What can we learn about Tampa Bay based on it's culture?

We have broad and deep cultural representation in the Tampa Bay region: six art museums, a dozen or so more museums with other specialties (children's museums, for example), three excellent performing arts centers, several regional theater companies and a highly regarded orchestra. And we brag about them as proof of our regional excellence to the outside world.

Yet we remain parochial in our attitudes closer to home. We're a territorial bunch. The only truly regional cultural entity is our Florida Orchestra, which is supported by the entire region. Yet to maintain that support, it must play in all three performing arts halls, a necessity that pretty much nullifies an argument in the only case that might be made for regional unity. But as our performing arts critic John Fleming points out, that's the way most regions with close-lying cities are.

Some areas in other parts of the country have an umbrella arts council with the financial and political clout to mandate cooperation among cultural institutions. Then again, one here would require support between two or three counties. Not a probability. We're also hampered in not having a strong base of corporate support, the kind of deep-deep-pockets giving that happens when a major company has its headquarters in a region.

Competition brings certain benefits. Tampa has a new art museum, in part, because the old one was such an affront to civic pride when compared to the Museum of Fine Arts and the Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg.

I do see much more public willingness to go farther afield for a cultural experience. Crossing a bridge or traveling up and down U.S. 19 to a museum has become common. That speaks to the diversity of experiences in our region and, I suspect, a more regional approach to media coverage of those opportunities.

Regional cultural unity? No.

Regional cultural pride? Yes.

Lennie Bennett is the Times' art critic.