Orange Blossom Award: Matthew McGee and the Power of Yes

Matthew McGee, actor, marketing director, and one of Tampa Bay’s quiet community-builders. Known for his instinct to say yes — to collaboration, to new ideas, to showing up before there’s proof it will work — McGee has helped shape projects far beyond the stage, including the early foundation of The Arts Passport. His impact isn’t loud, but it’s lasting. Photo provided.

by Avery Anderson

There are people in the arts community who don’t need to announce their values.
You feel them in the way they respond.

For Matthew McGee, that response is almost always the same: yes.

Before The Arts Passport had a launch plan, a membership structure, or even a clear sense of what it might become, there was a conversation with Matt. A simple question: Would you be willing to offer our members a discount?

The answer came immediately. Yes.

When we needed a place to host our very first book club — still figuring out what community-building could look like — the answer was yes.
When we wanted to test an Arts Passport Night at freeFall Theatre, before there was proof it would work, the answer was yes.

Not let me check.
Not maybe next season.
Just yes.

Matthew is many things at once — a brilliant actor, a sharp marketing director, a collaborator with deep instincts for people — but what sets him apart is how he operates in the ecosystem. He understands that small ideas need oxygen. That emerging projects need trust before they have traction. That community doesn’t grow from gatekeeping; it grows from generosity.

In a field where resources are tight and time is precious, saying yes is not easy. It’s a choice. And Matthew makes that choice over and over — lending space, lending credibility, lending belief — often without fanfare.

For a small, scrappy arts business trying to figure out what it could be for this community, that kind of support is everything.

This Orange Blossom isn’t just for what Matthew does.
It’s for how he shows up.

For answering the call before there’s a spotlight.
For understanding that collaboration is an action, not a slogan.
For proving that sometimes the most powerful thing you can offer is simply: Yes.

What Are the Orange Blossom Awards?

A month-long series from The Arts Passport celebrating the people and organizations whose quiet, steady work strengthens Tampa Bay’s arts ecosystem. No applications. No campaigning. Just community-driven recognition, released daily in December.