SRQ DAILY May 16, 2022
Monday Business Edition
"I am committed to supporting the cause for female leadership every chance I get."
SRQ Magazine, powered by the Women Who Roar Initiative, hosted the 6th Annual Women Who Roar: Together We Roar Leadership and Awards Luncheon on Friday May 13, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The Women Who Roar Initiative was formed nine years ago as a year-round program engaging the participants in the annual Women Who Roar Competition to create highly-dynamic personal networking that catalyzes community leadership through the science and art of mentorship.
The special day began with champagne sipping and casual browsing at the participating local pop-up booths displaying everything from home goods to cosmetics.
As the crowd gathered into the banquet room, Lisl Liang, president of SRQ Media, welcomed the more than 260 guests in attendance and expressed gratitude for being able to gather in person once again after a two year hiatus. Friday’s celebration reflected nominees from 2020, 2021 and 2022. “The stories we will share today are even more poignant as we are emerging from the global pandemic,” Liang said.
Steve Altier of Seaside National Bank & Trust, a champion partner/sponsor of the event, shared his thoughts about the importance of mentorship before turning the stage over to keynote speaker, Kathy Kristof.
As editor/founder and CEO of SideHusl.com, Kristof has an investigative journalism background and formed her company to navigate a safe financial space for freelancers by presenting ways to make money in the gig economy. Kristof gave words of advice to the women in the audience. “Take good care of yourselves before you take care of anyone else,” she said. “It’s really the only thing I’ve seen women do poorly, as we’re always so busy taking care of others around us.”
Trailblazer Award recipient Cyma Zarghami spoke next. Zarghami is the CEO/Founder of Mimo Studios, a female-owned and operated media company that specializes in kids and family content spanning live action, animation and preschool. “I am committed to supporting the cause for female leadership every chance I get,” Zarghami shared. “We need to keep supporting women and be champions of women always.”
At the awards ceremony, 17 new ambassadors were inducted into the leadership circle, resulting in many smiles and lots of hugs. Nurse Practitioner Bridget Ratner was one of those ambassadors. “The best part of this for me is seeing strong women mentoring other strong women,” she said. “It’s really incredible and empowering.”
As the luncheon wrapped, attendees lingered for a bit more browsing in the pop-up boutique lounge and enjoyed a “bubbles and brainstorming” cocktail reception. 
Pictured: Members of the 2022 Women Who Roar Leadership Circle. Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.
Traffic continues to soar at Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, which in April saw a 31% jump year over year in the number of passengers departing or arriving. A total of 386,013 landed or took off from the airport, bring year-to-date travel to 1,471,513, an amount of traffic the airport did not see last until early July.
“We have had more passengers use our airport in the first four months of this year than we typically see for an entire calendar year,” said Rick Piccolo, president and CEO of SRQ Airport.
Year-to-date through April 2021, the airport saw 858,231 passenger flights. That means in the first four months of 2022, there’s been a 71.5% increase in traffic as a time when SRQ Airport continues to be the nation’s fastest growing.
That comes after March brought a 59.5% increase year-over-year at the airport and pushed the facility over the 1 millionth traveler mark before the close of the first quarter.
“This unprecedented growth continues for our region and the airport,” Piccolo said. “Nationwide, many airlines have reduced their summer schedules due to pilot shortages and rising fuel prices and we will see some of those impacts here. With high demand and fewer flights, people need to plan their travel this summer early while seat inventory and discount pricing are still available.”
Meanwhile, SRQ continues to expand its list of carriers. Breeze Airways on June 4 will become the 12th airline with flights through the airport. The first Breeze flights through Sarasota will fly Wednesdays and Saturdays, connecting to Hartford, Connecticut. The Sarasota-Bradenton market is one of 10 cities Breeze will add to its service roster.
The airport saw 3,163,543 combined enplanements and deplanements in the 2021 calendar year. While traffic fluctuates through the year depending on season, it’s likely the airport will fly well past last year’s record passenger count before the year is done.
In the May 2022 edition of SRQ Magazine, we interviewed Dr. Carol Probstfeld, President of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota as part of our In Conversation feature about education. Below is an excerpt published in the magazine in which Dr. Probstfeld shares her insights with SRQ readers on innovation in education and leaning into the future.
How do you describe yourself as compared to other educational institutions? What makes you unique and different and what niche do you feel?
I think what makes the State College of Florida unique is that we like to think of ourselves as everybody's college. So if you are experiencing college for the first time, right out of high school, we're here for you. If you're looking to change careers, we're here for you. If you're looking to take various classes that will help you accelerate in the career you're in, we're here for you. If you want to start a business, through our Entrepreneurship Center, we're here for you. So we like to think of ourselves as that sort of one stop for people who are looking for a place where they can continue their education, regardless of where they are in that educational pathway, we're here for them.
SCF Bradenton, 5840 26th St. W. Bradenton, FL 34207, 941-752-5050
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.
The Ringling is pleased to present an exhibition that celebrates the life and artwork of Eleanor Merritt from February 18, 2022 to August 21, 2022. Eleanor was a dedicated volunteer at The Ringling for many years as a docent and Board member. She also served as president of the Venice Art Center and was active in other arts organizations as well. Eleanor passed away in 2019 leaving a legacy of art and public service. This exhibition is dedicated to her spirit and creativity and represents a small sample of a significant body of work the artist created over her long career. Beginning with an early work from the 1950s Untitled (Seated Figure) and concluding with her last painting Blue Embrace of 2018, the exhibition highlights her creative use of materials, movement between figuration and abstraction, and her commitment to women’s rights. The works in the exhibition come from the artist’s estate and from a few prestigious private collections. The artist’s daughter, Lisa, and artist Mike Solomon were critical guides in the development of this exhibition.
UnidosNow presents the acclaimed Mexican folkloric group Mariachi Cobre and the Venice Symphony, on Friday, May 20, 7:30 p.m., at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, and on Saturday, May 21, 2:30 p.m., at the Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave., Venice. Michelle Merrill, the former associate conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, will conduct both performances. The concerts commemorate UnidosNow's 10th anniversary, which has been delayed for two years due to the pandemic. Proceeds will raise valuable funds to empower UnidosNow's education, integration, and civic engagement initiatives. Tickets for the event, which range from $30 to $120, are now on sale at www.unidosnow.org/nocheunidos.
The Players Centre for Performing Arts is back with the popular Broadway on the Bay series titled, The Sarasota Divas, at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens (1534 Mound St, Sarasota, FL 34236) May 17-20, 2022. This year some of your favorite Sarasota divas including Kathryn Parks, Alana Opie, Berry Ayers, Jennifer Baker and Eve Caballero will perform some of your favorite Broadway tunes. No food or drink will be sold at this event. Seats are provided. NO TICKETS will be printed for this event. Upon making your purchase your name will be on a reservation list.
The newest artists at Art Uptown Gallery will be featured in the May exhibit, "Different Strokes," showcasing their paintings. Diane Boone, intuitive abstract painter, and Gillian St. George, hard-edge abstract painter, are both local, full-time residents of national recognition. Meet the artists on May 6 from 6pm to 9pm at the First Friday public reception at the gallery and Saturday, May 7 from 11am to 5pm, The exhibit opens on Saturday, April 30 and runs through Friday, May 27. Art Uptown Gallery welcomes patrons and friends at 1367 Main Street where the diverse art works of local, award-winning artists are exhibited. Telephone 941-955-5409 or visit www.artuptown.com for hours and further information.
M A R A Art Studio + Gallery presents “black+white,” featuring monochromatic works by nine artists: Grace Howl, Jack Shapiro, Jana Millstone, Ralph Berger, Lisa DiFranza, Craig Palmer, Dan Wilkerson, Sam Wuerfel, and MARA Torres, May 1-31. The opening reception is Friday, May 6, 5:30-7 p.m. The gallery is at 1421 5th Street, Rosemary District, Sarasota. For more information, call (941) 914-8110 or visit MaraStudioGallery.com
This season, WBTT is also thrilled to present two world premiere one-act plays under the auspices of its New Playwrights Series. Tarra Conner jones has written and stars in an ode to Nell Carter, titled “From Birmingham to Broadway.” Nate Jacobs and his brother, Michael, have written a play about Muhammad Ali, titled “Float Like a Butterfly”; staring Darius Autry. These plays will be presented together from May 4 to 29, 2022. Ticket sales are scheduled to begin in the late summer. Call the Box Office at 941-366-1505 or visit westcoastblacktheatre.org.
Laughing Matters, FST’s hit musical sketch comedy show, is back for round six! And this time, nothing and no one is safe from a good-spirited roast. From never-ending Sarasota construction and the perpetual hunt for downtown parking to Mother Nature’s increasingly wild mood swings and our endless quest to stay young, Laughing Matters delivers fast-paced comedy inspired by the culture and politics of today. Laughing Matters, by head writer Rebecca Hopkins with contributing writers Kevin Allen, Sarah Durham, Stephan deGhelder, and Jim Prosser, will play beginning February 9, 2022 through June 19, 2022 in FST's Court Cabaret.
The exhibition features work from the past decade by an international selection of artists and visual activists that are working to make palpable the unseen information, or metadata, that undergirds the image regime. This includes not just the tags or descriptors attached to image files, but the power relationships, biases, and economic interests that are not always visible in the image itself. The exhibition emphasizes an expanded concept of photographic practice that includes research-based projects, installation, conceptual work, and activism as well as analog and digital photographs. Artists featured are Mohsen Azar, Viktoria Binschtok, Mladen Bizumic, Joy Buolamwini, Jason Lazarus, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Lilly Lulay, Trevor Paglen, and Penelope Umbrico. Metadata: Rethinking Photography in the 21st Century will be held at The John and Mable Museum of Art, Sarasota, Florida from March 6 through August 28th, 2022. The exhibition is curated by Christopher Jones, Stanton B. and Nancy W. Kaplan Curator of Photography and Media Art.
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.
SRQ DAILY is produced by SRQ | The Magazine. Note: The views and opinions expressed in the Saturday Perspectives Edition and in the Letters department of SRQ DAILY are those of the author(s) and do not imply endorsement by SRQ Media. Senior Editor Jacob Ogles edits the Saturday Perspective Edition, Letters and Guest Contributor columns.In the CocoTele department, SRQ DAILY is providing excerpts from news releases as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by SRQ DAILY. The views expressed by individuals are their own and their appearance in this section does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent. For rates on SRQ DAILY banner advertising and sponsored content opportunities, please contact Ashley Ryan Cannon at 941-365-7702 x211 or via email |
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