support for anything in this area that is not a chain or franchise and in the "city centers" there just feels like something is missing. Sure, we ALWAYS have something going on but after the event finding only a taco bell or McDonalds open is not culture

Like Alicia mentioned, places that have culture, it is all around, you don't have to hunt it down, it is "in the air". Check out the vibe in places like Austin, then come back here and all you're missing is the tumbleweed. To me our built environment says it all, we are surrounded by mindless unplanned sprawl with no transit options, such a place is a killer for developing culture, and cultured people. Sprawl does not culture make.

The difference between the Tampa Bay area and a container of yogurt is that the container of yogurt has a living culture inside.

Hell yeah! No Place Really is what New Port Richey is called! You have to drive at least 15 miles to get any culture!!! Leepa-Rattner Museum is the closet thing for culture....I call New Port Richey the "Barren Wasteland". If I am wrong, please let me know.

Sprawl, lack of interest in what cultured people call culture. There is culture here, southern culture. A worship of beer, sports, driving trucks, fish, malls, etc.. I lived in Tampa (Hyde Park / South Tampa) for 10 years... It is soulless. There is no city center, only pockets. Without being able to walk and mingle (as you can in most any big city) it becomes a drag. Anything North of 275 going up Dale Mabry is super sprawl... USF area is an armpit... Brandon is a clash of rural Florida w new money and faceless sub divisions. South Tampa has a few pockets, but for most part is too spread out. Seminole Heights is trying and downtown has lots of buildings and no people. Davis Island might be as close as you get to cohesion, but its self contained. Ybor is Yboring.

PS... Dunedin, Safety Harbor, parts of Saint Petersburg... You're doing it right.

Florida .. specifically the Tampa Bay area .. doesn't have a "heartbeat" like so many other places in America.

I moved to Florida decades ago and the "vibe" here has always been scattered, confused, clueless, transient, empty, without "soul. "

It is self-centered "cookie cutter" people who insist on calling Florida the SUNSHINE STATE instead of FLORIDA. .. and it's rednecks who HATE the word "culture" because it reminds them of turning "Yankee" ..

The Tampa bay area reminds me of a "souless" place void of culture or a feeling of community .. a place where one might have gotten off the midnight train by mistake and too afraid to leave the train station for fear of being stuck in this empty "Twilight Zone" forever.

It will never change .. four decades here and it's still the same.

Tampa bay has no culture at all. The performing arts vene downtown Tampa is not even affordable to middle class people. The prices the charge is outrageous. They charge as if it is New York but the performers are second rate. I am originally from NY and I know the big difference. We came here 40 years ago and it still has not changed. The people here want beer and fun in the sun. The local government has not helped to change this mentality as they are like minded with them.

I have lived in Tampa for a year after living in the Washington DC area for over 10 years. After running through all the Smithsonian museums, Washington Zoo and a few concerts here and there at Constitution Hall and Verizon Center, I have to say that Tampa is a breath of fresh air to me. All that culture gets stuffy after a while. I don't like paying for museums (The Smithsonians have spoiled me) and I have yet to attend a concert here. I do enjoy the weather and the laid back beach like lifestyle of Florida and I'm not an old person. I work 9-5 and have a moderately active social life. We don't have to be the Bostons, Chicagos, DCs, New Yorks to have 'culture', just be Tampa. I do appreciate the ethnic and even economic diversity of Tampa. I work in Clearwater and I find Pinellas County to not be diverse at all and the scene in St. Petersburg is scary. I hear a lot of people speak about St. Petersburg being the more diverse area of Tampa, but I don't see it. And I'm coming from one of the most ethnically diverse areas of this country. If you speak on cultural activities then I do feel Tampa has a great deal to offer but folks need to be able to 'afford' it and in this day and time it's tough to cough up tickets to see a Shakespearean play or $10 - $15 to see some mummies. Too many transplants from other states for Tampa to develop an area-wide culture like New Yorkers or Bostonites. So to answer the question: Tampa doesn't have culture but it has charm.

Yeah...and don't forget our wonderful governor Rick Scott...who wants to do away with anything that is left in regards to healthcare for Floridians. Off topic, but you should know where he stands on "free clinics"....he wants to close them down. Also, any kind of "free" testing for the indigent, that fall through the cracks and cannot get Medicaid....he is doing everything in his power to NOT make this happen.

I knew right away...that Florida sucked. I first moved to Paradise Lakes in LOL, FL....at least this nudist resort had some life to it. This was before 9/11. After 9/11, the economy came crashing down, including in Florida. Truth be told.

The Tampa area is trying to grow in culture and has been working hard to become an art center. We have seen this as an entertainment company with an increase in body paintings, fashion shows, fire performances, and even advanced balloon sculpture exhibitions at events. So, even though we may not be on top yet, we are at least heading in that direction. So, we at YTE really enjoy the challenges put forth by new clients to stay on the cutting edge of art and culture while maintaining our quality of entertainment.

Your Total Entertainment crew,
http://www.YTEtampa.com

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