TB Arts Pioneer: Alvin “Al” Joseph Downing (1916 – 2000)
Alvin “Al” Joseph Downing was born in Jacksonville, Florida, but moved to St. Petersburg in 1939. Today, he is known as a St. Pete Jazz Legend.
Downing’s parents encouraged the love of arts and music in his home, and when they saw him practicing on his cousin’s piano, they arranged piano lessons for him when he was five years old.
He embarked on his music career by forming his first band in high school, and by the time he reached St. Pete he had been playing throughout his college years, and even organized music programs at Gibbs High School.
He attended Alabama State College, then transferred to Florida Agricultural & Mechanical College where he met his future wife, Bernice. After graduating he moved to St. Pete to teach at Gibbs High School in 1939. He was drafted into the Air Force three years later, doing a stint with the Tuskegee Airmen.
Downing went on to lead the 613th Army Air Force Band in Tuskegee, playing in several military bands in the U.S. and Japan.
He retired as a Major in ’61 and received his Master of Music. He returned to St. Pete and taught at Petersburg Junior College. Downing also became the St. Petersburg Housing Authority’s first African-American Commissioner.
Downing was approached by Ernie Calhoun, of Ernie Calhoun and the Soul Brothers, and began playing as an organist for the band. He eventually started his own band, The Allstars. Downing was also the first African American to play in the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra.
Recognized as an Ambassador of Jazz by the Clearwater Jazz Holiday Foundation, he was also named Tampa Bay’s Favorite Artist by Players Magazine. He continued to teach privately after retiring from his school educator’s position.
Desiring to uplift and encourage jazz in the area, he formed the Al Downing Florida Jazz Association in 1981. In 1989, the organization merged in with the Tampa Bay Jazz Society, started by saxophonist Ernie Calhoun, and has been the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, Inc. since then.
Downing passed in 2000, leaving behind his legendary career and commitment to uplift the jazz tradition in Tampa Bay. In 2001, Perkins Elementary School for the Arts and International Studies dedicated its theater to his memory, and in 2004, the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Suncoast included him in the role models mural in their newly renovated Royal Theater Performing Arts Center.
Today the Al Downing Tampa Bay Jazz Association, Inc continues with its mission to promote Jazz and to encourage the appreciation of Jazz, its origin, and evolution.
TB Arts Pioneer: Jai Hinson
Choreographer and educator Jai Hinson is the founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit Arts 4 Life Academy, located in Clearwater, FL. She has been engaged with cultural and performing arts for over 40 years and has invested 25 years of sharing her gifts and talents with the youth and families of the Tampa Bay Area. Jai has made working with youth her life’s mission.
Ms. Hinson has performed with many renowned and internationally associated artists, choreographers and institutions, and has earned a master’s degree in Human Services Administration from Springfield College. Born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, Jai began studying ballet at Thompson’s Dance Studio in Newark at the age of nine. She received a dance scholarship at the Dance Theater of Harlem and studied under the direction of Russian Ballet Master, Karl Shook and DTH founder, Arthur Mitchel. She also studied ballet, modern jazz, and ethnic dance under choreographers such as Leo Palmieri, Fred Benjamin, Pepsi Bethel, Tommy Johnson, and Alvin Ailey. She has performed with Ladji Camara from Les Ballet African company, Chuck Davis of Chuck Davis Dance Company, Youssouf Koumbassa of the Djoli Ballet, Marie Basse-Wilkes of the Senegalese Ballet and Moustapha Bangoura of the Guinea Ballet.
Ms. Hinson was the recipient of many community awards including the Bank of America’s “Local Hero Award”, Delta’s Arts and Letters Award, Studio 620 Honors, 2014 Women of Distinction, and many more. Jai also received the Pinellas County Arts Council ARF grant, which enabled her to receive intensive study at the LeBagatae School with Moustapha Bangoura in Guinea, West Africa. She has also been featured on several TV shows such as “Good to Know”, “What’s Right with Tampa Bay”, and “News Channel 13 Special Feature”. Her choreographed productions include, “Dances from the Motherland” and “From African and Beyond” with the PATH, and she appeared in John Singleton’s “Rosewood”.
As Founder and Executive Director of ARTZ 4 Life Academy, Jai created programs such as an after school out-of-school time program, Explore the ARTS summer camp, BeTrue to You (BT2U) Gender Specific program for girls, Young Gents Gender-Specific program for boys, Each-One-Teach-One community outreach program, The Imani Dancers Children Performing Arts Ensemble, and Dundu Dole Urban African Ballet young adult performing group. For eight years, she was a performer and choreographer for LaVern Reed’s “Chocolate Nutcracker” Production and became the producer and presenter at the Mahaffey Theater for eight years.
Hinson is the Founder and Artistic Director for Dundu Dole Urban African Ballet, whose riveting performances have been seen at many universities, theaters, conferences, and performance venues throughout the United States. She established Dundu Dole in 1991 and incorporated Life Force in 1997 as a non-profit organization in order to promote performing arts, cultural competence, educational enhancement, and diversity programs throughout the Tampa Bay community. Those who have been part of Jai Hinson’s programs have been inspired and benefited from the education and experiences that nurtured their talents, taught them skills, and built the self-confidence and resiliency needed to set higher goals and succeed in their lives.
TB Arts Pioneer: Bob Devin Jones
Bob Devin Jones, Artistic Director of the Studio@620 in St. Petersburg, is a native of Los Angeles and has been a theatre worker for over forty years. He began as an actor performing in Shakespeare Festivals, including Oregon, Berkeley, Illinois, Idaho, and in St. Petersburg – American Stage’s Shakespeare in the Park.
A graduate of Loyola Marymount University, he also attended the American Conservatory in San Francisco as well as a one-year tutorial at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. For the past twenty, he has worked in the theatre primarily as a playwright and as a director.
Jones has been a resident of St. Petersburg since 1997, participating in many educational and cultural organizations. These include Academy Prep, City of St. Petersburg Arts Advisory Committee, Pinellas County Cultural Affairs Task Force, and the Florida Humanities Council. He currently serves on the board of Florida Craft Art, Friends of the Jack Kerouac House, the Palms of Pasadena and he sits on the Public Arts Commission for the City of St. Petersburg. Bob is a recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the Bank of America’s Hero Award in 2005, Weekly Planet’s Best of the Bay 2001 Directing and 2002 Playwright, Theatre Communication Group (TCG) Artist Collaborative Los Angeles Cultural Affairs, and Florida Humanities Grants, and most recently the Tampa Bay Lightning Community Hero, in 2018.
In 2019, Jones was honored during the Legacy Week Awards dinner, with the theme of the year being “The Family Reunion.” It is a fitting theme for the studio’s artistic director. Jones has embraced a village of diverse artists, community members and organizations in his 15-year tenure at the performance space, art gallery, community meeting, theater. And he has, indeed, created a place and a space for the “family of man” to create learn, and share in.“When you pass through the doors of Studio@620, look to be entertained, educated and challenged by art, heritage, history, song, literature, theater, moving pictures and moving bodies through space,” Jones has said.
His most recent published work is Prometheus Standing, part of an anthology by Dr. Gary Lemons. Outside of his work at The Studio@620, Bob has recently performed at USF St. Petersburg’s theatre week. He also collaborates with the St. Petersburg Shakespeare Festival on “Shakespeare in the City,” currently in its third year. Bob has a cottage cookie company called Bob’s Cookies.
TB Arts Pioneers: DreamMakerz Productions: Jabaar Edmond, Cranstan Cumberbatch
Filmmakers Jabaar Edmond and Cranstan Cumberbatch are the creative duo behind DreamMakerz Productions, the pioneering independent film and entertainment company which has led the Tampa Bay independent film movement since as early as 2017.
Working with Community Development and Training, the duo produced “Art in the City” in 2017 with the aim to not only bring awareness to St. Pete’s homeless population but to also shatter the stereotype of who a homeless person is. They also created the Sunshine City Film Festival that year, which showcased local and national independent filmmakers — a festival that has grown to include dozens of films and filmmakers from around the world.
They have continued as filmmakers releasing two installments in the “Agent X” series, with more to come.
Cranstan Cumberbatch
Co-CEO and Director of Talent Acquisition
Cranstan Cumberbatch is an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, and vocalist in both stage and film. He was part of the 2006 U.S. Olympic team for performing arts where he won 7 medals on the world’s largest stage including one gold, 4 silver, and two bronze against competitors spanning 52 countries in acting, modeling, and performance. In 2018, Cranstan was awarded the Jackie Robinson Breaking Barriers Award by the city of St Petersburg and the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball Team for his Pioneering efforts in film and Determination. This honor solidified him of becoming the first African American to write, direct, produce, and star in his own full-length movie in his home city.
Cranstan has starred in a number of motion pictures that he has written, directed, co-directed, and acted in that have all made significant impacts on the independent film market including the following: If You Only Knew, Loaded Love, King Charles, Loved, More than Friends, No Harm Done, Disconnected, The Serious Student, Nothing Else Matters, Love in Context and his most recent films, Art in the City, Agent X,
and Agent X2.
Cranstan icurrently serves as the Performing Arts Director for Pinellas County Job Corps where he runs the educational project’s only performing arts program in the country. Though he wears many hats, Cranstan is grateful for each opportunity he receives that allows him to share his gifts while inspiring and empowering others to become their very best selves, live their finest art, and pursue their highest dreams.
Jabaar Edmond
Co-CEO and Director of Program Operations
Jabaar Edmond is a Senior program director at CDAT, CEO and co-founder of Dreammakerz Productions, working as director/producer of films and projects “Agent X” (the Series) and “Art in the City.“ He is also the publisher of 1Lovemagazine, and brings his experience event promotions, and marketing. He is also a seasoned community organizer with 10 years of experience focused on fixing broken social systems, bringing about meaningful changes to people’s lives, and empowering vulnerable and oppressed populations.
He worked hard, uniting local citizens around common concerns, ranging from Voting rights and Health disparities to fighting prejudice and creating community-building projects, working with organizations including SEIU Fla, FRRC, Organize FL, WIN Justice, Foundation for a Healthy St Petersburg. He brings a
unique, real world experience to his extensive training/work with social justice organizations and community groups. Jabaar is also a professional graphic artist, music engineer/producer, and photographer.
TB Arts Pioneer: Catherine E. Weaver, Uniquely Original Art
Catherine E. Weaver established herself as a true iconoclast in Tampa Bay, as she created not only her visually powerful art pieces, but has turned her home into a gallery and creation space for the public.
The opening of her current space in 2016 was called “an ancestral homecoming .”
Uniquely Original Art Studio is located at 915 24th St. S, a home that has been in her family since 1947 when her grandfather, Harrison Tunsil, opened up a grocery store there. Years later her uncle McCortha Tunsil operated a TV repair shop in the location for 35 years; her brother, Arnold Wilson, housed Arnold’s Air Control there.
Over the years, Weaver has held art classes, sold African-American imported products, African clothes and jewelry, elaborate masks and popular leather animal life-sized statues. Comes from a long line of entrepreneurs — including Dr. Benjamin F. Jones, a dentist and cousin to George W. Jones, former owner of Blue Star Cab — she carries the same spirit of independence.
Determined to help other entrepreneurs get a start in business, she founded Empowerment Center for Young Enterprisers Inc., sharing entrepreneurial know-how to help young people start a business.
“This is an incubator for young people to start their own business,” she explained. “I want people to go with their passion and turn it into a career.”
Weaver’s work has also been a part of both the BLACK LIVES MATTER and BLACK HISTORY MATTERS murals at the Woodson Museum on the Deuces.
Her studio is included in the St. Pete Arts Alliance’s Second Saturday Artwalk Trolley Ride, allowing visitors to stop off and experience live art creation. https://stpeteartsalliance.org/experience-arts/artwalk
