SRQ DAILY Jan 1, 2020
Wednesday Philanthropy Edition
"Delivering a baby is always a special event, but the energy and spirit of the New Year makes it even more momentous."
As of Tuesday, December 31 at 11:00 am, Sarasota Memorial Hospital (SMH) recorded three babies already born, including one set of twins. “And we have seven women in early labor right now,” said Kim Savage of SMH at the time. “So as of this minute, we have had 4,110 babies birthed for 2019 – an all-time record high for one year!” These New Year’s Eve newborns may have slided in just in time to stay within the teen decade, but for those mothers delivering since midnight and throughout the day today, the team at SMH planned for their annual special surprise delivery for the first January 1, 2020 baby. “We will be presenting our traditional basket of gifts to the family of the first New Year’s baby born at SMH tomorrow,” shared Savage yesterday.
Every year, SMH nurses and associates get together to fill a laundry basket full of gifts for the lucky family. It includes a variety of baby care and safety items, including several kinds of thermometers (you can never have too many), soft blankets, clothes, stuffed animals (including a teddy bear dressed in scrubs), a Tummy Time play mat and activity toys. Also included is a bottle of non-alcoholic champagne for the parents, along with flutes to commemorate 2020, celebrate a new year, new life and new beginnings.
“It’s always so exciting to be here on New Year’s Eve,” said Labor & Delivery nurse Debbie Dietz, who has been helping deliver babies this week. “Delivering a baby is always a special event, but the energy and spirit of the New Year makes it even more momentous.”
You can look for posts tagged with the #smhNew hashtag for social media photos and real-time news updates throughout the day. 
Photo of nurses ringing in the New Year, courtesy of Sarasota Memorial Hospital.
Drivers who use the County's downtown parking garage at 414 10th Street West will see new parking kiosk meters up until the fourth floor employee parking entrance gate that will allow drivers to use coins or credit cards and soon a mobile app for payment. Along with the new parking meters comes a new pricing structure: $1 for two-hour parking, or $4 for all-day parking. (Drivers who plan to park for longer periods of time are encouraged to park above the first floor but below the employee parking entrance gate). Parking meters will remain operational Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm. A prepay option will allow drivers to submit payment anytime after 7:30 am for the meter to begin running at 8 am. Drivers will be able to pay via a mobile app in February. Monthly parking permits are available for $40 per month. The new meters and rates go into effect Monday, Jan. 13. Signs will be posted inside the garage displaying the new rates in the days leading up to that date.
As a part of its Invest in Incredible initiative, Gulf Coast Community Foundation is offering the nonprofit capacity-building workshop Building a Dynamic Volunteer Base: Best Practices from the Field. Designed for staff, volunteers, and board members, the January 29 session will cover the essential components of an engaging yet efficient volunteer-management program. Many regional nonprofits depend on volunteers to help fulfill their missions and aid in transforming their communities. In this three-hour interactive workshop, participants will learn: Strategies for recruiting and retaining a diverse volunteer pool, tools and techniques for orienting, training, and communicating with volunteers, compliance policies and HR standards that promote a safe and productive workplace and tips for creating a rewarding and enriching experience for volunteers while adding to your bottom line. For additional information and to register for the workshop, visit GulfCoastCF.org/events. Special accommodation is available upon request.
Donate new suitcases, blankets, books, and toiletries for children in foster care at The Ringling. These items will be given to children during the Manatee County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association’s (FAPA) Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service project, “Books and Bags for Kids” that will be held at The Ringling. Donation bins are located in the Visitor Pavilion and Education Center.
How often do we stop and think about how fortunate we are to reside in Sarasota? Especially with what seems like an endless array of cultural and entertainment offerings, including a remarkable set of live theaters. Now, it is critical that we prepare the next generation of theatre patrons who we hope will learn to appreciate what we have to offer. Urbanite Theatre is dedicated to that cause: helping young patrons develop a love for live theatre. Did you know that over 500 students get to experience professional theatre each season at Urbanite for just $5 per ticket? With a gift of $27, you can subsidize the cost of one student ticket to help maintain this incredible opportunity for young patrons. As a theatre lover, I'm devoted to expanding this opportunity, which is why I will sponsor 175 students to attend a performance this year with a gift of $5000. And today, I'm challenging you to equal my ticket sponsorship of 175 student tickets. I need your help to bring 350 more students to Urbanite Theatre in 2020. Urbanite Theatre is such a gem. It’s where intimacy and professionalism meet in a small black box. Today, with our help, Urbanite can share their wonderful little space with hundreds of students who may otherwise not be able to attend. Sponsor one or several students. The ones you sponsor could become theatre lovers for life. Give a fully tax-deductible gift to the Student Ticket Donor Fund today >>
Brenda Robinson comes from a family of women who learned to make something from nothing. A successful self-taught painter, she carries that custom forward in her art practice. Robinson has a surrealistic nature that often transfers into subjects that depict African American themes. Brenda’s paintings resonate with all people and cultures. She paints her interpretation of life, death, tragedy, happiness, sorrow and birth freely with the joy and passion of the creative process. Using canvas and colors as a journal, she documents and connects common threads that run through us all. The exhibit will open on Saturday, January 11th at 2pm at the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota. Art viewing and a meet and greet with the artist will take place from 2-3:30pm.
Join the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Studio+Digital Arts at Ringling College for an Open House Celebration with tours and light refreshments on Tuesday, January 7, 2020 from 3-5pm. Featuring remarks from President Larry R. Thompson at the Marcy and Michael Klein Plaza at the Ringling College Museum Campus, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. RSVP by January 3 to specialevents@ringling.edu or at 941-309-0108.
The William G. and Marie Selby Foundation recently awarded a $77,000 grant to Children First for improved building security at four of its location campuses to further enhance the safety of hundreds of children and their families each year, as well as staff members, volunteers, and supporters. Access control doors and upgraded security cameras will be placed in every classroom and public space at the Dr. Elaine Marieb Early Learning Center, the Venice campus (a partnership with Suncoast Charities), Our Mother’s House (a childcare partnership with Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice), and the North Port campus. The improved building security will be put into place to further enhance the safety of more than 250 children and their families each year, as well as hundreds of staff members, volunteers, and supporters. “With the technological landscape changing rapidly every day, this grant ensures that every parent can focus better on work and their own education with the assurance of their child’s safety, and that every child will have a secure space to develop the skills they need to thrive. We are deeply grateful to theWilliam G. and Marie Selby Foundation for their vision of a community that is safe and sound for all,” says President & CEO Philip Tavill.
Through Children First, the children receive the social and cognitive skills needed to enter kindergarten and elementary school on track. For more information, call 941-953-3877 or go to childrenfirst.net.
Born and raised in Mexico City, where he spent most of his career, Manuel Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1902-2002) was one of the most important figures in 20th century Latin American photography. Although he took art classes at the Academy of San Carlos, his photography was mostly self-taught, but he was savvy to the emerging international artistic avant-garde. Considered to be one of the founders of modern photography, his work extends from the late 1920s to the 1900s. He was a key figure from the period following the Mexican Revolution—often called the Mexican Renaissance—in which arts and literature flourished. This “Renaissance” owed to the happy—though not always tranquil—marriage between a desire for modernization and the search for an authentic national identity with Mexican roots, in which archaeology, history and ethnology played an important role. Support for this exhibition has been provided, in part, by the Ringling Endowment at the Florida State University Foundation. Paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues.
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens lights up the holiday season with Lights In Bloom. Over two million lights will illuminate the gardens and walkways will be transformed into sensory light tunnels. Visitors will have the opportunity to stroll through magical gardens filled with beautifully lit flowers, radiant rainforest butterflies, dragonflies and more. The tropical holiday paradise includes nightly visits from Santa (before Christmas Eve), children’s arts and crafts activities and games and special entertainment. Grilled foods will be available for purchase from the Michael’s on East grill including a cash bar. The Selby House Cafe will also be open with its full menu. In its 16th year, Lights In Bloom has become a tradition for residents and visitors to celebrate the holiday season in Sarasota.
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, 900 S Palm Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236
Concealed and Revealed offers a unique selection of paintings by the artist, along with numerous objects from the Solomon Archive on view for the first time. Syd Solomon (American, 1917-2004) described himself as an “Abstract Impressionist” alluding to the fact that his work infused impressionism into the processes, scale and concepts of Abstract Expressionism. Solomon moved to Sarasota in 1946 with his wife Annie. His was the first work of contemporary art to be collected by The Ringling in 1962. His paintings were greatly influenced by climatic factors and reveal a fascination and concern for Florida’s aquatic environment. Solomon incorporated his experience as a camouflage designer during World War II into his painting. It is not well-known that he was also an accomplished graphic artist, who in his early years designed commercial signage for prominent hotels and businesses in Sarasota. Like his work in camouflage, Solomon’s calligraphic skill was essential to the development of his later gestural abstraction.
Syd Solomon: Concealed and Revealed is presented in partnership with the Estate of Syd Solomon and is accompanied by a 96-page publication with essays by former curator at The Ringling Michael Auping, George S. Bolge, Dr. Gail Levin, and Mike Solomon. The exhibition will include artworks from private collections and The Ringling’s permanent collection.
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota
Each season, The Perlman Music Program/Suncoast hosts The Perlman Music Program (PMP) Sarasota Winter Residency. Founded by Toby Perlman, and with a world-renowned faculty led by her husband, internationally acclaimed violinist and conductor Itzhak Perlman, PMP augments its seven-week summer school program in Shelter Island each December with a 17-day winter residency, December 21, 2019 - January 4, 2020, in Sarasota and Manatee counties. The residency provides valuable mentoring and performance opportunities for approximately 35 young international string musicians, ages 12-20+, and offers 20+ free and low-cost musical events on the campus of USF Sarasota-Manatee. Each year, the winter residency culminates with the Celebration Concert, January 4, 2020, with Itzhak Perlman conducting the PMP String Orchestra and Patrick Romano leading the PMP Chorus at the Sarasota Opera House.
USF Sarasota-Manatee, 8350 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota 34243
Dabbert Gallery presents the exhibition "Local Color, Florida Style" to open at the First Firday Gallery Walk on Friday, January 3, 2020 and continues through January 31, 2020. Featuring six of the gallery's Florida artists including Arnold Desmarais, Martin Dunn, Bill Farnsworth, James Griffin, Joe Palmerio and Luke Steadman. Open from Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 5pm.
Dabbert Gallery, 46 S. Palm Avenue, Sarasota, FL
Recent studies suggest that listening to music can reduce stress, elevate mood, relieve pain, and even increase life expectancy. Sarasota Orchestra can help you add music's many powerful benefits into your wellbeing resolutions for the New Year, with five upcoming concerts in January alone. If laughter is the best medicine, then our first concert of 2020 is just what the "Doc" ordered. With live orchestra underscoring the antics of your favorite Looney Tunes characters on screen, Bugs Bunny at the Symphony offers a spectacular fusion of classic animation and classical music in its 30th-anniversary edition. This popular concert has been touring the world with sold-out performances for three decades, and now returns to Sarasota Orchestra in a newly-revised 30th Anniversary Edition. This critically-acclaimed production projects the world's most iconic Looney Tunes on the big screen, while the orchestra plays the classically-infused original scores live! From "What's Opera, Doc?" and "The Rabbit of Seville," to "Baton Bunny," "Corny Concerto," "Rhapsody Rabbit," and "Long-Haired Hare," don't miss the brilliant cartoons that first introduced classical music to much of the American public. Plus five brand new animated shorts, newly-created by the Warner Bros. animators in celebration of Bugs Bunny's 80th Birthday in 2020.Don't forget about our $9 youth ticket pricing to get the whole family in on a joyous kick-off to a musical New Year.
Van Wezel Performing Arts Center, 777 North Tamiami Trail, Sarasota
Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning (SILL) is preparing for its 49th year of extremely popular global issues lectures and musical conversations. In 2020, these programs will begin in January and continue through the end of March. Speakers of global issues lectures are well-known, highly experienced experts, and guests on musical conversations are internationally renowned musicians, singers, and performers. SILL is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization. In its 49th season, its programs will include 96 lectures and musical conversations presented in Sarasota, Venice, and Lakewood Ranch. SILL audiences mostly consist of highly educated and intellectually curious seniors living on the Suncoast year-round or during winter months. SILL also simulcasts some of its lectures to selected senior communities. Last year, attendance at SILL events exceeded 40,000. Single tickets to SILL events are only $10 at the door when available, and a season ticket for 12 same-day lectures cost just $85, which represents substantial savings. For program schedules, venues, speaker bios, and ordering season tickets visit sillsarasota.org
First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave.
The Hospital Gala has raised more than $2.2 million to benefit Sarasota Memorial Hospital ER/Trauma Services and Cardiac Services. This year, proceeds will support Cancer Services to help the SMH cancer care team deliver the best life-saving care for you, your loved ones and those in our community.
The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota, 1111 Ritz Carlton Dr, Sarasota, FL 34236
The Key Chorale Chamber singers will present their fourth installment in their American Roots series January 11-12 with American Roots: Grassical. The 7-member DePue Brothers Band joins the singers in a program from the hills of Appalachia to progressive bluegrass sounds of today. These classical violin virtuosos, with blazing bluegrass chops, have pioneered the term “grassical,” a vivid blend of bluegrass, gypsy, and jazz. They have been the subject of a PBS documentary, named “Musical Family of America” by presidential decree and released 3 acclaimed CDs. Experience a one-of-a-kind program taking our popular bluegrass concert onto a new set of tracks. “This concert has become such an audience favorite that it is a challenge to keep raising the bar,” said Maestro Caulkins. “By adding such a polished ensemble like the DePue Brothers Band, along with brand new charts written especially for this concert, I am certain this will be an unforgettable experience.” Hear contemporary and old-time bluegrass from the Wailin’ Jennys, Emmylou Harris and Ricky Skaggs, to Flatts & Scruggs, The Foggy Mountain Boys and the immortal Ralph Stanley. Guest vocalist and audience favorite Madison Spahn, who joined us last year for American Roots: Digging Deeper, will be back again this year.
St. Boniface Episcopal Church (1.12) ; Venice Presbyterian Church (1/12), 5615 Midnight Pass Rd., Siesta Key; 825 The Rialto, Venice
For the past several years, dazzling young bassist Xavier Foley has been thrilling audiences and critics alike with the stunning musical magic he makes with the essential but often overlooked double bass. Foley’s playing makes this largest and lowest member of the string family as important as any solo instrument. The Philadelphia Inquirer calls him a “spectacular player” and one who is “blissfully unaware that dazzling virtuosity is usually someone else’s job.” A native of Marietta, Georgia, Foley was also featured recently on PBS Thirteen’s NYC-ARTs and was named to New York WQXR’s "19 Artists to Watch” list for 2019. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony and Philadelphia Orchestra, amongst others. Joining Foley will be pianist Kelly Lin, a sought-after accompanist whose groundbreaking collaborations with Foley have dazzled audiences and been hailed by critics for their “agile interplay between piano and bass,” as well as their “radical, riveting reinventions of old classics.” The duo will be performing their critically acclaimed program that includes Foley’s reinvention of Mozart’s Violin Sonata in E Minor, that transposes the violin part to a range comparable to a cello’s; Schubert’s “Arpeggione” Sonata, D 821, which showcases Foley’s vast range, utilizing every bit of the bass’s vast sonic capability; their phantasmagorical take on Glière’s Intermezzo and Tarantella; and original compositions by Foley.
Historic Asolo Theatre, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243
Join the Sarasota World Affairs Council for the next program in its 2019-20 Lecture Series, “The Politics of Hate Have Driven the U.S. and Iran to the Brink,” featuring Jamal Abdi, President of the National Iranian American Council. Mr. Abdi will describe the background and mission of the Iranian-American Council, as well as provide an update on the current Iranian-American relationship and international efforts to establish prospects for peace in the region. Each SWAC lecture is followed by a members-only reception with the speaker in a historic building on Sarasota Bay. The lecture is free, but reservations are suggested.
Mildred Sainer Pavilion, 5313 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243
Created and choreographed by Yin Mei, an artist of the Chinese diaspora who has been part of the New York dance scene since the 1990’s, this new dance theater piece for five dancers melds themes from the iconic Chinese literary work The Peony Pavilion and Yin Mei’s own life experience as a teenage government dancer during the Chinese Revolution. Highly visual and referencing a dense collection of letters she wrote to her family over two decades, the work is a dance painting that occupies the space between truth and dreams.
Historic Asolo Theater, 5401 Bay Shore Rd, Sarasota, FL 34243
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