Where Stars Are Born
Driving south in
St. Pete on US
Highway 19, you
pass familiar
local businesses
- beauty shops,
hardware stores,
meat markets
and restaurants.
They are part
of the scenic
imprint in our
minds whenever
we think about
neighborhood. Yet,
somehow, many of
us are unaware of
the star incubator
that exists in the
middle of this
unassuming world.
Somewhere around 13th Avenue South, just after you pass a tire
shop on the east side, an expansive school campus stretches out
before you. The lines of the buildings slope and turn in pleasing
ways. It’s pretty for a place of learning. But did you know that
Historic Beginnings
Gibbs was originally built in 1927. The imperative was to provide the
Appropriately, it was named for Jonathan Clarkson Gibbs - an
African American who was Superintendent of Public Instruction and
Secretary of State in Florida during Reconstruction.
Those early students got a long overdue opportunity to learn
beyond the 6th grade - to realize previously unthought-of
potential. They held proms at the Manhattan Casino. And like the
Manhattan, Mercy Hospital, The Royale Theater and many more
iconic buildings, Gibbs became part of a community that was kept
separate and apart from life north of Central Avenue.
Fast forward to post-integration era circa 1979. A visionary county
administrator felt a need for emphasis in the arts and, with that
impulse, a new historic step for Gibbs began. A representative
traveled to Dallas to monitor arts programming. After sharing his
state of Florida were formed for artistically and academically
talented students and shared with 67 county school administrators.
By 1984, the Academically Talented Program (now IB) was installed
36 StPeteLifeMag.com March/April 2020
at St. Petersburg
High School, and
the Artistically
Talented Program
(now PCCA) was
installed at Gibbs.
How Stars are
Born
So, how does it
to standard high
school academic
courses, students
enrolled in the
Pinellas County
Center for the
Arts, having
passed audition,
specialized arts classes that uniquely prepare them to meet their
future potential and to give them real world advantages toward that
end. The categories for students accepted for admission are Dance
(modern dance and ballet), Music (vocal, instrumental and piano),
Theater (performance, musical, tech and literary) and Visual Arts
(painting, sculpting, photography, printmaking and ceramics).
Instructors not only teach the courses, but mentor students one
discipline. Arts shows and staged performances are meticulously
presented each semester at very high levels of execution on par
with professionals. Workshops on real world arts infrastructure are
frequent and strategies for future success, including in college, is
always a part of the discussion.
I have had the honor of interviewing a number of PCCA graduates
have molded great careers right here at home and some have
attained accolades nationally and internationally. But they had help
along the way.
Two faculty members have come up consistently in these interviews
as sources of great inspiration and support. Keven Renken is the
current chair of the theater department and has been with Gibbs
for 31 years. He has been a pioneering force in the development
of what is now considered one of the premier theater programs in
the state. Did you know you can see productions, twice a year, for
Renken. “Watching these talented kids reach their potential and to
ARTS & CULTURE
Pinellas County Center For the Arts
BY CINDY STOVALL
/StPeteLifeMag.com