May 30, 2018 – (Tampa, FL) Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts, “TBBCA”, proudly announces that its Charlie Hounchell Art Stars Scholarships program recently awarded $15,000 in six talent and merit based fine and performing arts scholarships to five graduating seniors and one junior, all from public high schools in the Tampa Bay area, to help them pursue higher education in the arts. The scholarships were presented at the CHASS awards ceremony and talent showcase on Thursday, May 17. The recipients in each category were introduced by the judges, distinguished experts in their respective fields – Dawne Wisner Eubanks, Lisa Unger, Helen Hansen French, Eugenie Bondurant, Paul Wilborn, and Joanna Robotham. Over 150 guests, including TBBCA – Americans for the Arts national pARTnership Movement businesses and community leaders, attended the event and reception that were generously sponsored by Mrs. Carolyn Wilson and The Wilson Co. and hosted at The Vault, a premium catering and events venue in downtown Tampa.
The 2018 TBBCA Charlie Hounchell Art Stars Scholarships recipients are:
• Taylor Aronson, Vocal Music (PCCA Gibbs High School Salutatorian Class 2018)
• Jaimar Alvarez, Literary Arts (Howard W. Blake High School Class of 2018)
• Samantha Frost, Dance (Howard W. Blake High School Class of 2018)
• Noa Friedman, Theatre (Valedictorian, Howard W. Blake High School Class of 2018)
• David Mason, Instrumental Music (PCCA Gibbs High School Class 2018)
• James Pursley, Visual Arts (Keystone Prep Class of 2019)
The Art Stars Scholarships Program was founded by TBBCA Past President, the late Charlie Hounchell, and is chaired by Stephen Gay, TBBCA Board Director and Vice Chair. “While 2018 marks 5 years since Charlie’s sad and untimely passing, it also highlights 10 years of TBBCA awarding over 60 scholarships in 6 different fine and performing arts disciplines – helping students, the majority from public schools, defray tuition expenses at prestigious colleges, universities and conservatories across the nation,” Mr. Gay remarked as he presented the awards. “This valuable TBBCA program provides some of the Tampa Bay area’s most talented and deserving students with life-changing experiences, not only because of the critical financial assistance, but also because it connects them to judges who are renowned in their fields and can serve as mentors, and to a network of other young talented peer awardees.”
TBBCA Executive Director Susana Weymouth added in addressing the scholarship recipients directly, “Today we send a clear message to you our talented youth. You belong to a community of business and organizational leaders that believes in you and supports you as you approach your higher education empowered with confidence, continue to reach for excellence, reaffirm your pursuit of future careers in the arts, and strengthen the fabric of our society.”
About TBBCA
Tampa Bay Businesses for Culture & the Arts – TBBCA – is a 501(c) (3) founded in 1989, one of 11 national Business Committees for the Arts, part of the private sector network and national pARTnership Movement of Americans for the Arts. TBBCA’s mission is to unite Tampa Bay businesses to champion arts and culture for a prosperous community, based on the philosophy that ‘the arts are good for business and business is good for the arts’. TBBCA pARTnerships and programs make the community better and stronger by connecting the private sector in support of arts education, artists, and arts and cultural organizations and their programming and initiatives, throughout the greater Tampa Bay area. For more information about TBBCA or to donate to scholarships visit www.tbbca.org or email susanaweymouth@tbbca.org or call 813-221-2787.