When Jennifer Rominiecki first came on as executive director for Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, she heard too often from those who visited the institution just once.

“We never want people to say ‘We’ve been to Selby, it’s beautiful,’ as if they don’t have a reason to come back,” she said.

It’s why, as part of the institution’s new master plan, the concept of Selby as “The Living Museum” plays a central role. That includes exhibition series better connecting nature and the arts, such as an ongoing glass show done in partnership with the Duncan McClellan Gallery in St. Petersburg. Works are on display in Selby structures and segments of the gardens themselves showcasing work of DMG artists.

And there will also be orchid shows each fall spotlighting the Gardens’ living, preserved and bibliographic collections. Plans for the garden in the future include a library of research and scientific literature. In February, the Gardens plan interdisciplinary cultural shows connecting nature to the arts.

“So the experience is always changing, and it’s always new and different,” Rominiecki said.

Already, the approach helped usher better financial security for the institution. Total earned revenue growth from 2015 to 2018 went up 59 percent thanks to growth in a number of arenas. Admissions revenue jumped 47 percent, memberships 60 percent and rental and catering commissions a whopping 162 percent.

The gardens have gone from a net loss of $1.8 million in 2008 to pulling in a net $3 million-plus in 2018. 

It’s generated fresh publicity in national media for the Gardens as well. On average, there have been two out-of-market articles each week printed about Selby Gardens in publications from The Ritz-Carlton Magazine to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Now, Selby leaders have started the process of trademarking “The Living Museum” and started conceptualizing exhibits that could travel, always with denotations of being presented by Selby Gardens, but shown at venues across the country.

“We can really cross collaborate,” Rominiecki said. “They can promote us and send people to us. We can promote them and send people to them.” 

Photo courtesy Marie Selby Botanical Gardens.

Transform 2045, a community activation group of regional influencers under the age of 45 with a shared passion for future development, will meet to engage and discuss Environment in Transportation at its free event tomorrow, July 23, at Anna Maria Oyster Bar’s landside location. Special guest speaker, Mayor Shirley Groover Bryant, will be present to interact with the millennials shaping transportation in the region, as well as to discuss Palmetto’s living seawall project. Event attendees will have their chance at city planning, where they will work together to build a city lot plan from an environmentalist, local agency, and/or developer perspective. The group with the best lot will be chosen to win the door prize at the event. The Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization will be addressing the group about onsite and offsite mitigation banks, plus show visuals such as a map of existing wetlands and critical habitats and much more.

To sign up and join in the conversation, attend the event, or to read more, visit the Transform 2045 page on Facebook at the website below. 

Transform 2045

Alicia M. Phidd, Esq. was voted in as a board member to Crowley Museum and Nature Center in May 2019. The Crowley Museum and Nature Center is a 501(c)3 community organization founded by Jasper Crowley and Edna Truchot in 1974, to celebrate Old Florida, pioneer history and artifacts through a museum, pioneer cabin, blacksmith shop, working sugar cane mill and more. A half-mile boardwalk takes visitors through five Florida habitats including Maple Branch Swamp, and Tatum Sawgrass Marsh ends with a two-story observation tower overlooking the marsh and the Myakka River.

Phidd is the general counsel of Sarasota Sports Management, which owns Sarasota Metropolis FC, and has been practicing law for more than 15 years. 

Crowley Museum and Nature Center

The Ramos Center for Interventional & Functional Pain Medicine has introduced a new physician to its team, Dr. Abraham J. Fura. He is board-certified by the American Board of Anesthesiology and completed his fellowship in multidisciplinary pain management at the University of Rochester Medical Center. As an Anesthesiology Resident, he trained at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. As the first D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine) on the Ramos Center team of physicians, Fura brings this whole-person approach to the specialty of pain medicine. He is specialized in a multitude of minimally invasive, interventional treatment options, including Spinal Cord Stimulation Neuromodulation.

Fura will primarily be based out of the Ramos Centers new Sarasota and Venice locations opening this summer. 

The Ramos Center for Interventional & Functional Pain Medicine

Kimberly Eudy has joined RE/MAX Platinum Realty as a realtor in the Venice office, specializing in condominiums. She obtained her real estate sales license after working for many years as a Community Association Manager. Holli Bryant has joined the Venice office of RE/MAX Alliance Group as a buyer's agent with the Werla Group. Formerly with American Realty of Venice, she has been an area resident for 15 years. Before entering the real estate field, Bryant was a dental assistant for 23 years. 

RE/MAX Alliance Group

Sarasota-based executive search firm Brooke Chase Associates has announced the successful recruitment of Rene’ DeRose as Eastern Regional Sales Director with Hydro Systems. Reporting directly to the National Sales Manager of Hydro Systems, DeRose will be responsible for the development of the sales staff and business opportunities to progressively expand the market share in all product categories. She previously held the position of Director of Sales and Marketing with Linkasink. 

Brooke Chase Associates