Two performers stand beneath a 'KRESS' sign in front of an audience, one in a light dress and the other in a dark suit.

NOW ON VIEW

Saturday, February 21, 11 a.m.- 3 p.m.
 

Hillsborough College’s free, one-day-only public art festival in historic Ybor City

Meet Tampa-based artists and enjoy four hours of music, interactive visual art and live performance reflecting on Tampa’s past, present and future.

Book Your Free Ybor City Art & History Tour

Explore Now on View 3 and Ybor city with a guided tour.

Reserve a ticket for a Now on View 3 guided tour with Jorge Contreras. Each ticket is valid for one tour at 11 AM, 12 PM (tour in Spanish), or 2 PM.


Each tour will visit every stop along the one-day art festival route, highlighting the artists and their work while also sharing insights into Ybor City’s history.

Two tours will be offered in English and one in Spanish. Each tour will last approximately 45 minutes.

English-speaking Tours: 11 AM - 11:45 PM and 2 PM - 2:45 PM
Spanish-speaking Tour: 12 PM - 12:45 PM

Reserve a Tour

Artists

A person with long hair wearing a black sweatshirt smiles in front of a neutral background.
A man with long hair and a beard smiling softly.

Lauren Gourgues and Michael Lonchar present Tunnel Vision on the Ybor Building Patio at HC Ybor. This site-specific installation of three hand-built periscopes invites viewers to look through them to encounter altered, elevated perspectives of Tampa’s landscape. Referencing both the medical condition of tunnel vision and our city’s maritime history of periscopes, the work uses illusion, light, and restricted peripheral vision to critique urban overdevelopment and the quiet erosion of Florida’s natural environment. The piece asks viewers to consider what is gained, and more importantly, what is lost, by the way we choose to look.

A person with dark hair is set against a green background.

Ketsy Ruiz presents Ida y Vuelta (There and Back) in the lobby of the Ybor Performing Arts Building at HC Ybor. Ida y Vuelta is a suspended mixed-media installation that traces over 100 years of Puerto Rican circular migration to Tampa through the form of an airplane made of small painted canvases. Each canvas holds fragments of history, from Ybor City's 1885 cigar factories to the post-Hurricane Maria exodus, creating a visual meditation on belonging to two places at once. The work honors the "aerial bus" phenomenon, in which Puerto Ricans have maintained unbreakable ties between the island and the mainland across generations.

A woman with long hair wearing a blue top, looks at the camera.

Riley Weisbrodt presents Tidal Memorya contemporary dance work inspired by the waters of Tampa Bay and the layered cultural histories they hold, at Tempus Projects. The tides become a living archive, embodying Tampa's evolution through the continual motion of memory, migration, loss, and renewal. The piece explores how Tampa remembers, how stories resurface and submerge, and how communities, like currents, diverge and converge across time.

A woman with long braids wearing a black shirt, standing confidently with a neutral expression.

Camille Denmark presents Paradise?, an installation composed primarily of invasive plant species, at Tempus Projects. Denmark’s false Eden examines the quiet force of invasion and the fragile native systems it disrupts. In Florida—particularly in Hillsborough County—wildlife is already engaged in a constant struggle between native and invasive species. Only through the care and dedication of stewards, land managers, and engaged community members do native ecosystems survive. In Paradise?, Denmark invites viewers to consider their role as human beings in preserving the communities—both ecological and human—they live in.

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Venues

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Entrance to a building at Ybor City Campus with a campus map and a palm tree.

Hillsborough College - Ybor Campus

Colloquially referred to as “the arts campus,” HC Ybor is home to Hillsborough College’s Visual and Performing Arts programs. With new programs each month and over 10,000 visitors every year, HC’s Visual and Performing Arts programs offer the Tampa Bay community affordable dance, music and theatre performances; free arts programming such as artist lectures and panel discussions; workshops; masterclasses and more.

1411 e. 11th Ave., Tampa

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Historic white building with tower at sunset, traffic lights, and parked cars.

Hotel Haya

Festival attendees can pick up Now On View swag and experience a special exhibition featuring artwork by HC Assistant Dean of Student Services Mario Javier Pérez Salabarría. Pérez’s striking urban landscapes pay tribute to the immigrants who built Ybor City’s legacy as the “Cigar Capital of the World,” honoring both the people and architecture that carry the neighborhood’s collective memory forward.

1412 E. Seventh Ave., Tampa

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A historic brick building marked "KRESS" with people gathered below. Cars are parked along the street lined with palm trees under a partly cloudy sky.

Tempus Projects at Kress Contemporary

Tempus Projects is dedicated to nurturing established and emerging local, national and international artists through exhibitions, collaborations, residencies and events. The non-profit organization promotes artists working in all media, and originates, organizes and hosts exhibitions that engage the Tampa Bay community through the arts. Their vision is to foster a vibrant and critical arts nexus that connects grassroots efforts to an international arts dialogue through innovative, equitable programming. Located within the Seventh Avenue arts hub, Kress Contemporary.

1624 E. Seventh Ave., Tampa

We Need Volunteers!

We’re giving Ybor City a free public art festival—can you give us a little of your time?

We’re looking for festival volunteers to help with setup and welcoming guests during Now On View. Volunteer shifts are 9 a.m.–12 p.m. or 12–3 p.m.

Volunteers receive free parking and swag. Morning volunteers also enjoy pastries and coffee with the team.

Sign up to volunteer    

Supporters 

Now On View is organized by Grounds4Art@HC and is made possible with the support of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners. Additional support comes from our project partners, including the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, HC Foundation, HC Student Government Association, Hotel Haya and Tempus Projects.

Grounds 4 Art Logo
Hotel Haya Logo
HCC Foundation Logo
Hillsborough Arts Council Logo
Hillsborough County Logo
HCC SGA Logo
Tempus Projects Logo