Sarasota, Florida: Difference between revisions

In the 1960s thephilanthropists Lewis and Eugenia Van WezelsWezel enabled the city to build a performing arts hall on the bay frontbayfront. The auditorium, the [[Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall]], was designed by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]]'s successor firm, [[Taliesin Associated Architects]] team under the direction of [[William Wesley Peters]]. Wright's widow, [[Olgivanna Lloyd Wright]], who participated in the project, selected its purple color.

FST's Keating Theatre, formerly the Sarasota Woman's Club, is amongst the oldest surviving buildings in Sarasota.  Founded in 1903, the Sarasota Woman's Club eventually set out to create a meeting place to house social events, activities, and forums. On January 1, 1915, the cornerstone was laid at the corner of Palm Avenue and Park Street (now Cocoanut). It served as the town's first library and hosted numerous clubclubs and public committee gatherings. The Woman's Club also maintained a census and birth registration, an area PTA, and a Red Cross Auxiliary.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

The Sarasota Woman's Club relocated in 1976 and the building became slated for demolition. Marian McKenna, a patron, and supporter of the arts, did not want to see the building and her memories destroyed. She purchased the building and later sold it to Florida Studio Theatre.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

In 2003, FST purchased the Gompertz Theatre. The building was originally the Park-Seventh Movie House in the 1920s. Due to the Depression, the movie house shut its doors and became an empty venue. During its predominantly vacant period in the 1940s, the theatre hosted a variety of road showsroadshows and performers, including Tom Mix and his Wonder Horse and the All Girls’ Orchestra. During this time it was known as the Garden Theater, and later the Art Theater, before becoming known as the Palm Tree Playhouse in 1951. The Playhouse closed again in the 1960s. In the mid -1970s, Asolo Theatre purchased the space for production purposes and their Stage Two Theatre program. It was subsequently sold to Anita Katzman and reoccupied by Siesta Key Actors Theatre and Theatre Works in the 1980s. The building was acquired by Florida Studio Theatre and renamed the Gompertz Theatre in honor of Mrs. Leila Gompertz, who made the lead gift enabling the purchase.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Sarasota and the Cultural Coast are home to fine art, film-making, and decorative arts. Fine art, fine art galleries, artist collectives, film-making, and many decorative arts are practiced in Sarasota and Cultural Coast.

Sarasota is home to [[Mote Marine Laboratory]], a marine rescue, research facility, andan aquarium, the [[Marie Selby Botanical Gardens]], the [[Sarasota Jungle Gardens]] and the Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary.