- Field Day |
- Buildings Alive |
- Visions |
- CLGBT |
- Green Community |
- Fun & Free S#!T |
- Crossword |
- CL Space |
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tampa actor Ami Sallee Corley asks: Why do we stay?
Posted by amisalleecorley on Sun, Jan 25, 2009 at 2:24 PM
[Editor's Note: Ami Sallee Corley is an actor, a teacher and now a blogger for CL. (That's Ami in the photo at left with Drew DeCaro, Bechir Sylvain and Petrus
Antonius, fellow members of the cast of Gorilla Theatre's recent Six Degrees of Separation.) I'm pleased to have her join the conversation, which she begins with a particularly cogent question for area artists.]
In a city where an artist's choice is to survive on crumbs or leave, why would anyone want to stay and starve as an artist in Tampa?
I believe there are some pretty fantastic reasons out there.
If we are to build a thriving, sustainable arts and culture scene here in Tampa, we should at first focus on what makes it tempting to stay. Here goes.
- I stay because arts education departments make it possible for artists to work with Tampa's future artists: The Patel Conservatory, Ruth Eckerd Hall, American Stage
- I stay because I can put my numerous administrative skills to good use: The Patel's Access Arts Scholarship Program, Deep Carnivale Literacy Festival, Festival of the Moving Image, Jobsite's Board of Directors
- I stay because new companies are arriving in sturdy condition while current companies are stepping into new and improved spaces: Free Fall Theater, The Ritz, American Stage, Stageworks
- I stay because directors, actors and designers have options for creating gainful employment: The Gorilla Theater, American Stage, Eckerd Theater Company
- I stay because I am enlightened and inspired by the art that my friends and colleagues create right here in our backyard: Jobsite 5 Art, The Arts Emporium, Moving Current Dance Collective, Maggie Council, to name just a few of the many magnificent artists and companies.
- I stay because this community made a home for me. I feel it my responsibility as a resident artist to contribute to the potential for us to be a thriving, sustainable arts community .
I recently had the pleasure of taking on a fantastic character in Six Degrees of Separation in addition to working side-by-side with two of my college mentors and one of my students, creating what we had taught each other to create. Understanding why I stay was never so clear.
I'm sure you've got some great reasons, too. Why do you stay?
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
As I'm not a performing artist, I'll excuse myself from the question as it wouldn't really apply in my particular field. ;) That said, I am sincerely thankful for you and all the other artists like you who decide to stay in Tampa Bay. I could never call a city without the arts home. Great post, Ami! Looking forward to more.
like
dislike
Ami, thanks for your thoughts. I agree that those who have chosen to live here must continue to do our best to share in supporting all the components of our artistic community in the Tampa Bay area. I include all mediums in that term; musicians, dancers, actors, filmmakers, writers, poets, visual artists... While the Tampa Bay area has developed its large cultural institutions it has tended to overlook or offer little support to the many unique and talented individuals, groups and collectives that form constantly. I and fellow artists have discussed, over the past number of years, the sense of an inferiority complex within our arts community. The sense that Tampa wasn’t as cool a place, or important as, well, you name it. But we’ve also noticed the lifting of that complex in recent years. I think it has been the result of the area art scene taking responsibility for ourselves, committing energy and time into creating and marketing our own spaces/exhibitions/ performances, developing a creative business sense, and recognizing the benefit of living in a place where we can grow as we chose to grow. We also have the benefit of an amazing community radio station, arts councils and the magazine supporting this blog. All this has made for an independent, resilient network of artists who have learned, or are learning, the necessity in supporting each other. This includes nurturing, sharing experiences with and teaching emerging talent while cultivating each other’s genuine talents. It also includes putting our personal dollars and time to best use by showing up to see or help others make something happen in the arts. Working in the arts is deeply challenging and thus my attraction. Economically, it has always felt like living in a deep recession. But the sparks of creativity generated by our arts community illuminates, transforms and enriches the Tampa Bay area. It makes me happy to be part of that and that’s why I stay.
It's Florida. Can't freeze. Won't starve. Sweetest, hippest audience in the world.
I'm here because Tampa is a place where things still seem artistically possible. You get to define your own terms, or at least raise your voice loud enough to be heard. And I forgot to go home.
This is a question I often ask myself as a young theatre person who has friends who are constantly urging me forward. I stay because I am learning more here through working. In another city with a larger market I could be just as busy trying to get work as I am now working. I have had the pleasure of acting,designing, directing, producing, teaching, and teching. Where in Chicago I got maybe two out of the six. (And the quality of the work wasn't any different. Not better, not worse. Just stiffer competetion with more difficulty breaking in to the groups that were there. And of course there were a plethora of groups in Chicago, where here there are only a handful.....I can think of 5 that pay within the Bay area. Chicago had over a hundred paying companies.) I'm not a super-talent by anymeans, I just hustle as best as I can. And it is a constant hustle for very little pay. Although, I have just made a pact this year that I will not be doing anything for free. No matter how friendly people can be, it just isn't worth it at the end of the month when Geraldine, my land-lady wants the rent. Don't get me wrong, I want to do more, and here I can. However I am so close to absolute poverty that I may have to jump ship and take my act on the road. I can see the benefit of living poor if it means I'm doing what I love. Many other Americans don't want such an imbalanced life. And believe me Tampa's prices don't keep me here. I lived comfortably in Chicago on a tighter budget than I have now. Why do I stay?....I'm still asking in the hopes that something will pop up that is concrete.
I'm staying because I believe this area is full of potential. It's a place where if you can dream it, you can do it - provided you have a plan, find the right people to surround yourself with, work hard, never take no for an answer and maybe have more than a little luck at your side. I stay because I don't know where else I could have done what I am doing now. A much bigger city would have certainly made it a lot harder, even if the rewards would have also been greater if things had worked out the way intended. It's difficult to move to New York, LA, Chicago or Seattle and start a theater. It wasn't - in the long run - so difficult here. I decided I'd learned what I could from school for where I was at in that moment of my life and I just wasn't very interested in helping someone else realize their dreams. I had dreams of my own. Growing up in Jacksonville and coming to Tampa every year for State Thespian Festival, this seemed like such a metropolis from what I knew. Coming back to it later, it felt like a city on the brink. 10 years later and we're still on the brink, sure enough, but I certainly feel closer to right side of the spectrum than when I moved back. It takes a lot of dedicated work, great consistency and an indomitable spirit to push through and persevere, but I feel like the rewards are well worth it. This is made easier for me since I have a steady job that allows me the freedom to realize these dreams. Money could be better all around. There could still be more people going to the theater, more people making contributions and more businesses and officials that truly appreciate the importance of the arts in a community - but I still feel like there is progress here. We do a little better and a little better year by year. We improve what we do and how we do it year by year. We're able to pay our artists more and get the financial base we need with consistency. I'm patient with the company. I'm steady in my commitment to what we started. I'm patient with Tampa. I'm able to do all of this because this crazy dream is a reality, imperfect as it might be, and improving all the time. I have a home and a family here. I have great friends and spots I feel a kinship to. Tampa is more mine than Jacksonville can ever be. I get to have my cake and eat it to with my family and place of birth a mere 3.5 hours away. Just far enough to feel independent and just close enough when it counts. Why leave and start all over? Why abandon what I've pumped my heart and soul into for this long - because it isn't happening fast enough? Because it could be better and the grass is greener in some other field? I believe that Tampa will "arrive", and I will be sitting right here when tit happens and dare I say I hope I'm part of making that happen. I'm committed. I'm resolved. And I believe anyone else in any artistic field can do the same thing if they put their minds and spirit into it. That may sound a little Pollyanna, but there it is.
Latest in Daily Loaf
-
Final thoughts after a January drought
Salut, Louise Rocco! Her postmortem on the Dry January experience.
-
Two Big Mouths #91 Now Live
-
Musking up with pheromones: Is Erox a real life 'Sex Panther'?
What happens when you drink and dust yourself with human pheromones.
- More »
Top Commenters
