PRODUCED BY HCC ART GALLERIES
Amanda Poss, Arts Director
hccfl.edu/NowOnView @HCCFLartgalleries @hccfl_artgalleries
James Cartwright, Education Coordinator
Jessi Sherbet, Curatorial Assistant
Jennifer Ring, Marketing Coordinator
Piper Harrow, Installation Specialist
Paul Bean, Jose Gelats, Chris Weeks, Jessi Sherbet, James Cartwright, Zaniya Worlds, Victor Giangreco, ZaKariah Lemons, Curtis Davis, Piper Harrow, Christina Acosta, Tracy Midulla
Now On View is a free public art festival organized by HCC Art Galleries. The one-day-only event features six Tampa Bay area artists responding to Tampa’s past, present and future at three Ybor City venues — Kress Contemporary, Hotel Haya, and Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor City campus.
Tampa Bay is among the fastest-growing areas in the nation. Artists of all backgrounds have historically played a crucial role in Tampa’s development, defining the city’s character and driving economic prosperity.
Currently, neighborhoods across Hillsborough County are seeing broad transformations in terms of both built and human environments. As the region undergoes immense change from rapid development, we look to artists to navigate these shifting landscapes.
In this pivotal moment in Tampa Bay history where large-scale projects such as the proposed Gas Worx community in Ybor and the expansion of Downtown Tampa’s Riverwalk will have generational influence, questions of representation, sustainable growth, and inclusivity are perhaps more relevant than ever. An ephemeral art festival like Now On View sheds light on these important topics by creating a space for critical dialogue that is culturally engaged, community-driven, and accessible to a wide range of audiences.
@emmaquintana.art @gabaldondances
Emma Quintana is the University of Tampa’s digital fabrication coordinator. Her work is collaborative and integrates digital and traditional materials and processes.
Amanda Gabaldon is an interdisciplinary dance artist, educator, choreographer and arts journalist. Her specializations include choreography for alternative/site-specific spaces, brain-compatible pedagogy and community dance teaching, dance in popular culture research, dance criticism and writing.
JEHOSHAPHAT JACINTO & TAMPA’S STREET DANCE COMMUNITY
@disfunktionalstampa
Jehoshaphat “Jep” Jacinto is a dancer and educator based in Plant City, Florida. As a dancer and educator, his mission is to empower individuals through the transformative art of street dance. His work focuses on bridging cultural gaps and fostering inclusivity by teaching styles such as Locking, Popping and Breaking to underserved youth. Through performances, workshops and community outreach, he aims to celebrate and preserve the rich heritage of street dance while inspiring others to embrace their unique voices.
FAX 727 289 3069 @fax7272893069
Artists and poets Tyler Gillespie, Keifer Calkins and Eleanor Eichenbaum formed FAX 727 in 2024 after Calkins bought his first fax machine. The trio has been flyering the alleyway between Central Avenue and First Avenue South in St. Pete — now Poetry Alley — ever since. The project’s goal: to help people reconnect with art, poetry and each other in an isolating digital landscape.
Kali Rabaut is a botanical artist currently living in Tampa, Florida. She is a farmer and a florist, creating floral art that connects us more deeply to the seasons and each other. She has created floral installations all around Tampa Bay, including for Now on View in 2024 and Art in Bloom at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg. Prior to her flower chapter, Kali enjoyed singing and dancing on stages around Tampa Bay, such as Stageworks, freeFall Theatre, the Straz and Busch Gardens. She’s grateful to her family for supporting her in all her artistic endeavors despite sometimes not having anywhere to sit because every square surface of the house is filled with flowers.
Erin Lekovic (formerly Austin) is a Tampabased playwright, producer, and educator. As a self-proclaimed DIY theatre-maker, she co-founded site-specific theatre companies Living Room Playmakers and Second Site (second-site.org). She’s taught dramatic writing and theatre at Saint Leo University, Straz Center and Northwestern University. She holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Miami and an MFA in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern.
Tampa native, Victoria Alvarez is an advocate in the local and national queer communities that span from the Tampa Bay Area, Washington DC and New York. Since moving back home in 2016 she used her background in graphic design to create digital and print media for drag queens, restaurants, fundraisers and large community events for the LGBTQ+ community. She provides these skills to the community because there is a lack of businesses and services that offer spaces that are free from judgment, discrimination and harm.
1411 E. 11th Ave.
LEGACY SYSTEMS
By Emma Quintana and Amanda Gabaldon
RESILIENT RHYTHMS
By Jehoshaphat Jacinto & Tampa’s street dance community 2001 N. 14th St.
1412 E. Seventh Ave.
EVERYTHING IS BUILT ON LAYERS ON TOP OF OTHER LAYERS ON TOP OF OTHER LAYERS
By FAX 727 289 3069
THE COSMOS
By Kali Rabaut
1624 E. Seventh Ave.
YBOR INTERRUPTED
By Erin Lekovic
BACK TO BLACK
By Victoria Alvarez FIESTA DAY
Seventh Avenue
Between 15th & 21st St.
Ybor Chamber’s Fiesta Day is a familyfriendly, free street festival celebrating the Cuban, Italian, Spanish, Jewish and German immigrants that settled in Ybor City in the late 1800’s.
By Dance Professor Amanda Gabaldon, musician Ben Sperduto, and artist Emma Quintana
Arts Building,
This immersive installation explores climate change within Tampa Bay — a region that embodies both the excesses of extreme commercial tourism and the vulnerability of a landscape increasingly shaped by disasters driven by overconsumption.
Through a dynamic fusion of sculpture, video, sound and movement, Legacy Systems examines the paradox of humanmade systems that fuel both economic prosperity and environmental collapse.
Visitors leave with a free postcard designed by Quintana featuring a humorous, retro aesthetic that playfully contrasts Florida’s iconic beach culture with the unpredictability of its severe weather.
HONORING TAMPA’S DIVERSE DANCE VOICES
By Jehoshaphat
Jacinto and Tampa’s street dance community
Ybor Building Patio, 2001 N. 14th St.
This unique, immersive street dance battle celebrates Ybor City’s rich and diverse blend of dance cultures, with a special focus on amplifying the voices and contributions of minorities and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Resilient Rhythms showcases top dancers from various styles thriving in the Tampa area, including Freestyle Hip-Hop, Litefeet, Popping, Locking, Breaking, Vogue, Waacking and House Dance — styles that have been essential expressions for marginalized communities worldwide.
Between rounds, Jacinto and crew will share stories and offer brief “how-to” demos so attendees can try moves alongside the dancers.
A LARGE-SCALE INSTALLATION OF POETRY & ART COLLAGE
By FAX 727 289 3069
Hotel Haya, 1412 E. Seventh Ave.
FAX 727 289 3069 imagines a story of Ybor, referencing many years of history, glimpsed through a window for one afternoon only.
Keifer Calkins, Eleanor Eichenbaum and Tyler Gillespie, known as FAX 727 289 3069, constructed a fictional history of Tampa through layers of handmade fliers — these public postings reflect research in historical archives as well as contemporary imagery. FAX invites viewers to engage with various aspects of Ybor’s vibrant history through text and image, from pirates to punks to lounge singers to cigars.
Outside the Hotel Haya’s Café Quiquiriqui, FAX will greet visitors with poetry on pillars, hanging pennants and free handmade buttons.
By Kali Rabaut
Botanical artist Kali Rabaut creates immersive experiences that connect us to time, place and the natural world. Using Tampagrown botanical elements, she transforms flowers into storytelling devices — helping express what words often cannot.
Her latest installation, an infinity mirror garden, invites guests to step into a mesmerizing floral galaxy, where reflections seem endless, much like the cycles of nature. Every flower in this space begins as a carefully selected and hand-saved seed, nurtured by pollinators, farmers and florists.
As visitors wander through the installation, they become part of this vast web of connectivity — past, present, and future intertwined through the botanical world. And when they leave, they’ll carry that connection forward with a handful of seeds to plant, continuing the cycle of growth and renewal.
By Erin Lekovic
Kress Contemporary, 1624 E. Seventh Ave.
Erin Lekovic invites audiences to embrace — and interrogate — history in a new 15-minute, site-specific play. Inspired by Samuel Kress, the five-and-dime magnate whose store once stood on this very spot, Ybor Interrupted weaves past and present into a layered theatrical experience.
Set in both the 1910s and today, the story follows a newly arrived Samuel Kress as he attempts to charm a cigar factory heiress — while rumors swirl that he’s daring to sell New York cigars in Ybor City. Featuring Annalise Drab as Roberta, Matt Twarog as Samuel Kress, and Dylan Bange as Mira, Ybor Interrupted reimagines history with wit and intrigue. How does Kress’ legacy hold up in the present day? Come see for yourself — performances at 10:45 a.m., 11:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 1:45 p.m.
by Victoria Alvarez
Kress Contemporary, 1624 E. Seventh Ave.
Tampa native and LGBTQIA+ advocate Victoria Alvarez celebrates Tampa’s LGBTQIA+ history with a new temperaturesensitive installation at Kress Contemporary.
Tampa’s LGBTQIA+ community has a long history. The queer pioneers of the 1950s left Tampa with safe spaces, churches and memories that show the queer community was not just a current wave of transplants but something that holds strong in the very fabric of Tampa’s history.
Alvarez shares this history through photographs of Tampa’s LGBTQIA+ community, which she’s collected, collaged and covered in black, heat-sensitive ink. Many were taken at bars and homes, demonstrating that even though many aspects of personal freedoms have been gained, there is still a need for spaces that offer comfort and acceptance.
When cooled, the 10-foot wide by 5-foot-tall poster is completely black. It takes body heat from physical touch to reveal the images underneath. At this size, one person cannot fully reveal the underlying images by themselves before the poster reverts to its black state. This act demonstrates that, as in life, the LGBTQIA+ cannot survive without constant, unwavering support from our surrounding communities. We will disappear behind the black.
1411 E. 11th Ave. @hccfl_vapa
Colloquially referred to as “the arts campus,” HCC Ybor is home to Hillsborough Community College’s Visual and Performing Arts programs. With new programs each month and over 10,000 visitors every year, HCC’s Visual and Performing Arts programs offer the Tampa Bay community affordable dance, music and theatre performances; free arts programming such as artist lectures and panel discussions; workshops; masterclasses and more.
HOTEL HAYA
1412 E. Seventh Ave. @hotelhaya
This uniquely Ybor boutique hotel prides itself on attracting locals with unique dining and entertainment options. They maintain strong ties to Tampa’s art scene via active collaborations with HCC Art Galleries, Creative Mornings Tampa Bay, and local artists and musicians. HCC Art Galleries curates two spaces within the hotel, La Galleria and the Valencia Foyer, where they highlight works by local artists in rotating exhibitions.
KRESS CONTEMPORARY
1624 E. Seventh Ave. @kress_contemporary
Kress Contemporary cultivates a robust arts community in the heart of Ybor City, providing local, emerging, early- and mid-career artists with access to studio space, exhibition opportunities and engaging events that highlight the visual, performing and literary arts. The Seventh Avenue arts hub hosts more than a dozen visual, performing, and literary arts organizations, including Tampa Fringe, Tempus Projects, OXH Gallery, The Growhouse Collective, Heard ‘Em Say Youth Arts Collective, Kitchen Table Literary Arts and the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts.
Max Herman and Jorge Contreras of Tampa Bay Tours lead three free English-language walking tours, beginning at HCC Ybor’s Performing Arts Building, at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., and 12 p.m., during Now on View. A fourth tour, in Spanish, is available at 1 p.m. Tours walk participants through Ybor City, stopping at all three Now On View arts venues and providing fun facts about Ybor’s history along the way.
Reserve your spot at eventbrite.com/o/hcc-art-galleries-29623552403
ARTS COUNCIL (PRIMARY SPONSOR)
hillsborougharts.org @hillsboroughfl
The Hillsborough Arts Council has been enriching the lives of Hillsborough County residents through arts and culture for more than 50 years. They provide an essential support system for local artists, allowing them to thrive and enhance the way Hillsborough County residents live, work and play. They also invest in local artists, arts organizations and arts programs to enhance access to culture in every corner of Hillsborough County. Whether you’re an organization, a local artist, or an art lover, the Hillsborough Arts Council exists to ignite the arts within all of us.
TEMPUS PROJECTS (VENUE SPONSOR)
tempus-projects.com @tempus_projects
Tempus Projects is dedicated to nurturing established and emerging local, national and international artists through exhibitions, collaborations, residencies and events. The non-profit organization promotes artists working in all media, and originates, organizes and hosts exhibitions that engage the Tampa Bay community through the arts. Their vision is to foster a vibrant and critical arts nexus that connects grassroots efforts to an international arts dialogue through innovative, equitable programming.
CREATIVE LOAFING TAMPA (MEDIA SPONSOR)
cltampa.com @cltampabay
Creative Loafing (CL) is an award-winning alternative, weekly newspaper and website committed to providing Tampa Bay with an independent perspective, up-to-the-minute local news, and a comprehensive listing of local happenings.
BAY ART FILES (MEDIA SPONSOR)
bayartfiles.com @BayArtFiles
Bay Art Files encourages and recognizes cultural events and organizations in the Tampa Bay area through thoughtful writing.
