As a follow-up to writing about the fundraising efforts of the Tampa Theatre, earlier this week I sat down with Director of Marketing and Community Relations Jill Witecki to discuss the ongoing project.
Witecki oversees any and all marketing that surrounds the events hosted by the Tampa Theatre, as well as any for the building itself. During the private stage of the restoration project, Witecki’s focus was mostly behind the scenes. “As we started into this campaign, a couple of years ago at this point, it was my job to come up with the plan, about how we were going to roll out the campaign in the public eye,” said Witecki, stating that in the beginning she was “the one making the plan and working with our development team to make sure that I was gathering all the stories that were happening along the way.” The “Cush Your Tush” fundraising campaign was announced to the public in December of last year. “Now, we’re starting the work,” said Witecki. After the fundraising details were released to the public, the theatre was met with a great deal of support. “Tampa Theatre is such a beloved building,” said Witecki, “that it’s pretty much universal that people understand how important it is to protect it, to restore it.” As far concerns from the community, Witecki said “If anything, the pushback we’ve gotten is the public just being concerned of ‘what do you mean, you’re taking the old seats?’ But, typically, when they do that, they don’t realize that the seats that are there now aren’t the original seats. These were seats that were installed in the seventies.” With the fundraising underway, Witecki is focusing on the next big thing the public is waiting to see. “The next, really exciting beat, I think, is going to be when we finally decide exactly what the seats are going to look like, exactly what the fabric is going to look like, exactly what the carpet’s going to look like,” said Witecki, “and we will be able to release those details to the public. I’m hoping that will happen within the next couple of months.”
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