In a city like ours, history is highly valued. The angular brick structure at 460 E New England Avenue is one of the first landmarks you’re likely to spot as you drive down Fairbanks Avenue and into downtown Winter Park. Striking a slightly discordant note, the 3 story building towers above its nearby neighbors and has been sitting empty for some time now. Built in 1979 and expanded in 1995, it’s been said this building provides an invisible barrier of sorts. As you drive by it, you’ve officially entered the heart of Winter Park.
Winter Park resident Theresa Smith-Levin drives by the old library building regularly. When the new library and events center opened several years ago, like all of us, Theresa celebrated. An architectural masterpiece and a community hub, it represents growth and progress and has become a perfect backdrop for hosting conferences and upscale events since its grand opening.
“I was born in Winter Park hospital and have called Winter Park home my entire life. And ever since the new library opened and I noticed the old library was just sitting there, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.” Theresa explained. “What would become of it? I certainly had my dreams for what I thought would make sense. As a parent, an artist and an educator, I know what I felt was missing from downtown Winter Park and it felt like the perfect place to fill that gap.”
Dreams of honoring the legacy of learning while breathing new life into this space, Theresa’s passion for community building through artistic placemaking and a vision of one day calling the old library building home, just came to fruition.
“Central Florida Vocal Arts is a place where young people have access to experiences that shape them as people and change their life. Our students find connection here. They connect to their peers and to adults who care about them and believe in their potential but even more importantly they connect more deeply to themselves. We’ve had so much impact already as an organization but the crazy thing is we’ve never had our own space. We’ve been holding events and summer programming borrowing spaces while never having a place to call home. That building was meant to be the place for us and I knew it in my soul. I just had to figure out how to make the dream a reality.” Theresa explained.
Chris Cortez of Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts landed on a similar vision for the building. After losing a lease on a building on Kentucky Avenue to a developer sale, the nonprofit that provides affordable family-friendly music and visual arts performances has been floating through performance locations since January 2024. He put together a proposed library reuse for bringing an exciting performing arts space to Winter Park. But there was another proposal in progress and Chris would lean into his friends in the arts community to bring a viable alternative to a June 12th Commission meeting. After hours of passionate discussion and public comment, the Winter Park City Commission voted four-to-one to approve their proposal, putting both Chris and Theresa in their new home. The Blue Bamboo’s proposal provided space for three arts nonprofits and kept an eye on the non profit community in a broad sense offering a third floor flex space that can host charitable community happenings.
When I spoke with Chris Cortez about the winning proposal and what we can expect for the future, he explained that the building has great bones and while there had been discussions with other groups about elaborate renovations, it wasn’t needed to get the building reopened to serve the citizens of Winter Park. They plan to make some updates to bring the building up to ADA compliance and they’ll be building a stage, giving the exterior a good pressure washing and adding some new landscaping, but the reopening obstacles within a year is nothing that some minor construction, cleaning and fresh paint won’t solve. Chris and Theresa have come together to commit to a 20 year lease on the building and are bringing several other entities along with them, all with missions surrounding art and music education as well as performing.
Both Chris and Theresa have expressed that a future capital raise for more elaborate improvements is an option, but their goal in the short term is to get the building open and begin using the space to get people performing and making music together.
I stopped by the Central Florida Vocal Arts Summer Institute amidst writing this article. They are currently operating at The Ren Theatre on Princeton in Orlando. I spoke to 16 year old Lily Kramer who first attended CFVA programming during the summer of 2020 through a virtual camp that was completely remote. Since then she’s auditioned and performed in The Sound of Music and had what she described as a life changing performance opportunity on the stage at Dr. Phillips Center. A Winter Park High School student, The Summer Institute has been her favorite high school extracurricular activity and has given her a confidence boost she’ll carry with her throughout her life.
I also talked to 17 year old Prophesy Baker. She explained to me that she loved singing since she was 3 years old but she was quiet and lacked the confidence to perform. She began taking private voice lessons with CFVA because of a unique program in partnership with Orange County Public Schools called Arts 1:1. In this program, students who might otherwise not have access to this type of arts instruction gain access to working with a teacher like Ms. Sarah Lysiak. Prophesy has been in the program for several years now and she said her connection with Ms. Sarah is one built on trust that led to her growth and progress. Prophesy learned to be vulnerable with her teacher while her voice might crack and she might make mistakes, with coaching and encouragement she is now certain music will be part of her life forever. These are life skills that Prophesy can take with her into every space now, not just the performance hall. She is currently interning with CFVA and plans to pursue music in college and as a career.
I asked Theresa what moving into this new space means to her. She explained to me that as arts leaders we need to be future focused. We see audiences dwindling and the support for performing arts is a crucial part of community. We have an epidemic of isolation in our country and Winter Park is no exception. Through this opportunity there is a chance to change the lives of countless people young and old. This building is not only the gateway to Winter Park, it will now serve as a gateway to a lasting legacy of impact.