Blue Bamboo Founders Step Away After Recent Diagnosis

Chris and Melody Cortez led the remake of the old Winter Park Library into a music hub. Board Chairman Jeff Flowers will now take the lead as Chris Cortez faces brain cancer

Oct. 25, 2025

By Beth Kassab

The Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts opened this summer in the old Winter Park Library, a long-sought triumph for the nonprofit music venue in search of a new stage and for a city government looking for someone to remake the vacant building.

Now Chris Cortez, an accomplished musician, is stepping back from managing the group he started in 2016 with wife Melody, a visual artist, after he was diagnosed this month with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer.

Cortez will retain “emeritus status” at the organization while board Chairman Jeff Flowers — chemist and arts philanthropist who operated environmental testing firm Flowers Chemical Laboratories and served two stints on the Maitland City Council — is taking the day-to-day leadership role.

“While Chris will no longer be involved in operations, his artistic vision and legacy continue to guide our mission and inspire our work,” Flowers said in a letter to the City Commission.

Flowers said he wants to assure the community that the Blue Bamboo “remains strong, active and sustainable.”

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Blue Bamboo Founder Chris Cortez plays guitar with famed violinist Alvaro Gomez at a City Commission meeting in September. Above photo: Jeff Rupert, director of jazz studies at UCF and Blue Bamboo board member, plays at the Blue Bamboo in June with sons Preston and Django.

“Our board now meets monthly to review operations, finances and construction progress, and to provide guidance and accountability,” he said in the letter. “Directors have taken on leadership in operational, financial and technical areas ensuring that our transition is booth smooth and effective. We have also added staff to handle essential functions in sound, video production and hospitality services.”

Just before Cortez’s health challenge surfaced, the Blue Bamboo was facing another difficult transition when Central Florida Vocal Arts said it could not reach a lease agreement with Blue Bamboo and walked away from the project.

Theresa Smith-Levin, founder and executive director of CFVA and Opera del Sol, was a key partner in the effort to secure the support of the city along with a $1 million Tourist Development Tax grant from Orange County for construction.

Now the grant, which has not yet been paid out, is being reviewed by Orange County.

Smith-Levin’s group, which stages a variety of musicals and operas, was slated to occupy the second floor as teaching, rehearsal and office space and about $200,000 was designated from the grant for construction for those needs. Her group was also helping Blue Bamboo raise $500,000 in required matching funds and would have contributed half the rent on the building to the city, which is set to increase next year.

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Jeff Flowers

Flowers said he has new matching funds identified and is working with another nonprofit to occupy space in the building.

Flowers also runs another nonprofit called Performing Arts Matters, which he and his wife founded two decades ago to fund groups such as the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, which performed at Blue Bamboo over the summer.

The first floor of the building now features two performing spaces — a main stage with 182 seats and a smaller stage with a seating capacity of about 60.

“Looking ahead, we are expanding our programming to include classical performances,” Flowers’ letter said. “The Maitland Symphony Orchestra and Bravo Chamber Orchestra are planning their first concerts at the Blue Bamboo in 2026, following this past summer’s successful appearance by the Orlando Contemporary Chamber Orchestra — one of our best-attended events to date.”

One of the Blue Bamboo’s signature weekly events known as the Free Thursday Night Hang will continue, he said. Cortez started the event with a vision for professional jazz artists to share the stage with students or others emerging on the scene — part of his “stage for all” philosophy.

“With that mindset, the Boo became a go-to place for collaborative projects,” Cortez wrote on his website. “Big bands of all kinds, jam sessions, and what-if scenarios, all leading to a healthy environment for creativity. Audiences might attend a conservative, classical recital one day, and the next, a reimagining of Led Zeppelin as a latin salsa band. (That actually happened!)”

Flowers said the Blue Bamboo is planning a show Thursday night that will feature Cortez on the guitar, possibly his final time on the Blue Bamboo stage. The concert will be a tribute to Cortez and his contributions to the local music scene.

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