Originating in Hawaii in 2010 as POW! WOW! Worldwide, Worldwide Walls festivals take place in over 17 cities around the world. Pow Wow Worldwide was conceptualized and started by artist
Jasper Wong. In 2019, the director of Mergeculture gallery and other community leaders reached out to the Pow Wow! team and saw an opportunity for Tampa. With the unique challenges of the Tampa Bay art community and the collaborative spirit that Worldwide Walls events require to cultivate success, the time for the first festival was ripe in 2022. A community of artists, curators and professionals came together to bring the movement to Tampa to enhance the inspirational opportunities for public art in Hillsborough County, and our region. Tampa Wall! has the support of these major entities and organizations:
Support:
• The City of Tampa
• Tampa Art Alliance
• St. Pete Art Alliance
• The Tampa Downtown Partnership
• Westshore Alliance
+ many other private and public organizations.
Objectives and Goals:Our goal is to inspire communities through public art, to collaborate with businesses, corporations, private residents, building owners, neighborhood associations, schools, and other combinations of the shared love for creating inspiring places to live and work, by looking at ways to add art to our communities.
For one week each year, we bring together local and visiting artists to learn about our city and then set them free to turn communities in Tampa into public art galleries available to all. Along with the murals, our festival features live music events, educational programming, artist talks, and more.
We are excited for the opportunities that this initiative brings to Tampa, and look forward to the many years of collaboration between artists and musicians with our communities, and the new ideas that Tampa Walls! inspires. All solutions are creative solutions - Art changes our minds, our communities, and the world.
