Flash! The City of Gainesville’s Rosa B Williams facility is reopening in September!
The Rosa B Williams Center is a City of Gainesville facility that offers opportunities for participatory arts groups to schedule classes, lessons, and events that are open to the public.
The Rosa B will be reopening in September. The Department of Cultural Affairs is now accepting proposals from interested parties to conduct participatory arts at concessionary rates to encourage broader public participation in healthy community-building activities — especially those that foster appreciation for cultural heritage, including:
- Contra dancing
- African-American dance
- Irish set dancing
- Scottish country dancing
- International dancing
- and more…
Applications for interested dance or arts groups will be available via email in early August for space starting in September.
The fee for use of the building will be 20% of the cost of participating in the class, practice, or event held at the Rosa B Williams space. Limited space will be allocated through a committee review of the applications to ensure a balance of arts forms, demographics, and community representation. Contracts will be written for six months with renewal options.
Interested parties can request to be emailed the form by emailing Jessica Loveless at these addresses:
Forecourt of the Rosa B Williams Center 
Percussive dance room of the Rosa B Williams Center on open house evening 2017. The Rosa B Williams Center is a participatory arts space. The center features a gallery space, floating dance floor, a percussive dance floor and a total of four rooms available for lessons, classes and events offered by participatory arts groups. The center is built on the site of the Union Academy, a historical African-American school established in 1865, which served the community for almost 60 years. 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard 
Gainesville Scottish Country Dance Weekend, March 6-8, 2020 at the Rosa B Williams Center, Gainesville, Florida to the music of The MacRowdie Ceilidh Band featuring Mara Shea on fiddle and Pete Campbell on keyboard
The Rosa B Williams Center is a participatory arts space. The center features a gallery space, floating dance floor, a percussive dance floor and a total of four rooms available for lessons, classes and events offered by participatory arts groups. The center is built on the site of the Union Academy, a historical African-American school established in 1865, which served the community for almost 60 years.
- If a class is truly free and no money is generated by the group or the instructor because of the availability of the building, the space will be offered for free to support the endeavor.
- As before, a sign-in sheet will be required to account for the number of attendees.
- If the space is used as part of a larger event with a fee (such as the GODS weekend, which has a ticket price ahead of time), it will be worked out on case-by-case basis.