The area’s budding designers and future fashion moguls come together this Sunday at Art Center Sarasota for the first iconcept jr—a runway show modeled after the Art Center’s annual iconcept fundraiser but geared towards artists ages 8-18. As many as 25 young participants will take to the runway, modeling outfits of their own design and created using unconventional and recycled materials in a bid to support artistic exploration and the Art Center’s educational and outreach programs.

“It’s going to be a runway show just like the adults',” says Lisa Berger, Art Center Sarasota director and creator of both iconcept and its junior counterpart. The young models/designers will walk a professional runway under professional lights and sound, she says, their work laid out in a full program with a page dedicated to each artist.

There are no prizes and it’s not a competition, Berger continues, rather a focus on fostering creativity and building confidence in the students, which would only be undermined by pitting them against each other. When encouraged, the students have shown themselves to be “quite innovative,” she says, designing outfits and constructing runway-ready clothing from recyclables, medical supplies, bath sponges, coffee sacks and even local media, to name a few. “They’ll all be celebrated,” she says. “That’s what this is all about.”

But it’s also about raising money for the Art Center’s youth scholarships and programming such as Slice of Art, which brings students from area schools into the Art Center for guided tours through the exhibits. Many participants in iconcept jr were also attendees of the Art Center’s summer Boot Camp, where they worked directly with adult iconcept artists and learned to sew and hem and solve problems like a designer, and it's this type of programming that Berger hopes to support.

The show begins in Art Center Sarasota at 12pm on Sunday, September 25, and runs until noon. Tickets include a buffet lunch and are $50 for adults and $25 for those 17 and under. VIP tickets are $75 and include a seat along the runway. 

Pictured: Olivia Schmeits of Riverview High School models her creations. Photo courtesy of Art Center Sarasota.

If you've lived in Sarasota long enough, many local spaces hold hints of nostalgia from eateries gone by. Classico will forever be Sarasota News and Books to some. A few remember Libby's as the old Fred's Restaurant. Head down south and you'll likely be looking for J Ryan's—instead, you'll be met with the fresh face of the Coral House, a restaurant whose food will make you forget all about the haunts of yore. A dinner joint specializing in locally purveyed fish, the seafood pasta is the winner of the evening. A bed of jet black squid ink linguini hand-made in Tampa is the base for an ever-changing roster of fish, often including massive scallops, Prince Edward Island mussels, a local catch like grouper or wahoo, Gulf shrimp and baby octopus. The teeny octopi are the kickers: seared over heat, they are then thrown in an icy bath of olive oil with zest of lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit.  

The Coral House, 8389 South Tamiami Trl., Sarasota, 941-552-8825.

In 2013, America’s Promise Alliance launched the GradNation Community Summit Series. This campaign built on the Dropout Prevention Summit initiative whose primary goal was to ensure that 100 GradNation Summits would be hosted across the nation through 2016. The summit’s overarching goal is to realize a 90 percent high-school graduation rate by 2020 and to regain America’s ranking as first in the world in college completion. The GradNation Summits are meant to drive a national movement allowing communities to leverage summit events for greater awareness, engagement, coordinated and sustained action, greater impact and outcomes for youth success, and ultimately to effectively and powerfully build our nation’s human capital.

Sarasota County is among the select few areas across the country that will host a GradNation Summit and the Education Foundation of Sarasota County is honored to present this event. During the GradNation Summit for Sarasota County, ideas and perspectives around core issues related to high school dropout and to graduating with purpose in their community will be discussed. Fundamental and critical to the overall success of the GradNation Summit for Sarasota County is the youth voice. Therefore, in addition to the education community, the youth will share their views to family, care-givers, nonprofits, businesses and other concerned community members, in order to inform, deepen the understanding and guide a broader and more purposeful conversation. As a result, everyone attending the summit is able to hear directly from students about what they feel are causes and impacts underlying high school dropout. 

Education Foundation

State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota’s (SCF) online bachelor’s degree in health administration was ranked by a healthcare administration website among the top five in the country based on cost, student success and curriculum. SCF was ranked number four on its list and its curriculum is particularly enticing for its unique elective courses, which include biology of aging, dietary influences on disease and managing cultural diversity.  

SCF Manatee-Sarasota

Managed by Raul Elizalde, Sarasota-based investment advisory firm Path Financial, LLC, has added TD Ameritrade as one of its preferred account custodians. By partnering with TD Ameritrade, it will provide enhanced benefits to Path’s clients such as competitively priced transaction costs, the elimination of miscellaneous fees, TD Ameritrade’s asset protection guarantee and broad investment choices including access to over 15,000 mutual funds.   

Path Financial

Centauri Insurance will break ground on its new corporate headquarters in Lakewood Ranch September 2016. The property acquired a 5-acre parcel of land at the southwest corner of Lakewood Ranch Boulevard North and Communications Parkway. Under the creative guidance of Fawley Bryant Architects, Centauri has designed a 30,000-square-foot, three-story facility.  

Centauri Insurance

With fall fast approaching, the September issue is all about what's coming for the next year—a compilation we showcase in the TRENDSPORT feature. One such trend to look out for: rose gold jewelry. Above, you'll see the opening spread, where rose gold, diamond-encrusted pieces adorn the fingers and ears of model Emily Shaw, all from the masterminds at the Diamond Vault. Alas, these rosy-hued rings won't last long—we're already fielding calls about the precious pieces. As Michael Chokr of the Diamond Vault says, “Really fashion-forward people can’t just wear totally yellow gold," attesting to the metal's fashionable moment. 

http://www.srqmagazine.com/articles/442/TRENDSPORT