Final preparations are being made for the annual Pride & Passion event at the Tampa Museum of Art this Saturday, May 21. The celebration of LGBT equality and art is considered the official kickoff to St. Pete Pride month and this year is shaping up to be the largest one yet.
â┚¬Å”As of May 17, we were at around 450 guests in both pre-sale and sponsorship tickets,â┚¬Â said steering committee member Marc Retzlaff. Capacity for the museum is 650 people, which organizers believe is very attainable.
According to Pride & Passion Chair Robert Isles, this is the first time the event has been held on a Saturday. In the past, Pride & Passion was held on Friday nights, which made it difficult for some to attend because of work schedules. This year Pride & Passion begins at 8 p.m. Saturday.
â┚¬Å”Nothing would make us happier than to meet that goal,â┚¬Â Isles said. â┚¬Å”So hopefully everyone will take the challenge to encourage friends, family and others to purchase tickets online and in advance to avoid lines the night of the event.â┚¬ÂÂ
The $75 ticket price includes entry, food and drinks and a one-year annual membership to the Tampa Museum of Art. All of the museum's galleries will be open the night of Pride & Passion, including Degas: Form, Movement and the Antique, which features 47 works by French artist Edgar Degas.
Pride & Passion celebrates diversity in the Tampa Bay community and is the un-official annual kick-off to Gay Pride month in June. The first Pride & Passion, held in June 2006, was the largest one-time membership event ever held at the Tampa Museum of Art. Since then, the event has continued to encourage new memberships and raise funds in support of exhibitions and educational programs. In May 2010, the museum hosted the fifth anniversary of Pride & Passion in the 66,000-square-foot Cornelia Corbett Center, the museum's new home located in downtown Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
Pride & Passion has grown to become the second-largest fundraiser for the museum.
For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit TampaMuseum.org/Events/Pride-Passion.
