HuB Day To Showcase Sarasota's Creative Best

If you’re looking to hit up a party featuring some of the freshest break-beat techno sounds on the electronic music scene, signature cocktails, and pole dancing performances on Friday night, put down your gas card – you won’t need to travel all the way to Ybor this week.

Sarasota’s very own tech-creative business incubator, HuB, is teaming up with neighboring “Tradigital” marketing and advertising agency, Blue Strategy + Creative, LLC, to host HuB Day at the heart of the historic Rosemary District where the two businesses are located side by side.

The purpose of HuB Day, explained HuB co-founder, Matt Orr, is to showcase local bands and artists while providing insight into exactly what the HuB actually does.

“Our purpose is to propel Sarasota forward; to leverage and show off the assets we have in our community,” Orr explained. “We are at the genesis of a new creative community and that’s what we are going to showcase on Friday night.”

The HuB, which was founded by Orr and Rich Swier in June of 2009, recently moved into its new location at 1413 Boulevard of Arts, with Blue moving into the space next door shortly thereafter in February. Combined, the two locations serve as a nucleus for creative movers and shakers in Sarasota, including graphic designers, advertisers, writers, musicians, as well as other artistic and tech-savvy innovators.

The event on Friday evening will serve as a open house for the two business’ new locations, while simultaneously showcasing a variety of local artistic talent and serving as a networking opportunity for creative minds from the community.

HuB and Blue will have their doors opened to the public, with live music from local electro-hip hop acts, Break Fixx and Abnorml Injustice performing at each respective location. Accompanying the music will be an art show featuring the work of local artists such as Tube-Dude, Max Visions, and Pablo Rojas Visual Concepts, and others.

“They’re emerging artists, and that’s the point,” said Orr of the DJ duo, Break Fixx, which was formed only a mere three months ago. “It’s about recognizing and focusing on the new creative talent in the community.”

As if the music and art showcase would not provide enough creative entertainment, performers from the Bradenton-based pole fitness studio, , will be performing dance routines in Blue’s space as well.

HuB Day promises to provide creative stimulation for not only the ears and eyes, but for the taste buds, too: Blue will be serving up two signature cocktails (colored blue, of course), inspired by Sarasota’s family-owned and operated .

HuB Day serves to showcase Sarasota’s thriving creative pulse which has, in recent years, begun to receive national attention. On Tuesday, American Style Magazine released its list of Top 25 Small Cities for Art in the United States, with Sarasota ranking in at 5th place for the second year in a row, maintaining a foothold on the dramatic ascent it took from 11th place in 2009.

“It’s really exciting to be put in the ranks with places like [#1 ranked] Asheville,” Orr said. “We’ve worked hard as a community for this, so it’s great to see … When you think of artistic scenes, you think of places like Manhattan and Miami. Of course, they’re already established – but there was a time when they were just emerging, too. And that’s where Sarasota is at right now. The arts community is moving forward.”

“Cities in a growth mode like the one Sarasota is currently in have the opportunity to ride certain waves,” Orr went on to say. “In the early 2000’s, we were very focused on driving tourism and real-estate – which was fine, at the time – but I feel like we really missed an opportunity to embrace the arts community. That’s what we’re doing now – it’s what HuB is about.”

Orr explained the importance of recognizing the creative community that exists beyond galleries and museums.

“When we talk about artists, we’re talking about people excelling in their industry and making money for the community. It’s important to take notice of the graphic designers, the animators – those artists who are pulling in six-figure sums. It’s an example of how art can really push industry forward and help to create a tremendously thriving community.”

As the arts community in Sarasota continues to progress, Orr predicts that increasing numbers of students from local schools such as Ringling College of Art and Design, New College, and USF will choose to remain and launch their careers locally following graduation, rather than making an exodus away from here.

“It will help us become a more well-rounded society, rather than a transient community where the young people leave and don’t return until retirement,” he said.

Blue Strategy + Creative’s Engagement Architect, Sara Anderson, agreed with Orr.

“Sarasota is becoming a major beacon – or a hub, so to speak – of creative content, not only from a solely artistic standpoint, but from a technological standpoint as well,” said Anderson. “It’s important to take notice of that.”

She went on to say, “This marriage between creativity and technology will lead to the continuance of job creation in the community over the next few years and, hopefully, make us into a real epicenter for job growth.”

Whether you’re interested in networking with likeminded creative professionals, getting a taste of the freshest artistic voices in the community, or simply enjoying a cocktail or two while dancing to a backdrop of electro hip-hop beats, HuB Day is an event that you will not want to miss.

Tickets are $10 at the door, so stop by between 6 - 11pm and prepare to rub elbows with some of Sarasota’s most innovative creative minds.