SRQ DAILY Apr 28, 2022
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"There was lots of good giving going on today."
The Giving Challenge roared back into Sarasota’s nonprofit ecosystem to the tune of nearly $16 million.
Over a 24-hour period from midday Tuesday to Wednesday, the philanthropic event generated $15,964,863 in unrestricted funding for organizations in the region. Money came from 46,216 donors.
The event since its inception a decade ago has stood out for the chance to boost the power of dollars via matching donations from The Patterson Foundation on all $25 to $100 donations. In a significant evolution of that exponential power, Mischa Kirby, vice president of strategy and communication for the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, said some 89 of the 669 nonprofits participating also lined up additional foundation and mega-donor support to provide additional matches.
“There was lots of good giving going on today,” Kirby said.
A leaderboard showed the organizations that generated the most support and the broadest activity. All Faiths Food Bank collected the most money, with $343,073 raised in total. Survivors in Sync proved the top money getter in small organizations, with $21,855 between gifts and prizes. Hope 4 Communities topped the list of medium-sized organizations, raising $42,295. A board also showed the most successful peer-to-peer fundraising effort, where the Church of the Palms Day of Hope topped the list for raising $11,875 from 115 separate donors.
The Giving Challenge is valuable, Kirby said, because it provides organizations with flexible funding to spend in ways they feel most appropriate based on changing needs.
In a sense, this year’s The Giving Challenge has not yet ended. Judges will award a number of prizes over the coming weeks recognizing fundraising campaigns and outreach efforts. Already, $500 prizes were given to the first 50 organizations to reach 50 online donors during the event. There were also hourly $100 prizes given to nonprofits that used the Twitter hashtag #GivingChallenge2022 on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to thank donors.
There were also 10 awards of $1,000 that went to campaigns judged in advance to have the best “Giving Challenge Story” this year, including Child Protection Center’s online video showcasing beneficiaries of program services. That was narrated by a girl who described the comfort provided by shelter workers when she came to the Sarasota center.
Another 10 awards worth $1,500 were issued to nonprofits for commercials produced in advance of the event. Among the winners there? A Lemur Conservation Fund video showing the work done at a Myakka City preserve to breed the endangered Madagascar primate in a local natural habitat.
Thousands more will given out to groups for generating media exposure, producing the strongest photography, demonstrating the most board engagement and participating in the greatest partnerships. Some $250,000 in total prizes will be awarded when all is said and done.
Just over two years after Florida’s first COVID-19 diagnosis happened in a local hospital, the event also had a live gathering again after holding a digital only event in 2020.
“With the return to an in-person event, there was just so much enthusiasm and energy with so much taking place,” Kirby said. 
PopStroke, the brand new golf and entertainment venue co-owned by Tiger Woods, has come to Sarasota and just as advertised, it is a great place to "Eat. Putt. Drink."
With a restaurant, rooftop bar, beer garden, playground, and ice cream parlor, this two course putting experience brings the excitement of a full 18-hole golf course at just a fraction of the size. Visitors can download the PopStroke app to keep track of their group's score — and they might even see themselves on the Jumbotron leaderboard. Players may score a hole in one with Tiger's favorite golf ball, the Bridgestone, and even take their commemorative game ball home. During dinner, kids can play on the playground or continue the competition in the outdoor gaming area equipped with foosball and ping pong.
PopStroke's full-service restaurant menu features all the classics, including nachos piled high with queso, black beans, sour cream and guacamole. Other crowd pleasers are the mahi tacos and the par 3 beef or pork sliders. For the more adventurous eaters, the reuben egg rolls (packed with corn beef, kraut, swiss cheese, and 1000 island dressing) offer a combination of two traditional dishes married into one handheld delight. Dessert options are plentiful with 24 flavors of ice cream to choose from or a milkshake such as the S’mores me, featuring a marshmallow iced glass to hold the vanilla and golden graham flavored treat, whipped cream, chocolate syrup, mini marshmallows and Golden Grahams.
PopStroke, 195 University Town Center Dr, Sarasota. 941-500-9495.
Photo taken by Robinson Valverde.
“I’m going to pick some flowers for you,” says Grandpa Monkey to an empty room.
The Song of Little Stone is a beautifully written story about grief, loneliness, and isolation - and how sometimes all it takes is one kind soul to break that cycle. Somehow, some way, this is all packaged as a children’s book. The best part? It works.
The Song of Little Stone follows Grandpa Monkey, an older widower grieving the loss of his wife. He’s cranky, irritable, and most of all, lonely. One day, while walking up the mountain by his house, he meets a bird, Little Stone, who’s unique songs have ostracized him from his community. Through listening to Little Stone’s songs, however, Grandpa Monkey is able to overcome his grief and in turn, make Little Stone feel appreciated.
“I will have you every year, my dear, when the flowers bloom. From now and forever more,” exclaims Grandpa Monkey joyously.
Tonally, the illustrations mirror the arc of Grandpa Monkey’s journey from grief and isolation to acceptance and companionship.
The Song of Little Stone, written by Higo Wu, illustrated by Kiko Yang, published April 2022 by Reycraft Books, New York. ISBN-13: 9781478875567. Ages 4-7
Sarasota Opera is pleased to host the finals for Schmidt Vocal Arts (SVA) national Schmidt Vocal Competition at Sarasota Opera House June 3-5, 2022. The top three winners from each of 13 regional competitions will compete for the first national prize in the competition’s 25-year history. Seven Floridians have qualified after competing in four different regional locations. Distinguished judges for this competition are bass-baritone Eric Owens, Sarasota Opera General Director Richard Russell, and soprano Tamara Wilson. There will also be an alumni concert on June 4 that will feature SVA alumni Virginia Mims (from West Palm Beach, FL) and Aaron Crouch with pianist Brent Funderburk.
Tickets are available to various events of the Schmidt Vocal Competition on June 4 for $15 (Students: $10) and on June 5 for $25 (Students: $10) at SarasotaOpera.org or (941) 328-1300. Sarasota Opera is a participant in #SafeArtsSarasota and will be following appropriate health and safety guidelines. At the present time the wearing of a N95, KN95, or KF94 mask is recommended when attending events at the Sarasota Opera House. Health and Safety guidelines will be adjusted should conditions change. Visit SarasotaOpera.org for more information.
Gettel Toyota of Bradenton has earned the 2021 Presidents Award. The award honors Toyota Dealers that go above and beyond at each customer touch point and represents the best of the best! #Gettel’s Got It!
Fishman & Associates in Venice, Florida has expanded its food service design team with the recent hiring of three experienced executives from Colorado. The team members are Nick Morales, Jamison Day, and Tia Deines. Bob Daly, the president and owner of Fishman & Associates, made the announcement today. Fishman & Associates, established in 1986, provides food service design support to clients nationwide including restaurants, assisted living and retirement centers, country clubs, resorts, clubhouses, hospitals, other healthcare facilities, hotels, schools, churches, and more. The Fishman team has supported more than 360 senior living projects in 25 states. Its expertise includes kitchen design, bar and dining room layout, equipment specification, cost budgeting, refrigeration, and fabrication for new and remodeled food service facilities.
The Manatee County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller's office invites community residents to safely and securely dispose of personal documents for FREE at its 4th Annual Community Drive-Thru Shred Day Event. This event will take place from 9:00-11:00 a.m. at the Manatee County Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 21, 2022. ShredQuick, a professional shredding company that is AAA Certified by the National Association for Information Destruction, will provide shredding services for this event. There is no cost for this service; however, households may bring only two standard-sized bankers' boxes, 12 inches by 10 inches by 15 inches in size. No drop-offs are accepted, and all participants must remain in their vehicle with their documents until a Clerk of Court staff member or volunteer securely places their documents into a shredding bin to be shredded. Residents can bring any color or type of paper document for disposal. These items can include financial statements, social security records, bank records, and other personal documents that contain sensitive personal information. Plastic credit and ID cards are also accepted. Paper clips, staples, rubber bands, labels, and file tabs do not need to be removed. ShredQuick will not accept electronics, binders, junk mail, magazines, and newspapers at this event. For questions regarding this event, email Jennifer Linzy at Jennifer.Linzy@ManateeClerk.com or call 941-741-4007.
FAM (Family Art Making) is a free program that's fun for the whole family. Join us for creative art projects inspired by an object in our collections from February 12, 2022 to April 30, 2022 at 10am, 11am, and 12pm at the Education Center. Afterwards, visit the museum* to see that object in person. You will be able to visit the Museum of Art and the Circus Museum with your FAM wristband that is provided at check-in. An at-home version of FAM is available on our YouTube channel: youtube.com/TheRingling.
This winter, Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (Selby Gardens) will spotlight the work of Robert Mapplethorpe, one of the most significant photographers of the 20th century, together with the poetry of legendary singer-songwriter and poet Patti Smith in a special exhibition on view throughout the garden’s 15-acre Downtown Sarasota campus. Marking the sixth edition of the Gardens’ annual Jean & Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, which explores the work of major artists through the lens of their connection to nature, this immersive exhibition puts a selection of Mapplethorpe’s photographs of orchids, hyacinths, and irises, and excerpts of Smith’s poems and lyrics on flowers and nature, in dialogue with new horticultural installations inspired by the two artists’ work. On view from February 13 through June 26, 2022, Robert Mapplethorpe and Patti Smith: Flowers, Poetry, and Light is curated by Dr. Carol Ockman, Selby Gardens’ Curator-at-Large and the Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History Emerita at Williams College. The Gardens will host an Evening with Patti Smith, on Tuesday, February 15, a lecture and performance with Smith that will shed new light on this body of work.
In April, Art Uptown Gallery will feature the work of Sarasota painter Evelyn McCorristin Peters in an exhibit entitled "The Art of Losing.” The Art of Losing exhibit opens on Saturday, March 26 and runs through Friday, April 29. The public is also invited to a reception on First Friday, April 1, from 6pm to 9pm. Art Uptown Gallery welcomes you to 1367 Main Street, where the diverse art works of 29 local artists are shown seven days a week. Telephone: 941-955-5409 for hours and further information. www.artuptown.com.
A Skeptic and a Bruja by Rosa Fernandez Directed by Patrice Amon is A WORLD PREMIERE produced in Collaboration with freeFall Theatre and will run from April 1 to May 1, 2022. Priscilla buys a home in the middle of nowhere with the hopes of turning it into a lucrative bed and breakfast. When she starts having paranormal experiences, she calls Sam and Jess from the hit ghost-hunting show "A Skeptic and a Bruja" to help her. None of the women are prepared for the haunting they encounter next.
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) proudly presents The Grandma That Eats Everything & Other Winning Plays, a collection of plays inspired by the imaginations of children in sixth grade and below. This production is presented as part of FST’s WRITE A PLAY program, an award-winning arts-in-education initiative that provides students with the example, the inspiration, and the skills to write their own original plays. Students’ creations are then submitted to FST’s annual youth playwriting competition, and about a dozen winning plays are selected out of thousands of submissions from around the world to be brought to life in a full-scale production performed by professional actors. This season’s anthology of winning plays, The Grandma That Eats Everything, marks the 31st year that FST has inspired young students through the WRITE A PLAY program. The Grandma That Eats Everything & Other Winning Plays will play on weekdays to school groups in FST’s Keating Theatre as part of FST’s WRITE A PLAY program. The play is also available to tour to your school. From March 6 to May 8, The Grandma That Eats Everything & Other Winning Plays is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday mornings as part of FST’s Children’s Theatre Series. Single tickets are $10.
FST Improv Presents Comedy Freestyle Beginning on April 2 and through May 28, 2022 at 7:30pm. What happens when you take some of your favorite improv games…and remove all the rules? Anything goes at Comedy Freestyle, an off-the-wall improvisation potpourri. Featuring a mashup of both short-form and long-form styles, audiences get the best of the art form when styles and techniques collide! We’ll set our performers free from all of the traditional dos and don’ts of improv, and you get to watch them figure out what comes next, completely on the spot. Tickets are $15 per person and the performance will take place in FST's Bowne's Lab.
“BEE Aware: Discover the Wonder of Bees” will be held at the Manatee County Agricultural Museum on Saturday, April 30th, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM. This FREE event will be held indoors/outdoors at the Ag Museum, 1015 6th St. West, Palmetto. Join the Ag Museum in partnership with Soar in 4 and Suncoast Beekeepers Association for this family event that will BEE a blast!
Stations during the event will feature an interactive demonstration hive (no live bees), honey tasting, games, crafts, story time, and your family will be able to make a bee house (1 per family). Learn about the best plants to attract bees and help them thrive as well as how to avoid being stung. For more information, call 941-721-2034 or email agriculturalmuseum@manateeclerk.com
He's young, he's broke, his landlord's knocking at the door, and he's just found out his wife is going to have a baby. To make matters even more desperate, Casey is struggling with his gig as an Elvis impersonator in a run-down, small-town Florida bar. When the bar owner brings in a B-level drag show to replace his act, Casey finds that he has a whole lot to learn about show business - and himself. The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez will play beginning March 30, 2022 through May 22, 2022 in FST's Gompertz Theatre.
WORLD PREMIERE. Leigh and Lee are two strangers who have little in common besides their names—she is a Type A statistician and he is an aggressive former athlete. But the discovery of a mysterious suicide note in a hotel bathroom sets their lives on unexpected paths that go anywhere but according to plan. Paralyzed tells a striking story of guilt, personal responsibility, and the power of forgiveness. Paralyzed will show from April 6 to April 29, 2022.
The Queue: Beyond The Surface, A Solo Exhibit by Nneka Jones. In this exhibition, Nneka Jones comments on topics such as identity, stereotypes and the digital age. Jones embeds and camouflages portraiture, making some of her subjects almost unrecognizable. Contrasting technological symbols, such as barcodes and QR-codes, with the soft edges and skin tones of the figure, Jones creates a timely discussion on humanism vs. futurism. She brings to light a growing struggle to maintain true identity in the face of our highly influential social media sites. Jones believes social technologies create a digital mask ultimately causing issues with mental health and social segregation. She aims to magnify these issues in the hope of starting conversations surrounding identity and unity. Opening Night Reception is Friday, April 15th, 2022 from 6pm to 8pm. Open Exhibition Dates are April 16th through May 7th By Appointment Only.
The world premiere of Knoxville is made possible by a generous grant from The Roy Cockrum Foundation. This moving and innovative new musical reunites the dynamic Tony Award-winning creative team behind Ragtime, one of the most beloved musicals of all time. Based on James Agee’s autobiographical, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Death in the Family, the story begins as Agee struggles to write his greatest work—about the event that touched his young life and the effect it had on his mother, his town, and his own future. A powerful illumination of the forces that shape who we are, Knoxville is a universal coming-of-age story about family, faith, and love—and about the boy who will grow up to write it. With a sweeping musical score and an extraordinary creative team and cast, this world premiere is a must-see event. Contains mature themes. Recommended for age 10+. Knoxville will show April 23 - May 11, 2022 with Previews April 15-22, 2022.
Art in Common Places is pleased to present two programs to celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 27 to April 28, as well as National Poetry Month. The April 27 program, noon at Selby Public Library, features poets Melanie Lavender and Don McLagan and artist Ann Burroughs. The April 28 program, 6 pm on Zoom, features poet Danny Shot and artist Mara Torres González. Both programs include poetry readings and discussions about their collaborative works with Art in Common Places.
Woven from ancestral myths, traditional music and arts, and a three-person narrative, Andares reveals the extraordinary, untold stories of ordinary, humble people who inhabit Mexico's most remote corners. Created by director Hector Flores Komatsu’s personal search to know and understand the indigenous cultures of his homeland, Andares is a moving, fierce denunciation against a present that seems intent upon destroying what was once held as sacred. This performance will show on April 28, 29, and 30 at 7:30pm.
“Mi Historia, Tu Historia, y Nuestra Historia” (My Story, Your Story, Our Story). In “Cuban Project: Historias” Artistic Director Leymis Bolaños Wilmott dives into her family history, investigating her parents’ forced migration through the world’s largest political exodus of children, known as Operation Pedro Pan. Through original sound sculpting by José G. Martínez and thought-provoking movement research, this production explores personal stories, decision making, displacement, and the Cuban-American experience. Cuban Project: Historias will take place Thursday, April 28, 2022 through Saturday, April 30th at 7pm and Sunday, May 1 at 2pm. Tickets are $10 - $45. Available Virtually Friday, April 29th, 2022 through Sunday, May 1st, 2022. Virtual Tickets are $25.
PARC will hold its 48th Golf Tournament Weekend presented by Raymond James on Friday, April 29, 2022 and Saturday, April 30, 2022 at the Countryside Country Club. The weekend will kick off with a 70’s themed Friday Night Party that will start at 7pm. There will be food, drinks and live music provided by The Black Honkeys. The Golf Tournament will be held the following day with lunch starting at 11am followed by a shotgun start at 12pm. Join in on one of PARC’s longest running fundraising events where golfers, business leaders and friends of PARC come together to raise critical funds for the numerous programs and services that the organization offers. These programs and services include but are not limited to: Residential Housing for almost 100 individuals, Early Intervention programming for children as young as 2 months old with developmental delays, Art and Music Therapies that encourage PARC’s clients to express themselves through the arts, and Adult Life Enrichment Programs that include a variety of daily activities and opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities to earn hourly wages working in our production facility. Every year, PARC teams up with local businesses and residents in the community that believe in PARC’s mission and strive to help make the weekend a success. Sponsorships and tickets are available.
The Season concludes with Program 7 – Serendipitous Movement, a triple bill that epitomizes the depth and range of The Sarasota Ballet, and features George Balanchine’s Serenade, the Company Premiere of Mark Morris’ The Letter V, and Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations. Balanchine’s gorgeous Serenade opens, coursing through the four movements of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in a mesmerizingly graceful display. The Company Premiere of Morris’ dynamic The Letter V follows, marking the first time the Company will have worked with this astounding choreographer. Originally premiered in 2015 by the Houston Ballet, The Letter V sets Morris’ dynamic approach to dance and distinctive musicality to Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 88 in G, a pairing that Alistair Macaulay stated, in his New York Times review, “exemplifies the same qualities as Mr. Morris: high spirits, terrific humor, a strong inclination to the pastoral and a keen instinct for structural experimentation.” The long-awaited return of MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations closes the Program with a ragtime-fueled, comedy-infused dance-off. Created for The Royal Ballet in 1974 with MacMillan at his most whimsical, the curtain opens as Elite Syncopations’ cast dances wildly on a virtually bare stage surrounded by a live band. Serendipitous Movement will take place on April 29 2022 at 7:30pm and April 30 2022 at 2pm and 7:30pm at Sarasota Opera House, 61 North Pineapple Ave.
LENNAR will host the 14th annual Payton Wright Foundation Golf Tournament to raise money in support of families who have children with brain cancer. The tournament also honors the birthday of Payton Wright who's spirit inspired the foundation.
Join us Friday, April 29 (National Arbor Day), for an evening of tree-themed movement, art making and seed planting, followed by a screening of The Lorax. The celebration will take place from 5-7pm.
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