With Partner Gone, Blue Bamboo Works to Push Ahead on Arts Project in Old Library
The music venue received approval to keep $900,000 of its original grant from the Orange County Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council
Nov. 19, 2025
By Beth Kassab
There are still plenty of questions about who or what will replace a key partner that walked away from the Blue Bamboo project to transform Winter Park’s old library into an arts hub.
In a memorandum to Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs Advisory Council last week, Blue Bamboo’s new leader listed 10 arts nonprofits as “examples of prospective tenants.”
But none of the groups contacted by the Voice — from the Orlando Gay Chorus to Orlando Fringe, Central Florida Community Arts, and Rollins College — said they were in discussions to take on permanent space in the three-story building.
Jeff Flowers, a chemist and arts philanthropist who served two stints on the Maitland City Council, recently took over day-to-day operations of the music venue after founder Chris Cortez was diagnosed with brain cancer and stepped away.
“I’m holding my nose above water,” he said of the many aspects of the project he has had to pick up on short notice.
Flowers said he is in talks with a couple of potential tenants but declined to name them. He has not yet reached out to the organizations listed as examples in the memorandum he provided to the advisory council when he won approval last week to retain most of the $1 million grant awarded to the original project last year.
Under revised terms, the new grant amount is $900,000 and will likely be disbursed in two payments, he said, after the project reaches certain milestones and provides documentation for construction and other expenses.
Central Florida Vocal Arts, which stages a variety of musicals and operas, was originally slated to occupy the second floor and help Blue Bamboo pay the rent on the building as well as raise the $500,000 in matching funds required by the grant, which comes from the Tourist Development Tax collected on hotel rooms in Orange County.
CFVA withdrew from the project after Executive Director Theresa Smith-Levin said she was unable to reach a lease agreement with Blue Bamboo.
Blue Bamboo will now be responsible for raising $450,000 in matching funds under the new grant terms.
The organization currently pays the city $132,000 a year in rent for the building, an amount scheduled to rise to $276,000 next year.
Flowers said he hopes to secure tenants for the building along with shared spaces for costume design, lighting fabrication, recording suites, back-office support, and more. He added that he still has time to solidify those plans.
“Our revised leasing plan will allow a more diverse group of subleases to support the ongoing costs in our master lease, and the Shared Space plan will provide a new income stream that is responsive to the expressed needs of the community it serves. Finally, our capital campaign efforts will integrate Blue Bamboo into the local business community to ensure continued financial support,” Flowers wrote in the memo to the county.
Flowers is not only a longtime supporter of the venue and now its leader, but also the person who loaned Blue Bamboo money for the initial round of construction and other expenses needed to open this summer in the old library building.
He said he has loaned the project about $1 million so far.
“I’m going to make sure this project succeeds,” he said.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
The Winter Park commission should have voted for the Rollins College Art Museum to take the space of the old library.
No it shouldn’t have. Rollins didn’t need another handout and their museum project had already been approved for a few blocks away. They were just trying to get a last minute sweetheart deal, courtesy of city funds, and facilitated by the Mayor.
Blue Bamboo has provided a great offering to the community for years and, obviously, the founder having a brain tumor was not part of their original business plan. It’s understandable that they may need a bit of time to recalibrate.
Rollins already had property for their museum. Blue Bamboo has turned the first floor of the old library into a great performance space. You should go check it out. And no, I have no involvement with them. I just enjoy good music in a great venue.
Robert, I’m curious as to why you have that opinion.
So many questions about the ongoing viability of this endeavor. It’s very unfortunate about Chris and his health issues, but this tenuous not for profits lease situation was unraveling prior to that diagnosis. Further, if Mr. Flowers has had to ” loan ” this endeavor $1 million, how viable is the Blue Bamboo going forward; not to mention, what was promised to the City in order to approve of this project. I wish them nothing but success, but hopefully the City is closely monitoring the situation.
This is such a powerful project. It’s sad that after so many years of hard work to find a new home, Chris got the devastating news about his health. As a community, we need to stand behind the Blue Bamboo and make them a part of our cultural community.
Seems like something is systematically gobbling up our entire town, one acquisition at a time, from the former library clean through to Hannibal square. Has an eye been set on our City Hall yet? Is this another building in desperate need of update, and clearly far too impossible to rehab? Why then, we must relocate it! At a great burden to the taxpayers. Would anyone be surprised if both these prime city assets fell to a certain entity in the coming years?
Apparently you don’t understand what the City Commission did when they gave City Hall it’s Historic Designation. That outdated building will stay outdated for the rest of most of our lives.