Macbeth Studios to host “Local Love Night”

Up in the loft-like heights of Jim Hobart’s Macbeth Studios downtown, a wall is splashed in a cloud of rainbow colors. Interrupting the dizzying mélange is a large bit of white text. “Orlando Loves,” it reads. Local luminaries from consultant Kelly Cohen – who can flip her hair like Mariah Carey when goaded – to Ted Maines and Jeffrey Miller have been here to show their pride in the little city that could while Hobart skirts around the edges of focus to find just the right shot.

The reason? Hobart is, at heart, a philanthropic photographer. And on Feb. 2, Macbeth Studios will host a “Local Love Night” event to benefit the Zebra Coalition at CityArts Factory from 5-10 p.m. The networking and social party seeks to bring like-minded Orlandoans together with the organizations that need their support.

Future events are set to include Rebuild Locally (an effort to help Haitian workers find employment), the Boys and Girls Club and the Pet Alliance, among others. Given recent events in Orlando, though, Hobart wanted to launch this particular campaign with donations for the Zebra Coalition, the local group which helps LGBTQ youth. Hobart’s goal is to raise $5,000. Macbeth donated $20,000 to the OneOrlando fund, he says. Suggested donations for the event are $10-$20, from which participants will get a professional photo in front of the “Orlando Loves” sign.

“Immediately when I learned about it, I thought, ‘It’s perfect. It combines LGBTQ and homelessness,’” he says. “The original goal was to see if we could invite people in and then see if we could donate it all to Zebra. But because of Kay Rawlins [wife of Orlando City Soccer head Phil Rawlins], Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan and [Zebra director Heather Wilkie], we kind of created a monster, which I love.”

Zebra Coalition director Wilkiesays that Hobart has been a supporter in the past, and she appreciates the support. The Coalition has just started its Rapid Rehousing program (via a HUD grant through the Homeless Services Network) with five applicants already in the running. She says the Coalition is also expanding its reach into the Latinx community.

“I hope to support all of the organizations that will benefit from this,” she says.

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