John Bell
John Bell, President and CEO of Tampa Theatre, is an experienced historic theatre leader having successfully managed two different historic theatre projects over his 29 year career. He began his career in arts administration in 1976 with the North Carolina Arts Council and later assumed duties as the Managing Director of the historic Carolina Theatre in Greensboro, NC in 1979. After he assumed management responsibilities at Tampa Theatre in Tampa, Florida in 1985, Tampa Theatre revamped its programming to include a heavy mix of first run and classic films supplemented by concerts, education programs and special events. This successful formula remains in place today, as the Theatre presents approximately 535 film events, 20 major concerts, 45 educational field trips, four weeks of summer camp, and scores of corporate and community events a year, including a new, highly successful traveling outdoor movie series.
In spite of having a stage depth of only 8’, Tampa Theatre is almost never dark. It is one of the busiest historic venues in the country, enjoying annual attendance of 140,000 a year, including 38,000 school children who attend field trips and summer camps.
John has served on the Board of Directors of the League of Historic American Theatres, is a member of Rotary, the Florida Facility Managers Association, the Florida Professional Presenters Consortium, the Tampa Cultural Executives Council, and was a founding member of the Ybor City Cultural Heritage Consortium. John holds a BA degree in Theatre Arts from Catawba College in North Carolina.