The Live Arts Festival will highlight Sarasota's diverse talents

Since taking on the task of spearheading a new festival celebrating Sarasota’s rich and diverse arts scene about three years ago, Jeffery Kin has been juggling many challenges, but none more important than trying to define and establish exactly what the first-ever Sarasota Rising Living Arts Festival would be.

Kin, the former producing artistic director of the Sarasota Players, always had a vision for an event that would highlight the dozens of arts organizations in the community, along with individual artists, even before those groups came together or understood what he was trying to do. The idea behind the festival was to create an event that would promote the region’s diverse arts scene while also expanding its reach statewide, nationally and, eventually, internationally.

“I talked to about 90 percent of the arts groups, took the time, gave them lunches, coffees and teas, listened to their dreams and tried to incorporate all of that into the festival,” Kin said. “It was a big pyramid of ideas and thoughts and literally all the common sense I could find came to me to figure out how to do it.”

It was the most complicated situation: the chicken-and-egg dilemma. Arts organizations were interested, but often hesitant to commit to an event that didn’t have a clear shape, and Kin couldn’t shape it until arts groups were willing to participate.

Finally, Sarasota Rising will host five official events and participate in several others from November 8-17 at different locations throughout Sarasota County, featuring local groups and artists and highlighting youth programs. There are also several other programs on the schedule.

It is the first of what I hope will be many festivals that will change and grow over the years.

What is the festival?

“It’s almost like the festival is more of a feeling. It’s not a thing,” Kin said during a recent interview. “It’s not a place. It’s not a park. It’s not a one-time event, it’s not just for kids, it’s not just for our beloved seniors. It’s really a feeling to be able to participate in whatever way you see fit.”

His organization, which was initially launched with the support of real estate developer Mark Kauffman and financial backing from the Downtown Improvement District, was seeking to prevent the creation of a replica of Arts Day, which was held for 18 years until 2009 by what is now the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota. Arts Day was a one-day festival around Five Points Park, where organizations would set up tables to promote their programs and have the opportunity to perform snippets of shows in various indoor and outdoor spaces.

Kin was looking for something broader, countywide, and hoped that performing arts organizations could produce something new and unique for the festival. If the event grows in future years, these types of performances could become part of the festival.

“We want to give a sense of what the community is producing,” Kin said. “We need to show who is here, what is here, what is happening here,” she said. “We are a world-class cultural community and we need to be known for that.”

The Live Arts Festival includes five main events throughout the county

In the end, the festival will be a mix of parties and exhibitions that will open on November 8 with the Festival of Living Artspreview of the week ahead at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium. Kin said each of the five main events “has its own purpose. We know we will learn a lot from this one that will serve as a foundation for what we do in the future.”

The auditorium will also be the venue for the event on November 9. Rise and shine on Saturdaya free, family-focused art exhibit where organizations are invited to highlight the youth programs they offer. There will be indoor and outdoor stages for performances.

The official opening party on November 10th will be called “A world of entertainment” and will take place at the Northern Trust building in downtown Sarasota, where attendees will be able to watch the Chalk Festival take place on the street below, with a Brazilian band and singer performing. It will also feature a California-based group called Bandaloop, which creates dances in public spaces and on the sides of buildings.

“We’ll have them dancing alongside Northern Trust for the opening,” Kin said. “We want that to be a spark of excitement to start the week. We call it a world of entertainment, with different music, different culture, different organizations. We have a world of entertainment at our feet. You don’t have to go anywhere.”

On November 11, Veterans Day, and November 12, the Live Arts Festival will host “Our reimagined embrace” a partnership with Embracing our Differences and Selby Gardens at their historic Spanish Point campus. It will include a walking tour of Spanish Point, along with some of the unclaimed banners from previous Embracing Our Differences exhibitions, chosen by CreArte Latino, Modern Marimba, and Sarasota Contemporary Dance, among others. These groups will use the panels to create original songs, dances, spoken word, and performance scenes based on the images and messages.

The festival closes with “Sarasota Rising: A Celebration of Youth” at the Sailor Circus Arena at the Conservatory of Circus Arts, featuring a variety of youth-focused programs including Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Opera, West Coast Black Theatre, Key Chorus, Venice Theatre and Sarasota Contemporary Dance, in addition to the circus.

Additional events during the week

November 11 – Veterans Day – Sarasota Rising is working with area organizations to create a tribute to the nation’s veterans.

November 14 – All roads lead to Venice – Several organizations, including Venice Art Center, Downtown Association, Venice Main Street, The Venice Symphony and Venice Theater, will take over downtown for a celebration of the arts that will include local bars, restaurants and hotels, temporary visual arts exhibits, impromptu street performances and select street artists.

November 15th – Pop-Ups in Sarasota – There will be a variety of surprise “Happenings” and pop-ups in downtown Sarasota featuring live performances, food and drinks.

November 16 – Roulette of the arts – Volunteers will travel around the community giving random people the chance to spin a wheel to win tickets to shows and exhibits in the coming weeks.

Looking for sponsorships

Kin has been working primarily with a volunteer board of directors and recently brought on its first paid staff member, Erin Lazarro. The festival is seeking sponsors for many of the events to cover costs and lay a foundation for future events.

“We need to raise about $200,000 to cover everything we’re doing, including insurance and paying for the police force and staff. We have budgets for everything. If we had more money, we could do bigger and more expansive things. But we’re being frugal, smart and trying to do this as best we can on a scale that’s manageable.”

There will be a program, but the festival is unlikely to make money from it. “The Gulf Coast Community Foundation has offered to be the title sponsor for the closing portion,” Kin said.

Kin’s team also includes Sonja Shea as director of community engagement and Tamara Solum, who led Drama Kids of Manasota for 20 years, as director of educational outreach. Vern Biaett, who has produced community festivals and worked on events such as the Super Bowl in Phoenix and Glendale, Arizona, has been serving as a consultant.

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Opinion: Trying to make sense of the Sarasota County Commission’s arts bans

First steps

Kin said the festival has taken shape “almost exactly how I thought we would be” during its first year. Some have mentioned the possibility of turning the Living Arts Festival into Sarasota’s version of the Spoleto Festival USA, which composer Gian Carlo Menotti created in 1977 in Charleston, South Carolina. It has grown into a two-week festival with dozens of theater, music, dance, opera, jazz, choral and other programs that has brought international attention to the city.

Kin has no intention of trying to create the same in Sarasota.

“At every festival I’ve been to there are completely different things, and even in Spoleto there are things that are the same. We’re creating an atmosphere where people want to be, where they can get excited and immerse themselves in the arts. That’s true at any festival, at any county fair. It’s about bringing people together and then we have a role. It takes an event like this to make you feel amazed.”

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Breaking

The Live Arts Festival will highlight Sarasota’s diverse talents

ByS. Jacob

What is the festival?

The Live Arts Festival includes five main events throughout the county

Additional events during the week

Looking for sponsorships

First steps

By S. Jacob

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