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Cultural Center Director Busy

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

Updated: 02/07/2008 04:23 pm

CARROLLWOOD - The Carrollwood Cultural Center is on track to have its first concert Sunday.

But for Executive Director Paul Berg, getting the new building ready has made for a harried few weeks punctuated with the simple joys of getting a copier, a Dumpster and the keys to 17 locks.

With each new installation, the center's functionality has snowballed.

Still on his to-do list: setting policies for employees, classes and volunteers, getting an Internet connection, receiving proposals for a marketing firm and hiring key staff members.

In his first report to the Friends of the Carrollwood Cultural Center on Tuesday, Berg gushed about the building, an $8 million regional cultural campus that will be the centerpiece for community arts, music and theater.

"Everything that is in this facility, the county paid for," Berg said. "It literally floors me to see what they have done. They have put quality equipment in this building. These are great things that give us the opportunity to do great things that we wouldn't be able to do with lesser equipment."

Berg said his top priorities have been to get the adult classes up and running, then to tackle the children's classes because those will require background checks for teachers and volunteers.

Berg said he is close to hiring an outreach director, an office manager and an artistic director. Two of three potential employees sit on the Friends board: Treasurer Vicki Cuccia and Artistic Advisor Mary Ann Scialdo. But before they make job offers, they need to get a payroll and worker's compensation company on board.

On Wednesday, Hillsborough County commissioners approved a $42,000 change order to pay for conduit work for the lighting and sound system. In exchange, the Friends board paid $6,700 for additional design costs.

The community gets the chance to tour the building when the county holds a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Thursday to inaugurate the center.

The cultural center is holding an invitation-only gala opening concert March 2 featuring the Florida Orchestra. The facility will open the next day, with an open house and tours planned March 7.

In other action, the Friends board:

•Accepted the first naming rights agreement from the homeowners associations from Carrollwood Village Phases 1, 2 and 3. The residents' group will donate $12,500 to the cultural center in exchange for having the second-floor meeting room named the "Carrollwood Village Community Room." The agreement will be forwarded for county approval.

•Elected John Miley to serve on the board, filling the opening left by Richard McLaurin, who recently resigned.

CARROLLWOOD CULTURAL CENTER

ADDRESS: 13335 Casey Road

PHONE: (813) 269-1310

WEB SITE: www.carrollwood center.org

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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