The RP Funding Center opens its 2022-23 entertainment season this month as Lakeland city commissioners decide on an annual budget that would lower operational costs and prompt programming changes that are hoped to attract new audiences. More
Is the RP Funding Center getting a new name? The city of Lakeland is currently negotiating naming rights for the performing arts/sports/convention center that opened as The Lakeland Civic Center in 1974, morphed into The Lakeland Center in 1996 and was rechristened as RP Funding Center in 2017. More
Harrison School for the Arts incoming senior Janiyah McAllister, 17, of Davenport is a semifinalist in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, known as the Jimmy Awards, held at the end of June in the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. McAllister, out of a field of 91 other performers, earned a $2,000 scholarship.
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The organization that has provided live symphonic music in Lakeland for nearly six decades has a new leader. Lakeland native Ashley Miller has been named executive director of the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra. More
Works from the most famous name in modern sculpture have taken their places inside the exhibit halls of the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College, waiting for the public to view them starting on Saturday when the doors open at 10 a.m. More
The mid-century modern, 70-foot-tall orange arch and green slash, with Southgate scrawled across it in white, has long been an icon of the South Florida Avenue shopping center since it was built in 1957, making appearances in the films “Edward Scissorhands” and “The One and Only Ivan.”
Now it is part of an award-winning painting by Lakeland artist Karla Pirona. “Southgate” earned first place in the “Faces and Places” regional juried show in Art Center Sarasota on June 8.
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UPDATE: A painting that pays homage to the folk art of Cuba won the Best of Show Award at this weekend’s Mayfaire by-the-Lake art festival. The award was presented to Jessie Dominguez Reyes of Gainesville, who represented the family trio behind the art. More
Mayfaire-By-The-Lake is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Lakeland’s premiere outdoor, juried, fine arts festival is free to attend and organized by the Polk Museum of Art. It will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on May 7 and 8, the same weekend as Mother’s Day, at Lake Morton in downtown Lakeland. More
Advance ticket sales for next week’s Sun ’n Fun Aerospace Expo are 20% above last year’s level, with an expected attendance of 230,000 people and 2,000 aircraft, according to John Leenhouts, who retires as president and CEO of Sun ’n Fun at the end of this year’s expo. Sun ’n Fun starts next Tuesday and runs through the following Sunday at Lakeland Linder International Airport. Amazon Air will not be able to fly during the April 7-10 air shows by the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds so has decided to drop some flights, News Channel 8 reports. | MORE: Air show schedule, ticket info
Galaxy Bar in north Lakeland has closed, but its retro 80s arcade theme has been transferred to Galaxy Bar at Leo’s Live, 5263 S. Florida Ave. The bar boasts 55 classic arcade and pinball machines from the owners of Merlin Amusements, partners in the venture, The Ledger reports. Grand opening is Friday. For now it’s for ages 21+, but Sunday-afternoon family hours are planned for the future.
