Inside the Straz Center beats Tampa’s arts school heart: the Patel Conservatory, one of the largest performing arts education centers in the Southeast, training thousands of students from age 2 to 92 in dance, theater and music.
Its programs range from toddler creative movement to the pre-professional Next Generation Ballet, from youth orchestras and Rock School bands to adult acting classes — taught by working artists in the same complex where Broadway tours unload. Scholarships and outreach keep the doors wide across Tampa Bay.
End-of-term showcases fill the Straz’s halls with the region’s proudest audiences: families watching first recitals in a world-class venue.
Every star on the Straz stage started somewhere. For Tampa’s kids, they start at the Patel.
