“Ping Pong in the Park,’’ a creative placemaking project by The Urban Conga in Tampa, is the latest winner of a small grant from Awesome Tampa Bay.
“Ryan Swanson and
The Urban Conga had an innovative idea to help make our public spaces more fun by adding a semi-permanent ping pong table to a park in downtown Tampa,’’ says Dean of Awesomeness Rafaela “Razi’’ Amador.
The Urban Conga is among dozens of individuals and organizations that pitch ideas to
Awesome Tampa Bay in pursuit of $1,000 grants awarded throughout the year.
“We believe in making our community the best it can be, one Awesome grant at a time,’’ says Amador.
Awesome Tampa Bay is a group of individuals who support the furthering of awesomeness in the greater community.
This video by Trustee of Awesomeness Michael Flanagan, a St. Petersburg photographer and TV producer, tells the story of how Ping Pong in the Park came to be.
Diane Egner, publisher and managing editor of 83 Degrees, is a Founding Trustee of Awesomeness at Awesome Tampa Bay. Comments? Contact 83 Degrees.
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Diane Egner is a community leader and award-winning journalist with more than four decades of experience reporting and writing about the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. She serves on the boards of the University of South Florida Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications Advisory Council, The Institute for Research in Art (Graphicstudio, the Contemporary Art Museum, and USF’s Public Art Program) Community Advisory Council, Sing Out and Read, and StageWorks Theatre Advisory Council. She also is a member of Leadership Florida and the Athena Society. A graduate of the University of Minnesota with a BA in journalism, she won the top statewide award for editorial writing from the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors while at The Tampa Tribune and received special recognition by the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists for creative work as Content Director at WUSF Public Media. Past accomplishments and community service include leadership positions with Tampa Tiger Bay Club, USF Women in Leadership & Philanthropy (WLP), Alpha House of Tampa Bay, Awesome Tampa Bay, Florida Kinship Center, AIA Tampa Bay, Powerstories, Arts Council of Hillsborough County, and the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce. Diane and her husband, Sandy Rief, live in Tampa.