Recently, I attended a performance at the Timucua White House in Orlando, a performance arts non-profit venue that was one of the more unique and intimate concert experiences I’ve had in a while. The first thing I noticed upon arriving was that I was greatly underdressed, and I wasn’t quite expecting many of the attendees to bring wine and food to the event. While it caught me off guard, this close-knit nature of the Timucua community really added to my enjoyment of the experience, even if I felt a little out of place as I could have been the youngest member of the audience (23 years old). The venue is tiny, and even though my friends and I arrived earlier than plenty of those who attended, we still had to sit up on the balcony level in order to find seats. The performance itself was excellent, as Ricardo Filipo played traditional Brazilian acoustic guitar compositions, in a genre known as chorinho. The intimate nature of the performance and the soothing sounds of his take on classic compositions, such as those from Antonio Carlos Jobim, made the experience almost hypnotizing for the viewer. Apparently, there was supposed to be a vocalist accompanying Filipo, and to be perfectly honest, it probably would have helped the performance some. It started to get just a little bit stagnant during the middle part of his set, but he saved what I would consider his best performances for his last few songs, and it brought me back into the show again. Overall, it was a positive experience, even though I felt a little bit like a fish out of water in terms of the demographic of most of the attendees. It was certainly one of the more odd venues I’ve been to, but I love the idea behind having a venue such as the White House. It’s nice to know that there is a strong arts community in the Orlando region, something I, as someone new to Florida, didn’t notice at first.
There are a few improvements that I could think of, however. Of course, the limitations of the White House venue are very apparent. Seating is tough to acquire if you do not arrive plenty of time in advance (although I always attempt to arrive at live events early), and the planning of the seating itself could use some refinement. The top balcony is supposed to be a non-food-or-drink zone, but audience members nonetheless brought their food and drink to the top level, as they almost didn’t have a choice in terms of there being anywhere else to go. The event became rather crowded, leaving my friends and I with little personal space, which is usually fine at concerts, but in an intimate setting like this, it can become difficult at times to be fully absorbed into the performance as you become too aware of the movements and actions of those around you. Perhaps some new seat arrangement is needed, or even the possibly necessary evil of cutting off the number of attendees allowed inside at a lower number, although I understand why that wouldn’t be a very attractive option for those running the venue. Another possible improvement would be a more clear description of where the location of the event is, as even putting the address in my GPS only brought me near the location, which left my friends and I temporarily at a loss as to where to go, eventually finding the White House itself mostly by luck. The biggest improvement, however, would have to be advertising. There is virtually no possible way that I would have ever heard of Timucua had it not been a class requirement, and I’m willing to bet that goes for just about everyone else that takes the class. While the demographic is clearly aimed at an older audience than myself, I’m also willing to bet that a good chunk of that audience are people who go repeatedly, maybe even outnumbering the amount of new arrivals every performance. While it doesn’t hurt to have a built-in community, trying to draw in new audience members (the advertisements don’t even have to be aimed at college-age audiences) will only better serve to increase the exposure of this hidden treasure.
Another event I’ve been to recently is a show by Clint Stewart, a local singer/guitarist who played at Spill, a bar in Winter Springs. The atmosphere at Spill was less formal than Timucua, but most people there were still relatively well dressed. There were more audience members close to my age at Spill, but the majority were still of the older variety. The bar itself isn’t necessarily geared towards college-age crowds, focusing on wine, cheese, and craft brews. Still, the atmosphere was much looser and relaxed than Timucua, as the performance, while clearly standing out from the rest of the noise, didn’t have to be spectacular, as audience members weren’t as “forced” to pay attention at a bar as they would be at a performance venue. The performance itself, however, was still very well done, with Stewart providing acoustic renditions of rock songs from the ‘60s through the ‘90s. The sheer number of songs he knew how to play was impressive, and he actually took a few requests from the crowd. His playing ability is high, which makes sense because of his other occupation as a guitar instructor, which I found out through receiving his business card. A fun, affable performer, Clint’s music added to the loose atmosphere and culminated in an enjoyable night out.
There are a few improvements I could think of, the first being some changes to the venue itself. The performance was done inside, which is relatively small and cramped compared to most bars in the area, despite having a seating area outside of the bar. I think they should consider opening the outside doors, which give a decent view of performances inside the bar, in order to expand seating, because as it was I could see it becoming quite hectic on busier nights. I wouldn’t suggest having the performance itself outside due to Florida heat, but during non-summer months it might remain an option. Another improvement could be signs placed around the area of Spill. I pass by the bar all the time, and it is easy to do so without even noticing the place is there. Because of the small size of the bar, I didn’t imagine previously that performances would be hosted there, but if I had it is likely that I would have checked out the place much sooner. Another fix could be an increased focus on advertising in the area, just focused on residents near the bar itself, as it could help Spill stand out from the myriad other bars in the area, and also bring in younger audiences.
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