COMMUNITY

OUTREACH

GFA is committed to connecting with the community in a variety of ways that are year-round and help extend our reach beyond the Festival. Our Community Engagement activities include the Young Artists Expo, Scholarships, and Permanent Art Installations programs, as well as actions nurturing relationships with local arts organizations. Additionally, we have a Community Outreach Village at the Festival that is home to the Young Artists Expo, Children’s Activities, Art Collectors in Training, and several organizations focused on showcasing artists with disabilities, including the MacDonald Training Center, Arts4All Florida, and Pyramid, Inc.

COLLEGIATE SCHOLARSHIPS

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. believes that art has the power to enrich lives and transform communities.  I GFA connects people with art, creates an environment for artists to flourish, and supports art education through our annual festival and year-round programs.

We celebrate an inclusive and vibrant Tampa Bay community where art and people thrive.

Five GFA Collegiate Scholarships are being offered to further this mission by assisting local undergraduate and graduate students to pursue an education and a career in visual art.

Application Requirements

Applicants must be pursuing an associate, bachelor, or graduate degree with a declared major in fine arts, including studio art in the disciplines we feature at the Festival: ceramics, digital, drawing, fiber, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor, and wood. Students only minoring in visual art fields are not eligible for the scholarship.

Applicants must be 18 years of age or older, enrolled as a full-time student in an institution of higher education located in Hillsborough or Pinellas County, and be in good academic standing.

The scholarship will be awarded based on demonstrated artistic talent, determined at the sole discretion of the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts, Inc. Applicants must submit a minimum of three (3) and a maximum of five (5) images of their work (1 image each of 3-5 different pieces). Although no essay is required, applicants should submit a brief description accompanying each image (fewer than 100 words for each) and a brief artist statement explaining their aspirations for a future art career.

By applying for the GFA Collegiate Scholarship, the applicant agrees that the images submitted to GFA may be used on the GFA website, on social media, in press releases, or for any other purpose related to its scholarship program or for promoting GFA; however, all artwork and its likeness shall remain the sole property of the applicant.

Have Questions?

Any questions regarding the GFA Collegiate Scholarship program should be submitted to programs@gasparillaarts.com

The 2025 Scholarship application deadline is March 9, 2025. 

Don’t wait, apply today!

Scholarships are supported by:

  • John and Judy Scheffel in memory of Harold & Joyce Scheffel

  • Jeremy Donimirski

  • Harold, Dixie, Alexis & Harrison Mootoo

  • Sandra Sroka

  • The Zumbano Family

  • The Roddy Brownlee Reed Memorial Fund

2024 Scholarship Winners

2024 Jurors: Dolores Coe and Bruce Marsh 

Mercado-Lues, GFA Collegiate Scholarship Winner 2024
Rivera-Alvarez, GFA Scholarship Winner 2024
My Thi Nguyen, GFA Collegiate Scholarship 2024
Ritornaro, GFA Collegiate Scholarship Winner 2024
GFA 54 Scholarship art- silver vase with lemons

2023 Scholarship Winners

Alaniss Viera, GFA 2023 Collegiate Art Scholarship Winner
Alissa Pradera, GFA 2023 Collegiate Art Scholarship Winner
Delaney Hatfield, GFA 2023 Collegiate Art Scholarship Winner

2022 Scholarship Winners

Jessie Goldstein, GFA Emerging Artist 2022
Lee Pearson, GFA 2022 Collegiate Art Scholarship Winner
Natasha Rivera-Alvarez, GFA 2022 Collegiate Art Scholarship Winner

PERMANENT ART

As an extension of our mission to enhance the Tampa Bay area’s cultural arts and to have a lasting impact in the community, GFA is endeavoring to create Permanent Art Installations in all areas of the community. While a relatively new initiative for the organization, it is hoped that we can fund at least one new installation each year.

The GFA Permanent Art program is generously supported by sponsors Johnson, Newlon & Decort, PA, Karen Price and Campengia Sugar-van Calcar

YOUNG ARTISTS EXPO

GFA’s Young Artists Expo (formerly Scholastic Showcase), which debuted in 2017, gives our community’s youngest artists an opportunity to display their artwork at the Festival. We hope this experience encourages them to pursue their artistic talents and helps them recognize that becoming an artist is attainable and rewarding. 

High School Program
  • Participants represent public schools in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Manatee, and Sarasota counties.
  • Up to ten works of art per county are submitted to GFA.
  • Allowable mediums: ceramic, digital, drawing, fiber, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, watercolor, and wood
  • Works on display are purely for artist participation. Accordingly, the artwork will not be available for sale during the Festival.
  • The works will be judged by the festival juror. The creator of three winning pieces will be awarded $1,000 each and each corresponding school will receive $2,000 each for its visual arts program.
K-12 Art Doodad Competition

For the 2024 Festival, GFA presentsd the annual Doodad Repurposed Sculpture Competition. Since 2012, Doodads has inspired students to create imaginative sculptures repurposing common objects, or “doodads” following a specific theme. Open to K-12 students attending public, private, charter and home schools in Hillsborough County, the competition challenges them to think beyond traditional art materials. The goals for the competition are to enhance students’ creative expression skills, confidence, and self-esteem, leading to a life-long appreciation and love of art as they build skills that will be useful in whatever field of endeavor they choose. 

Details for the 2025 competition will be released closer to festival weekend.

Publix Super Markets Charities logo
The Doodad Repurposed Sculpture Competiton was generously supported by Banker, Lopez & Gassler and Publix Super Markets Charities.
Tampa Bay Lightning logo
The 2024 Young Artists Expo was generously sponsored by the Vinik Family Foundation and the Lightning Foundation.

LOCAL ARTISTS SPOTLIGHT

Established in 2020, the Local Artists Spotlight Program showcases five local artists by inviting them to participate in the festival, allowing festival-goers to see some of the beautiful and provocative work that is being produced in our backyard.

Local artists are also featured during festival weekend in Remote Studios. The Raymond James Gasparilla Festival of the Arts invites five artists to set up a working studio at the festival. Festival attendees get a rare live look at the creative process. See our Live Entertainment page for our 2024 Remote Studio artist schedule.

Logo Gobioff Foundation
The Tampa Bay Local Artists Spotlight was founded with generous support from the Gobioff Foundation

Blanket Approval

Blanket Approval is a 4-piece indie rock band from New York City. They formed in 2021 when lead singer Jack Matteucci took a collection of demos recorded in the basement of his physics lab, moved to Brooklyn, and met drummer/singer Joey Hadden. The two were later joined by bassist Max Mena and keyboardist/guitarist/singer Rahul Chakraborty.  The group has played dozens of shows around New York City and the Northeast, from Burlington to Baltimore. They’ve released 10 singles to date, blending hard rock with tight melodies and groovy bass lines; drawing from influences like Portugal. The Man and Franz Ferdinand.

The Savants

The Savants are a nine piece southern soul group from Gainesville, FL. They perform original soul music inspired by the Muscle Shoals Sound as well as the iconic and legendary music that came out of labels like Stax Records and Atlantic Records during the 1960s & 1970s.

Formed in 2011 in Gainesville, FL, the group has undergone several personal changes over the years but settled into its current lineup around 2020.

The band has made its presence felt around the southeast, notably playing Red Gorilla at SXSW in 2017, Suwannee Hulaween in 2016 and Changeville in its hometown in 2018 and 2016. Along the way they have been featured alongside groups such as; Gary Clark Jr., Durand Jones and the Indications, St. Paul and the Broken Bones, Kendra Morris, Charles Bradley and His Extraordinares, George Porter Jr of the Meters, The Original Wailers, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Postmodern Jukebox and more.

TV Breakup Scene

Tv Breakup Scene is an indie pop punk band from Tampa, FL inspired by Paramore with a gaze-y twist. After a year of writing they finally made their debut with their new release Troubled Mind!

Nick Ewing

Music’s ability to release energy within us is overwhelming. Capturing moments of emotion and expression to elicit that reaction is such a joyful honor. It’s allowed me to connect, create, and cultivate so many beautiful experiences. Let this be with you… Cheers!

Mia Marlene

Danish-American, California-born, and Florida-raised multi-instrumentalist Mia Marlene offers a vibrant sonic world through her indie pop music, which is infused with hues of 1980’s synth pop and lush, captivating melodies. Her self-produced debut album, “good for my art,”  features songs about living abroad, creative aspirations, and terrible exes (because, well, you know).

Mia Marlene’s music is anchored in her many experiences living in London, Copenhagen, Colorado, and Washington D.C.; places that shaped her sonic vision and imprinted onto her the wealth of the human experience, and how all of these experiences can serve as creative fuel for songwriting and music-making.

Prizilla

PRIZILLA is a pop-soul whirlwind, where horns wail, melodies sparkle, and every beat feels like an invitation. With a microphone in one hand and a saxophone in the other, she leads her band through a kaleidoscope of pop, funk, and soul, crafting music that’s as bold as it is unforgettable. It’s a sound that dances between the playful and the profound, wrapping stories in irresistible rhythms that refuse to stand still.

 Since releasing PEOPLE PERSON, their debut EP, the band has been turning heads and moving feet. With over 50,000 fans following along online, PRIZILLA has earned a reputation for live shows that are part concert, part catharsis, and entirely unmissable.

  The band has shared stages with Nick Hakim and Madison McFerrin, lit up NYC with Couch and The Retrograde, and shaken the rafters with St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Flipturn at FL Fin Fest. PRIZILLA shows no signs of stopping, proving that music isn’t just something you hear—it’s something you feel. And they feel it. This is music for anyone who craves the unexpected, the unforgettable, and the kind of energy that makes you lose track of time. Come for the sax solos; stay for the magic.

Pusha Preme

The Bronx New York-based singer-producer Pusha Preme has been making waves with his delicate blend of heartfelt melodies; Goal-oriented lyrics, and harmonies that reel you in like a fish on a hook. Above all, Pusha’s music is often praised for its high intimacy and familiar themes that find their way to a special place in the listener’s heart.

MK Blessed

Mk Blessed was born in Congo Kinshasa in Sep 18th  He is a singer/songwriter and a speaker who started writing songs at the age of 7 and taught them to His Church worship team, which enjoyed singing His songs.

He formed His first Music group at the Age of 10 and was doing secular music.

When He was 13 he fled his home country and went to a Refugee camp due to war, He lived there for 10 years and then immigrated to the USA in 2016, though He has been writing for a while Mk Blessed released His first single on Dec,  4 2021 entitled Faithful God.

MK blessed is a husband of one wife and a father of two girls, He went to Kampala High School and later attended Bible college in Uganda East Africa, He is a founder of a non profit organization named Fociom that shares love with the underprivileged of the world like himself, Mk Blessed passion is to help others.

Izzy Bradburn

Singer, songwriter, guitarist. I aim to write emotional music that addresses the world we live in and how it makes us all feel.

Boho Sideshow

This unique & unscripted collection of Sideshow characters are of various talents and backgrounds to make for a spectacle of amazing musical entertainment. Experience the anecdotal mishaps from the wild to the fantastical. Boho Sideshow comes from parts unknown, but are known for performing an exhibition of Eclectic Americana Music.

Fabiola Méndez

FABIOLA MÉNDEZ is a Puerto Rican cuatrista, singer, educator, and Emmy-nominated composer. Her artistic vision and original music focus on the exploration of her culture, her ancestry, and her identities.

Native to Caguas, PR, Fabiola began playing the cuatro, Puerto Rico’s national instrument, at the age of six. She got her early music trainings at the Antonio Paoli School of Music in Caguas and her Bachelor’s in Music from Berklee College of Music, where in 2018 she made history as the first graduate to play the Puerto Rican cuatro as principal instrument.

Fabiola’s mission has always been to share and celebrate the cuatro, folk music, and collective story-telling. In doing so, she’s had the honor of performing at venues such as the NPR Tiny Desk, Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Celebrity Series of Boston, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Fred Rogers Productions, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, among many others. She has also collaborated with many local and international artists, including the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, Totó La Momposina, Pedro Capó, Andy Montañez, Danny Rivera, Chicago Philharmonic, and the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.

Her list of recordings include: Herencia Criolla (2009), Al Otro Lado Del Charco (2019), Afrorriqueña (2021), and Flora Campesina (2024). In 2022, she produced her first
documentary “Negrura”, showcasing Afro-Latinx stories in topics around colorism and discrimination within our own communities.

In recent years, she’s had the honor of receiving recognitions such as the Quincy Jones Award, ambassador for the Puerto Rican Day Parade in NYC, the Brother Thomas Fellowship, the Whippoorwill Arts Fellowship, and the ASCAP Foundation Lucille and Jack Yellen Award 2022. She was also nominated for a Children’s and Family Emmy in the category of Outstanding Interactive Media and won the “Latin Artist of the Year 2023” by the Boston Music Awards. Her music is featured on the film Beautiful, FL (Disney+), on the tv shows Alma’s Way, Work It Out Wombats (PBS Kids), and Mecha Builders (HBO Max), as well as indie films, jingles, and TV commercials.