Rob Lamke, MOSI
As the COVID-19 pandemic was allowing businesses to reopen in March of 2020, MOSI was looking for ways that we could be a resource for other communities and industries in the Tampa Bay Area. For over 35 years MOSI has been the resource for all things Science, Technology and Innovation, but we wanted to take our ability… our platform, and benefit others who had been impacted. That was the art community.
We partnered with the Epicurean Hotel and TT Art Collective to curate an exhibit at MOSI that featured local talent. In the months prior and even today this has been a deeply impacted community, unable to show works at events and galleries. Plus, it gave us the opportunity to have the conversation about why art is so important to science. Left brain right brain. Design, prototyping, music composition in video games, etc.
This then expanded into our event, A Night At The Museum. Artists were able to safely showcase works of art and sell them. This gave them the opportunity to grow following but more importantly to get back to making a living. Yes, we are not for profit, but we are also a community resource and providing an exhibit and event opportunity like this was at the time one of the greatest ways we could give back during unusual times.
To date we have done 2 of these events and plan for another before the end of the year