FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: October 30, 2018
From: Dunedin Fine Art Center
Contact: Ken Hannon @ 727.298.DFAC
New Food Arts Studio Construction Underway at the Dunedin Fine Art Center
On Tuesday, October 30th the Dunedin Fine Art Center (DFAC) “Broke Bread” for the construction of their new 1350 sq. ft. Food Arts Studio. Being that the new state-of-the-art teaching kitchen is located on the second floor of DFAC’s new west wing, there was no ground available to stick the proverbial ceremonial shovels into, explained DFAC’s President and CEO, George Ann Bissett. “We chose instead to break bread with each other,” she continued, “with its strong connotation of sharing that our community here is built on.”
The seed for the project was planted a few years ago as the Dunedin Fine Art Center (DFAC) was entertaining programming opportunities for the new second floor studios shelled out in 2016. Long-time DFAC, board-member, donor and volunteer Gail Gamble suggested that teaching the art of cooking might be a good fit with DFAC’s other programs and open-up DFAC’s offerings to a whole new audience. Ms. Gamble, a former Home Economics teacher lamented that the high expectations for artfully prepared food and food experiences had outstripped our abilities to produce them ourselves, in our own kitchens. “Nothing has filled the void of basic food preparation skills developed in “Home Ec“ class rooms, let alone met people’s desires to create the innovative types of artful cuisine they experience on television and in restaurants,” she said.
In exploring the possibilities, DFAC teamed up with the Nonprofit Management program at the University of Tampa’s Sykes College of Business. A business plan developed as a class project in the Graduate level program served as a roadmap, while DFAC was conducting their own test classes to gauge popularity and feasibility throughout the process. The research and the data all pointed in one direction Food Arts would be a great addition to DFAC’s already extensive class offerings in a broad array of artistic mediums.
Green-lighted by DFAC’s board and buoyed by initial fundraising efforts, the $500,000 project progressed to drawing and permitting. “We are on schedule to roll out our soft opening with our Winter I class session that starts the week of January 7, 2019,” explained Sara DeLorenzo, DFAC’s Adult Education Director. “You can check our website for class offerings as they are posted. You’ll also want to keep your eyes open for the official “Grand Opening,” that we hope to hold sometime in February,” she concluded.
There are still naming opportunities available and anyone interested in getting involved in helping this new recipe at DFAC succeed, should contact George Ann Bissett for more information.
Dunedin Fine Art Center
1143 Michigan Blvd.
Dunedin, FL 34698
727.298.DFAC
www.dfac.org
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