This month, four Florida public school arts teachers will be spending three weeks in Sarasota County working on their own artistic endeavors, as the winners of the 2018 State Teacher/Artist Residency program (STARs), presented by the Hermitage Artist Retreat and the Florida Alliance for Arts Education (FAAE). This year's recipients include three visual artists and a composer. The four receive a three-week summer residency, July 2-22, at the Hermitage in Englewood, where they live and work as artists, without any expectation, schedule or demands. The chosen four are Marissa Flint, a visual arts teacher from Edgewood Junior/Senior High School (Brevard County); Rosemary Shaw, a visual arts teacher from U.B. Kinsey/Palmview Elementary School of the Arts (Palm Beach County); Travis Damato, a music composition teacher at Muller Elementary Magnet School (Hillsborough County); and Laura Tan, an art teacher at Southside Elementary Museum Magnet School (Dade County). Florida arts educators apply for the Hermitage summer residencies through FAAE. Applications are open to all Florida music, visual art and creative writing teachers. Residencies last for three weeks and culminate with a free community program on the Hermitage’s beachfront campus. This year’s program is scheduled for Friday, July 20, at 7pm, and is open to the public.

Hermitage Artist Retreat