Next Generation Ballet's Nutcracker in Tampa

Carol Morsani Hall at the Straz Center

The David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts opened its doors as the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa, Florida in July 1987. The venue was rebranded in November 2009 to recognize the donation of financier David A. Straz Jr.–the largest individual philanthropic gift ever made to a cultural institution in Tampa.

The Straz Center is located downtown on a 9-acre (36,000 m²) site along the east bank of the Hillsborough River. As the second largest performing arts complex in the Southeastern United States (behind the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts), the 335,000-square-foot (31,100 m²) venue provides an environment for a variety of events. It has a leading Broadway series and produces grand opera, as well as presenting a variety of concerts, performances and events. The center estimates that it has a statewide economic impact of $100 million annually, generates 100,000 hotel room nights a year, and has 110 full-time and 250 part-time employees. Attendance runs on average 600,000 guests per year.

In 2009, the Straz Center officially began a new program entitled the “Broadway Genesis Project,” which presents premieres of musicals and plays that might move to Broadway. In 2018 the Straz Center went under an extensive multi-million dollar renovation that included new wood floors on the stages, new cooler LED lighting, and improved dressing rooms for performers. Judith Lisi is the current Chief Executive Officer.