Arts Council Gears Up for Festival

When Anne Green joined the Temple Terrace Arts Council 15 years ago, she was looking for a way to help educate the community about art.

Green, who is now on the Temple Terrace Arts Council board, is working around the clock for the organization’s largest annual event, the 38th annual Temple Terrace Community Arts Festival, which will take place at Riverhills Park on Nov. 12 and 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

The proceeds from the festival allow the Arts Council to offer various arts programs for the community. The proceeds are also saved up and used to commission artists to do local projects around the Temple Terrace community, including the children’s library murals and the origami outside of the .

According to Green, the Temple Terrace Arts Council is instrumental in keeping the community active within the area of the arts, including hosting educational art workshops and classes.

“We are proud to provide a continuing avenue for the expression and appreciation of art in many forms,” Green said.

Members of the Temple Terrace Arts Council are also involved with art classes that are offered to children in the community, to help them gain a better understanding of art.

“With the budget cuts in the schools, a lot of the children are missing those classes,” Green said. “Some children are not academically inclined, but they are artistically inclined, and it gives them a boost to be able to do something that they are good at.”

“We really do try to both expose the community to art but also to educate them about art,” Green added.

The Temple Terrace Arts Council works directly with schools around the community, through its “Fresh Views” program.

“We ask the fifth grade classes in the local schools to have their children submit their work and then we ask two of our artists in our exhibiting if they would judge and then we give a prize to the students who the judges say are showing promise,” she said. “That’s encouraging for the children, and I think it promotes a feeling of wellness and accomplishment for the children. They always look forward to that and they love when their work is showcased.”

The organization has also offered classes at and even bought the school a kiln for its art classes.

According to Green, the Temple Terrace Arts Council participates in an annual project in the children’s area of the .

“This year is just adorable,” she said. “They are going to make hats out of newspaper and it’s just so cute. We encourage them to be creative, and we try to teach them something too.”

Future artists from the area's local elementary schools will be exhibiting their artwork along the riverwalk during the Community Arts Festival. Their art will be judged, and winners will receive awards.

The Arts Council is taking applications from fine and contemporary artists for this year’s Community Arts Festival, a juried fine arts and crafts show. More than $6,000 in awards will be given to participating fine artists at the discretion of experienced art judges. The fee is $125 in the fine art category and $110 in the contemporary art category. The deadline to apply is Oct. 28.

For more information on the Temple Terrace Arts Council or the upcoming Community Arts Festival, call 813-988-2787 or email TTArtFest@gmail.com.