Nearly 800 people filled the Tampa Museum of Art May 19 for the gallery's Pride & Passion LGBT fundraiser, which was a rousing success according to organizers.
â┚¬Å”We couldn't be happier,â┚¬Â said event chair Robin Sharp, who mingled with a diverse crowd of lesbians, gay men and straight allies to culminate a year of planning for the event, now in its seventh year.
Pride & Passion served as the official kick-off event for St. Pete Pride and saw Alex Sink and Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn in attendance.
“Everyone looked so great, and the performances, the vignettes, everything was centered around passion,” said steering committee member Mariruth Kennedy.
While Sharp said there’s still room for the party to grow on the museum’s veranda, how large Pride & Passion endeavors to become will be a topic of conversation at the first meeting of next year’s steering committee. Final fundraising figures will be announced in the coming weeks, as will next year's chair.
Upstairs in the museum, the subject was also chairs. New to gallery is the furniture design exhibition â┚¬Å”A Hundred Yearsâ┚¬â€Âa Hundred Chairsâ┚¬Â from the Vitra Design Museum.
Many partygoers climbed the gorgeous atrium staircase to view the equally engaging chairs presented in a swirling array and highlighting the dynamic nature of the pieces.
At other points during the evening, The New Century Dance Company emerged down those stairs to engage the audience in numbers such as the dazzling “Fire.”
Since Saturday’s weather proved more humid than last year, more people stayed inside, where performance artists vamped and preened to the audience’s delight.
“I really want to thank the community for their support,” Sharp said. “This is the seventh year of Pride & Passion and for it to grow to this level would never have been possible without the community. The talented steering committee and host committee also worked so hard. We are so fortunate to be affiliated with them. It’s been such a great experience.”
Many first-time and returning supporters mixed and mingled, including Josh Rodriguez and Randy Ganz, co-workers from Level Salon and Spa in Hyde Park.
“It’s just a lovely event,” Ganz said, who supported the event for the first time and also gained a year’s membership to the museum as part of the bargain.
â┚¬Å”It's the second-largest fundraiser for the museum,â┚¬Â said Sharpe of the museum under the leadership of Todd Smith.
“It’s nice to be able to say this was the official kick-off event to St. Pete Pride,” Sharp said.
