Third annual Ybor Arts Tour
The third annual Ybor Arts Tour runs from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 17th.
The tour is expected to hit more than 20 venues, showcasing the visual, performing and literary arts in Ybor.
Tour organizer Elizabeth Kozlowski, the operations coordinator for the Kress Contemporary, says the idea is a self-guided tour that starts at Ybor’s western border with LAB Theater Project, Coastal Film Lab and improv venue The Commodore, moves to Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor campus, where there will be art on display at Gallery114 and the HCC dance program will perform, and eventually arrives at the arts hub at the Kress. Of course, art lovers taking the tour have the choose-your-own-adventure option of making their own route.
Kozlowski says there will be art shows at Marcolina’s Fine Arts Gallery, 1920 Ybor and venues inside the Kress like the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tempus Projects, the USF MFA program’s Reverb Gallery, OXH Gallery and Art Noire Gallery.
Bookends: Literature & Libations will have a pop-up event at Gasparilla Distillery with Tampa-based authors Marie Still and Joshua Ginsberg. Still will talk about her new thriller “My Darlings” and Ginsberg will lead a haunted history tour. Tampa Tunes will have multiple performance locations.
This year, a partnership with Visit Tampa Bay will offer shuttle transportation for those who cannot walk the tour. There will be online advance registration for that free service.
Tempus Projects and the Kress Contemporary’s Tracy Midulla, HCC Art Galleries Director Amanda Poss and other members of Ybor’s art community launched the first tour in October 2022 to celebrate the opening of the Kress and showcase Ybor’s reinvigorated art scene. Last year, the tour went to times a year- with a spring and fall installment.
“It continues to grow each year which is really exciting for the arts community,” Kozlowski says.
For more information, go to Kress Contemporary events
SHINE Mural Festival
The St Petersburg Art Alliance’s annual celebration of public art, the SHINE Mural Festival, celebrates its 10th anniversary from October 11th through 20th.
The festival opens with a SHINE 10-year retrospective group exhibition at the Morean Arts Center from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on October 11th. The exhibition features works from over 100 SHINE artists from the past decade, including work from local, national, and international artists on this year's lineup.
The 10-day festival culminates at FloridaRAMA on October 19th. The finale features a solo show and book release by 2023 artist Chris Dyer, custom installations from 2021 artists Nicole Salgar and Ricky Watts. There’s a special performance by Woes Martin (2021) and The Mighty Giants; Giano Currie’s interactive photography experience and more. The final event is free and open to the public.
Daily mural tours by trolley are available through
Star Trolley.
Florida CraftArt offers weekend walking and biking tours.
For more information on this year’s tour and artists go to SHINE Mural Festival
FMoPA events
October is another busy month at the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts in Ybor City’s Kress Contemporary.
In connection with the current exhibit “Photo Ybor: Then and Now,” on display through November 17th, local historian Manny Leto leads a walking tour of Ybor City from 10 a.m. to noon on October 5th. Those interested need to register by October 3rd.
For more information, go to FMoPA Ybor walking tour
From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on October 10th, an artist talk with author Paul Wilborn and his wife, actress Eugenie Bondurant, will mark the fifth anniversary of Wilborn’s book “Cigar City: Tales From a 1980s Creative Ghetto.”
Wilborn will talk about the book and Ybor City in the ‘80s and ‘90s. Bondurant, who starred in “The Hunger Games,” “Conjuring 3: The Devil Made Me Do It,” and Marvel’s “Werewolf By Night,” will read excerpts from the book.
To register, go to Paul Wilborn and Eugenie Bondurant artist talk
The FMoPA call for entries for its 2024 Members Show ends October 18th. The members’ exhibition opens October 29th and runs through December 8th. The closing reception and awards ceremony is on December 5th.
For more information, go to FMoPA Members Show call for entries
Westshore Alliance World Photography Day Contest Pop-Up Gallery
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Westshore AllianceA pop-up gallery featuring images from the Westshore Alliance's World Photography Day Contest is at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza through October 17th.Twenty images of scenery and locations around Tampa’s Westshore district are on view through October 17th in a pop-up gallery at the Renaissance Tampa Hotel International Plaza. The images are part of the Westshore Alliance’s World Photography Day Contest and its increased focus on public art.
For more information, go to Westshore Alliance
Inaugural Human Threads Film Festival
The inaugural Human Threads Film Festival is October 11th at the University of Tampa’s David Falk Theatre. Organized by volunteers, students, faculty and staff, Human Threads is an inclusive festival open to anyone with a passion for film. No prior experience is required and there is no fee to enter a film.
For more information and tickets, go to Human Threads Film Festival
Clearwater Arts Alliance presents “Inspiration in the City”
The Clearwater Arts Alliance presents “Inspiration in the City,” an exhibition showcasing artists who have shaped the city’s public art landscape, at the Clearwater Main Library downtown from October 8th through January 8th, 2025.
“From murals to sculptures to art-wrapped signal boxes, these artists have played a key role in enhancing the beauty and cultural vibrancy of the city, making it a more creative and engaging place to live and visit,” an exhibit description says.
Featured artists include Elizabeth Barenis, Nathan Beard, Adi Ben Dov, Tim Boatright, Edgar Islas Cruz, Donald Gialanella, Don Gillespie, Francisco Gonzalez, Michael Imperiale, Cecilia Lueza, Ray Paul, Carlos Pons, Elisabeth Smith, Taylor Smith and Valorie Vogel.
The opening reception is 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on October 8th.
For more information, go to Clearwater Arts Alliance
“The Orchid Show 2024: Purple!” at Selby Gardens in downtown Sarasota
“The Orchid Show 2024: Purple!” is at Selby Gardens’ downtown Sarasota campus from October 5th through December 1st.
This year’s installment of the annual orchid show “will combine a stunning display of purple orchids in the Tropical Conservatory with a dynamic exhibition of botanical prints and photographs in the Museum of Botany & the Arts,” a press release says.
“The conservatory will be filled with masses of purple orchid flowers and other plants with purple foliage,” the description continues. “Purplish-colored films and fixtures will be used to present these beautiful botanicals in fun and exciting ways, creating a rich and vivid visual experience. The museum will explore the history of purple pigments and dyes, as well as the many and varied associations of purple, ranging from royalty and luxury to wisdom and magic. The exhibition will also highlight the numerous botanical connections to purple hues, including rose, violet, and – of course – orchid!”
For more information, go to The Orchid Show 2024
“Audubon’s Birds of America at Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg
“Audubon’s Bird of America,” a National Museums of Scotland touring exhibit featuring 46 prints by John James Audubon, is at the Museum of Fine Art, St. Petersburg from October 12th through February 16, 2025.
“This exhibition explores the life and work of this iconic artist, naturalist, and ornithologist, while also examining the creation and impact of one of the world’s
rarest, largest, and most coveted books, The Birds of America,” a press release from the MFA says. “Published as a series between 1827 and 1838, Birds of America by John James Audubon was a landmark work that achieved international renown due to the epic scale of the project and the book’s spectacular, life-sized ornithological illustrations.”
Programs and events connected to the exhibit include an MFA member-exclusive preview and reception from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 10th; a screening of the documentary “The Last Green Thread” with Florida Wildlife Corridor Foundation CEO Mallory Dimmitt at 6 p.m. on Thursday, October 24th; and “The Story of Art | Bejeweled Birds” with Annamarie Sandecki at 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 7th. The Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Center and the MFA will also host Birding on the Bay on the evening of the first of the month and the morning of the second Sunday of the month from December through February.
For more information, go to Audubon’s Birds of America