(TAMPA, Fla.) – Hillsborough Community College (HCC) Art Galleries, which oversees visual arts exhibitions and programming on the Dale Mabry and Ybor City Campuses, was awarded a community grant from the Hillsborough Arts Council. Blending creative placemaking with social practice, Fledgling aims to empower the local community to consider creative solutions for addressing issues of food insecurity, sustainability, and inclusion by designing an accessible and mobile platform for the community to gather, interact, and learn.
This initiative will build on the success of a recent project, NEST (Nourishment, Education, and Social Terraces), which resulted in two socially-activated greenspaces on HCC campuses in 2020-21. Fledgling, whose name references both HCC’s hawk mascot and the project’s ability to venture beyond the NEST sites, will bring a creative sculpture into the community for diverse dialogue and engagement.
Tory Tepp, who created the NEST sites, will be the creative lead for Fledgling. Tepp’s numerous public projects center on the exploration and reestablishment of the metaphysical connections between the social and environmental ecologies that shape urban communities.
Taking place during the 2021-22 academic year, the planning and fabrication phases of Fledgling will include several opportunities for community participation. More information will be announced as those opportunities arise throughout the year.
To learn more about Grounds4Art@HCC Public Art Projects, visit our website at hccfl.edu/grounds4art. For more information on artist Tory Tepp, visit torytepp.net/.