TAMPA, Fla. — The Florida Museum of Photographic Arts is set to mark its move to Ybor City with a ribbon cutting on Thursday.
“To me, it makes it really official because the mayor is coming, and it’s hosted by the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce,” FMoPA Executive Consultant Wendy Leigh said. “We’re being welcomed into Ybor City with open arms. It’s like we’re here, we belong.”
The museum’s new location in the historic Kress building was chosen after a two-year search. The area’s walkability was a big plus. Leigh said since opening on Sept. 14, FMoPA has welcomed about 30 people per day on the weekends.
“Thirty walk-ups and first timers. That’s really great,” Leigh said. “Intentionally, people come, but it’s really great to have a first-timer.”
Inside the new space at 1630 E. 7th Ave., visitors can take in the museum’s “Icons in Black and White” exhibit.
“It’s probably some of the most famous photographs in the world, which is amazing because most people often think, when you hear Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, ‘Oh, it’s photographs about Florida or Florida history.’ No — it’s international,” Leigh said.
The other exhibit is “Angelika Kollin: Turning Darkness into Light,” on display until Dec. 10. It’s an exhibit Leigh said she connected with last week after a shooting not far from FMoPA’s new home on East 7th Avenue left a 14- and 20-year-old dead and 16 others injured.
“This over here, ‘Song of Songs,’ is also taken in Africa,” Leigh said, referring to a series of photographs. “This follows the story of a young man who was raised by his grandmother, and this is the one that was very poignant to me, again, the week of the shooting, because here, you know, a young African American 14-year-old boy was shot on the street. It just shows that as humans, we’re connected. There’s hope everywhere, and there’s trauma and tragedy everywhere, and for us to have this — I’m going to get weepy now — for us to have this moment of light in the darkness was very profound.”
Leigh said an opening reception at the museum last Wednesday was bittersweet.
“Just as we opened, the Moms Demand Action walk started literally right here. So, we just stopped and stood and supported them,” she said, referring to a vigil held for the victims.
But Leigh told Spectrum Bay News 9 there were no second thoughts about the museum’s move to Ybor. She said she and staff feel safe in the new location, and the museum’s board of directors penned a letter to the editor of the Tampa Bay Times reinforcing its commitment to the historic district.
“We love our new home on Seventh Avenue in the historic Kress building and know that FMoPA is exactly where it belongs,” the letter states. “Our staff, volunteers, and board of directors are excited and grateful for the role this unique museum will play in helping to make Ybor City the premier cultural center of the Tampa Bay region.”
Leigh said last week’s shooting wasn’t the first time gun violence hit close to home. She said one of her daughters was on Florida State University’s campus when a gunman opened fire in a library in 2014, and her other daughter was supposed to attend class at a Tallahassee yoga studio on the day of a fatal shooting in 2018.
“We couldn’t even speak because we knew had she not been called into work, she would have been in there,” Leigh said of the phone call between her and her daughter after they learned of that shooting. “To bring that back to Ybor, we’re not any more dangerous than the rest of the world.”
The museum has already begun carving out a place for itself in Ybor City. Leigh said it’s welcomed kids for Halloween and more than 100 seniors for its Creative Aging program. She said the new location is meant to be a safe space that will hopefully have a positive impact on its neighborhood and visitors.
