Tampa Catholic Breaks Ground on $17.6 Million Bellini Center for the Arts
Tampa Catholic High School held a historic groundbreaking ceremony for its new $17.6 million Bellini Center for the Arts yesterday.
Lauren and Arnie Bellini joined Principal Robert C. Lees and Tampa Catholic leadership to announce the beginning of construction of the state-of-the-art facility.
The Bellini Center for the Arts was funded by a $15 million donation from Lauren and Arnie Bellini, the latter of whom is a 1976 graduate of Tampa Catholic High School. It is the single largest gift to a Catholic school in Florida history; and one of the largest to any Florida school.
“Lauren and I are very proud to invest in this beautiful arts center,” said Arnie Bellini. “We did it for Tampa Catholic, for Tampa and for the arts — all of which are important communities to our family.”
The new $17.6 million building will boast a 750-seat auditorium and stage, rehearsal areas, art, video and graphics classrooms, gallery space, fine arts classroom, computer graphics classroom, video production studio, stagecraft production shop and performing arts classroom.
The 28,000 square foot building is scheduled to be complete by March 2025.
“Mr. Bellini’s gift will transform the face of the arts at Tampa Catholic and impact the entire community for generations to come,” said Robert C. Lees, Principal, Tampa Catholic High School.
About Tampa Catholic High School
Tampa Catholic High School is a leader in the education of boys and girls in the Edmund Rice tradition. We are
a Catholic high school in the Diocese of St. Petersburg dedicated to providing our students with “Veritas et Caritas” (truth and charity) through educational excellence in a Christ-centered environment. Tampa Catholic has more than 740 students enrolled in its college preparatory curriculum and 99% of its graduates continue their education at a college or university. The school now has more than 10,000 alumni who proudly live the school’s ideal of Faith, Excellence & Family in Tampa and throughout the world. Visit our website www.tampacatholic.org and follow us on social media at: www.facebook.com/tampacatholic, www.instagram.com/tampa_catholic, and www.twitter.com/ tampacatholic.
