St. Petersburg Arts Alliance announces 2020 Grant Awardees
Source/Author: The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance
May 28, 2020
The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance partnered with the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs to establish an Individual Artist Grant Program in 2015. For the sixth year, with an additional donation from the Consoni Family, the Alliance was able to increase the number of $1,000 grants from 15 to 20. The grants are intended to provide financial assistance to St. Petersburg artists for projects that support public engagement of their work in visual arts, dance, music, digital arts and theater. This year’s grant recipients include:
William Leavengood '78 and composer Constantine Grame, will present GASPARILLA: THE MUSICAL in a workshop in the form of a reading/singing of the musical in the Palladium’s Hough Hall. This workshop will be free and open to the public to allow for feedback and to gauge audience reaction to the piece. It will provide employment to local actors, and like other plays and musicals that are St. Petersburg- and Florida-based, it provides the community with increased historical knowledge and pride in local arts and artists.
The longer term goal is to mount a full production of the musical in St. Petersburg in 2021.
Leavengood, himself a Chargers Alumnus, previously produced "Webb's City: The Musical, a Concert Version" and "Crossing the Bay" at The Palladium (among others), both historical fiction musicals set in the Tampa Bay area. As Stage Director of "West Side Story" at The Palladium, he received the Outstanding Director award from Theatre Tampa Bay. All three shows featured Shorecrest Chargers in the casts and crew.
Opera Director, accompanist and voice coach Constantine Grame has provided musical conduction and accompaniment for many Shorecrest Performing Arts productions. He and Leavengood previously collaborated on "Drilled! The Musical," a rollicking political satire that skewers right and left-wing fanatics, the health care system, and dentists.
William Leavengood '78 and composer Constantine Grame, will present GASPARILLA: THE MUSICAL in a workshop in the form of a reading/singing of the musical in the Palladium’s Hough Hall. This workshop will be free and open to the public to allow for feedback and to gauge audience reaction to the piece. It will provide employment to local actors, and like other plays and musicals that are St. Petersburg- and Florida-based, it provides the community with increased historical knowledge and pride in local arts and artists.
The longer term goal is to mount a full production of the musical in St. Petersburg in 2021.
Leavengood, himself a Chargers Alumnus, previously produced "Webb's City: The Musical, a Concert Version" and "Crossing the Bay" at The Palladium (among others), both historical fiction musicals set in the Tampa Bay area. As Stage Director of "West Side Story" at The Palladium, he received the Outstanding Director award from Theatre Tampa Bay. All three shows featured Shorecrest Chargers in the casts and crew.
Opera Director, accompanist and voice coach Constantine Grame has provided musical conduction and accompaniment for many Shorecrest Performing Arts productions. He and Leavengood previously collaborated on "Drilled! The Musical," a rollicking political satire that skewers right and left-wing fanatics, the health care system, and dentists.
