InspireSarasota! Promises Two Weeks of Performance

Todays News

The Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County wants the community to come out and celebrate all the arts the town has to offer with the inaugural InspireSarasota! festival. What found its inception as a one-day celebration in 2015 has grown into a two-week community jamboree with 16 events and more than 10 participating arts and cultural institutions. Beginning October 22 with Circus by the Sea, a collaborative performance from The Circus Arts Conservatory and Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium, which also hosts. The official kick-off happens the night of October 24 at the Van Wezel, where Sarasota Contemporary Dance, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe and Sarasota Cuban Ballet School will perform in an event that is free and open to the public.

“In a two-week period of time, the public will be able to experience an array of events ranging from performing arts to literary arts to blues and circus,” says Arts and Cultural Alliance Executive Director Jim Shirley. “The Arts and Cultural Alliance is excited to work with all of our cultural partners in the area to build a large public celebration of the importance of living in a creative community.”

Participating artists for InspireSarasota! include the performers of Key Chorale, who will deliver an opening concert the morning of the 24th at Michael’s On East followed by performances of the Sarasota Choral Festival on October 25, 28 and 29 at First Church. The Jazz Club of Sarasota lends its hip sound to the festival for a pair of performances on October 26 and 28, the former as part of an Octoberfest Trolley Pub Crawl through Downtown Sarasota exploring beer and jazz at seven different stops, and the latter a concert from the Sarasota Jazz Project Big Band at Unitarian Universalist Church.

The festivities continue with a literary celebration at the Selby Library on October 28, where New York Times best-selling author Lisa Black and four Florida authors hold a panel on what makes a great crime novel, and two performances of this year’s 20th annual Giving Hunger the Blues concert, featuring Reverend Barry and Funktastic soul, Gumbo Boogie Band, Ari and the Alibis and more, all for a good cause. The Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota bring the Ying Quartet with Bharat Chandra to the Historic Asolo Theater on October 29 and 30, and the Jazz Club, Bellecanto and Gloria Musicae hold concerts for the final day of the festival—November 4–6—and, according to Shirley, attendees will see there really is something for everyone.

“One of our primary goals,” he says, “is to expand the audience base of our cultural partners and to give every citizen and every visitor the opportunity to experience and participate in the art form of their choice."

For a full schedule of events for 2016 InspireSarasota!, follow the link below.

InspireSarasota!

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