An art teacher and an administrator. • A development director and a marketing executive. • A Fullbright Fellow. • Georgia Vahue has held a number of titles over the years, but the Ruskin Firehouse Cultural Center director says she's not only lucky, but extremely blessed to now have a job that she truly loves.
Since she accepted this position in 2013, the Firehouse has blossomed into an integral part of the SouthShore community. Under her leadership, it has expanded its outreach by offering a wide variety of art, music, and theater events that enhance the lives of people in this area.
Recently, Tampa Bay Times correspondent Kathy Straub spoke with Vahue about her role as the Firehouse Director and how this organization has blossomed as it continues to offer quality cultural activities to the community it serves.
Talk about your background and how your life's journey brought you to the Firehouse.
Well, it's been a long road that started in Tampa. After high school I got a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts/Art History from the University of South Florida. I've always been dedicated to arts in culture and arts education and that led me to my first job as the executive director for the Artist's Alliance in Hyde Park. From there I went to Playmaker's Theater where I was the development director. At this point, I found that the administrative part of the arts seemed to come naturally to me. I was recruited by a retail company to be their marketing/advertising person and learned a lot about business which really served me well later in my non-profit world. I was traveling a great deal in that job and that made it difficult raising my family so when my daughter's elementary school principal offered me a job as the art teacher, I went back to school, got my arts education certification and then for the next 12 years taught art in Hillsborough County. I really loved it. It was so exciting to turn children on to art and to help them realize that art is important and can benefit them all their lives.
My life started to change when I was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship in 1999 and was given the opportunity to do a teacher exchange program with a school in London. Receiving the Fulbright was not only life-changing, the experience that I gained from teaching abroad for a year taught me so much. It was an all-girls school with the majority of my girls being from Bangladesh and Somalia and some east-enders that were English. The cultural differences were wonderful and so interesting.
When I came back from the UK, my life had really changed. I was divorced and somehow reconnected with a friend that I had gone to school with. We were married right after 9/11 happened and decided it was a good time to come back to Florida.
And how did I end up here? I knew Art Keeble who was then the executive director of the Hillsborough County Arts Council who called and told me they were putting together this cultural center and wanted me to come down and look at it. So I applied for the director position and got it. And here I am.
Talk about how you think this community has embraced the Firehouse.
SouthShore has truly embraced it. The number of participants in our programs has increased significantly since 2013. We only had 4 weeks of camp our first year; now we're up to 9 weeks and we're filling them every week. Originally our audience demographic was closer to age 60; now we have expanded to embrace more families with our concerts, our increased number of events for children including our free family functions. The attendance is amazing.
This is obviously the reason for the need for expansion. You have recently acquired the old beauty shop across the street. How will that help with your need for more space?
With this addition, we'll be able to have more programming, more workshops. We can use that as studio space because we're just running out of room here.
What has been the biggest challenge in sustaining the substantial growth you've seen over the past few years?
One of the biggest challenges is probably reaching the public. We still hear, "Well, I didn't even know you were here." We publicize in a number of venues but most of the people hear about us from their friends. We're in the papers and we do have a website. Our budget has certainly grown along with our audience. When I came here, our biggest budget was 300,000. We're very sound financially but we're still going to need capital to make the renovations we need inside the new building.
How has the support you have received from institutions like the Straz, USF, and HCC impacted your mission here?
The Straz has certainly been number one in helping us. Their theater, musical theater and improv outreach has just blossomed. The parents love it and so do the children. The Straz has added a musical lecture series once a month that's free for adults. It's all about different genres of music and musical history. They bring in the Tampa Opera for performances that are also free. We recently formed a partnership with the Tampa Museum of Art and they provide an instructor for art classes. What's really exciting is that we are currently in talks with the Children's Museum and will be announcing a new partnership with them. It's a very exciting time at the Firehouse.
What is your favorite part of being director of this organization?
There is so much going on here, it's hard to choose my favorite thing. But I believe it would be seeing the smiles on the faces of all of our participants. When I hear the children sing, it reaches into my heart. This job is not easy but I have such a strong staff. I have a love for this area and it's changing so much. I'm very proud that the cultural center is not only contributing to the quality of life, but also to the economic development of the area. I just love what I do ... I love it a lot.
Sunday Conversation is edited for brevity and clarity. Contact Kathy Straub at hillsnews@tampabay.com.