Weekend Things To Do

Ringling International Arts Festival Returns

This fourth annual arts event features international performers at Ringling Museum.

The Ringling International Arts Festival (RIAF), an artistic collaboration between the New York City-based Baryshnikov Arts Center and Sarasota’s own The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, will start its fourth year of performances beginning today. All of the performances will take place on the grounds of the beautiful Ringling estate, in and around the museums and performance galleries through Saturday. One of the hallmarks of the internationally-known festival is its ability to appeal to the tastes of a wide variety of aficionados of music, theatre, dance and film. “As an emerging center for the practice, study and presentation of contemporary art, the art of our time, the Ringling Museum is taking bold steps to bring to Southwest …

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Festival Committee Has an Alternative Recommendation Ready to Present to County

At a last-minute meeting, the Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee agreed on an alternative to its business proposal for an arts festival.

At the request of the Tourist Development Council, the Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee met yesterday to discuss possible alternatives for funding that is allocated for the arts in Sarasota County.  While wholeheartedly behind its plan for an arts festival in Sarasota, the steering committee agreed upon an alternative plan should the Sarasota Board of County Commissioners request it.  A unanimous vote by the committee approved the recommendation to use $650,000 for cultural tourism reserves in equal portions over three years and $200,000 for marketing over two years. The marketing will be done in conjunction with the Arts and Cultural Alliance, the Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as an arts advisory committee. …

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Plan For Art Festival Still Has a Chance, Barely

The TDC voted 11-2 to wait until the next meeting to make a final decision on the steering committee's business plan for an arts festival.

There stood Sarasota County Festival Steering Committee Chair Robert Warren in front of the 13 members of the Tourist Development Council. He looked defeated, angry and exhausted.  TDC member after TDC member had just ripped apart the business plan for an arts festival that he and the steering committee had spent more than 16 months working on.  The only positive comments were "We appreciate the hard work and effort into this." Like an athlete who was just told, "good try" after a 50-point loss, there was no relief in the face of Warren.  That was until members of the TDC suggested delaying the vote until its next meeting because the steering committee's final plan was so late getting to the TDC that some felt they did not have sufficient …

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