The St. Petersburg Arts Alliance (SPAA) is excited and honored to welcome Andrida Hosey to our Board of Directors!
Andrida McCall Hosey is a Tampa Bay Area arts educator, actress and choreographer. She is the former lead Theater Instructor of the Fine Arts program at John Hopkins Middle School. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Theater Arts from Marquette University and was the first African American female to graduate from that program.
In addition to starting several Bay Area liturgical dance programs, she is the founder and director of the liturgical movement ministry for Bethel Community Baptist Church, a position she has held for 25 years.
During her early career in the 80’s, Andrida found work in the Milwaukee and Chicago area with Hansberry-Sands Theatre Company where she received rave reviews for the role of Cat in the play “Nights Alone” and Abbie Putnam in the play “Desire Under The Elms.” Later in that decade, She primarily worked in the Pittsburgh area where she was raised, with the University Of Pittsburgh’s Kuntu Repertory Theatre and The Three Rivers Shakespeare Company. She received rave reviews for her portrayal of the character Millicent in Red Barn Theatre’s production of the South African play “Exclusive Circles.”
Recently Andrida performed in American Stage's production of “White Rabbit Red Rabbit.” In 2022 she performed in the stage reading of the play, “Brown Girl in the Ring" at American Stage. She is a perennial collaborator with the local story telling organization, Your Real Stories, and she was also an artistic contributor to the critically acclaimed “Songs of the Civil Rights Movement” directed by September Penn. She was an original cast member of a local Christmas production of “Black Nativity, directed by Bob Devin Jones. Andrida herself directed over 20 musicals at John Hopkins Middle School, including “The Wiz” in 2011.
She has been recognized by several community organizations including the St. Petersburg Alumnae Chapter Delta Sigma Theta Sorority award for “Arts and Letters Commission”; the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority “Footprint Service” award and the Gathering of Women “Art, Cultural & Heritage” award. In 2022 Andrida received the Community Impact Award from American Stage. Andrida along with her husband Boyzell, received The 2023 Studio Honors Impact Award for inspiring arts in the community. In November 2023 Andrida received the Brilliance Award from The Well for Life organization. Recently Andrida and her husband received the 2024 Gwen Reese Lifetime Award.
Currently, Andrida is enjoying retirement by pursuing film, commercials and voice- over acting in addition to stage production and custom designing artistic curriculum and programming geared toward inspiring youth and adults alike.
Andrida is the wife of Boyzell Hosey, Senior Editor of Visual Storytelling for ProPublica and co-founder of the Tampa Bay Collard Green Festival. They have two children and three grandchildren. Her passion is to help students gain personal self-confidence through the theatrical arts. The motto she strives to live by is, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
SPAA is excited for Andrida's contributions to help us strengthen and sustain the art and cultural community in St. Petersburg through collaboration, economic growth, education, and consistent funding.
