We Speak Attractions & Activities

ZooTampa’s Biggest Expansion Ever Puts Rescued Manatees Front and Center

Published

7 months ago

March 19, 2026

Tampa’s zoo has never built anything like this. ZooTampa at Lowry Park has opened previews of Florida Waters, described in local coverage as the largest expansion in the zoo’s history, and the new area is now welcoming guests at the park’s home at 1101 W Sligh Ave in Tampa.

The centerpiece is Manatee Rescue — the Straz Family Manatee Rescue — which puts guests face to face with the zoo’s manatee rescue work, including views into the David A. Straz Jr. Manatee Critical Care Center, described by ZooTampa as the largest nonprofit facility of its kind in the world. The re-imagined viewing area lets guests see the center’s patients up close and witness its life-saving efforts as they happen.

Around that anchor, Florida Waters layers in graceful jellies and naturalistic aquariums featuring hundreds of native aquatic animals, including a mangrove walk-through tunnel and aquariums inspired by Florida’s freshwater springs. ZooTampa presents the expansion as three brand-new experiences plus a returning favorite.

The second new experience, Otter Oasis, is a riverbank sanctuary built for river otters, with expanded above-and-below-water viewing. The third, Reptile and Amphibian Discovery, turns the spotlight on conservation initiatives aimed at saving some of Florida’s often misunderstood and underappreciated native species.

Florida Waters also folds in Stingray Shores, where guests can join a stingray feeding experience or upgrade to an in-water Stingray Signature Encounter, along with the new ZT Saves Conservation Gift Shop. The zoo positions itself as a leader in the rescue, rehabilitation and release of Florida species — from manatees and otters to indigo snakes and striped newts — and Florida Waters is that mission built into a place families can walk through: a zoo day with a working wildlife hospital at its heart, where the patients in the water are real rescues and the care on display is the same work that returns rehabilitated manatees to Florida waters.

We Speak Attractions & Activities

The Call Me Mother Experience Brings Immersive Art and Maternal Health Stories to Houston’s Health Museum

Published

4 days ago

October 22, 2026

Royal Jones

Artwork from The Call Me Mother Experience at The Health Museum in Houston

The Call Me Mother Experience, an immersive multi-site art exhibit dedicated to the stories of the Black maternal health crisis, is now open at The Health Museum, 1515 Hermann Drive in Houston. The exhibition runs through February 28, 2027, and tickets range from $12 to $15.

Visitors should prepare for an immersive experience that includes poetry, film, performance, 3D sculptures, and original paintings created by a collective of nationally and internationally recognized artists, including D.E.E.P., Omari Maynard, Stacey Allen, Keda Sharber, and many others.

The exhibit walks visitors toward an opening question and into a reimagined waiting room, showing perspectives that range from father to mother and from despair to healing. Each site displays familial love and the grief that comes with the Black maternal health crisis in America, ending in a call to action.

“After two years working in the community to amplify local stories, I hope people see this exhibit as a celebration of our collective voices in the fight for maternal equity,” says D.E.E.P. “Every artist in the collective has had their own personal experience, be it infant death, fibroids, or birth complications. We have lived through these losses. We are using our art to demand better maternal healthcare practices in our lifetime.”

The stakes behind the exhibit are stark. As of 2024, Black women are three times more likely to die a pregnancy-related death than white women, and more than 80% of these deaths are preventable, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Call Me Mother Experience is a Deep Ink project, fiscally sponsored by Fresh Arts, a Houston-based 501(c)(3) arts service organization, with generous support from H-E-B and several other philanthropic organizations. Additional satellite activations are planned at community sites and faith-based organizations throughout the Greater Houston area.

Learn more at callmemotherexperience.com.

Follow The Call Me Mother Experience on Instagram: @callmemotherexperience