Explore one of Southeast Asia’s varied treasures with A Journey Through India, an upcoming festival at the Ringling Museum, celebrating Indian performance, food, music and art. For more than a year, Jay Patel and the rest of the Ringling Museum planning committee have been working hard to prepare, trying to incorporate as much of the widely diverse culture as possible. Running from April 26 to 28, the three-day festival begins with a Bollywood party on Friday, lectures and performances all throughout Saturday and a yoga wind-down on Sunday.

On the evening of April 26, The Bollywood Dance Party kicks off the festival in the Ringling Museum courtyard. DJ Pram brings his high-energy style to teach dance moves while scenes from classic Bollywood films show around the courtyard. Rajat “Rocky” Batta, a Bollywood choreographer, will present a special dance performance.

The following day consists of a day-long program, Celebration of India, and speaks on Indian art, literature, philosophy and popular culture. “That's where the tradition comes in,” Patel says. “The origin of the authentic India message is what we wanted to show.” The series of performances on Saturday from 10am to 3pm marks Patel’s favorite portion because it, “portrays the traditional Indian culture,” he says. Also, there will be dance performances by community groups, art-making and other activities for families.

A special Saturday evening concert held at the Historic Asolo Theater, featuring Ustad Shujaat Khan, showcases the North Indian classical music that has been heard through famous artists from the past, influencing even the biggest bands in the world. “George Harrison from The Beatles was very interested in the sitar,” says Patel, “and teamed up with a well-known player.” This type of instrument was used to influence The Beatles’ music, songs like  "Norwegian Wood,” "Tomorrow Never Knows” and "Love You To" has sitar influences throughout their melodies. The sitar will be performed by Shujaat Khan, accompanied on tabla by Shankh Lahiri and Dibyarka Chatterjee.

The final day of the festival is Hatha Yoga. This free event takes place at the Ca' d'Zan Terrace early in the morning. Taught by an Isha Foundation yogi, the event wraps up in a relaxing manner.

Patel sees a different side of India shining through the festival. He explains how many don’t know what India is about. “It is a lot more diverse and interesting,” Patel says. Overall, he wants people to know, “more about India then what they know.“ 

Pictured: Ustad Shujaat Khan will be playing the sitar at a special concert at The Ringling Museum this weekend. Photo courtesy of Ringling Museum.

Select students from Southside Elementary School celebrated storybook endings on Monday, April 22 at their Fractured Fairy Tales book party in Mrs. Waite’s class. The celebration culminated a year-long collaborative partnership with a select fourth grade class, as well as the Youth Experiencing Art (YEA!) program and three volunteer Ringling College art and graphic design students.  “I’m a full-force believer of meshing the literary world with the art world,” she says. “Art integration is so paramount in helping kids connect in a course they may struggle with academically—it allows them to blossom and flourish.”

As part of a special immersive literature unit she’s been doing for 13 years now, Mrs. Waite intermingles all the stages and elements of making a storybook. “It’s really an in-depth project to take that same storyline of a fairytale you’ve read, and escape it to add your own twist on it—that’s the fractured part of the fairytale,” she explains. Upon deciding which fairytale concept the kids wanted to lean off of, they created a new setting, new characters, new scenes and wrote a whole new “cool and imaginative” storyline. After lots of revisions, editing and typing them into a computer to make them shine, the Ringling College artists came in for the art integration portion. They worked with the fourth graders to paint each of their illustration title pages, accompanied by a lesson of background, middle ground and foreground watercolor painting. Student photography, digital animation and other visual graphics were added also, as part of the artful immersion learning to create each story's character.

Parents, media, representatives from the YEA! Program, fellow Southside educators, including Principal Jennifer Nzeza, plus Jahkori Dopwell Hall, JT Chen and Yanglu He—the three volunteer Ringling College students—all filled Mrs. Waite’s classroom along with the anxious fourth graders excited for the publication’s reveal. As Mrs. Waite walked around to each student and placed the book face-down on their desks, Ringling’s Director of Student Volunteers & Service Learning Rachel Levey-Baker thanked the fourth graders for teaching the college students a little something as well, “This experience for them is very much a learning experience, and they all feed off of your creativity,” she says. “They’re taking the knowledge they have as college art students, and just that process of having to teach it to you helps them learn as well and makes them better artists.”

With lots of exciting chatter, the kids were ready to flip over their end product. Once Mrs. Waite gave the “1, 2, 3, Reveal!”, a high-pitched unison, “Woah!” filled the classroom. Each story unfolded in glossy printed pages and encapsulated with a fun book cover, designed by Dopwell Hall—integrating characters from each fairy tale and showcasing them into a fun collage. “I like how they made it like a 3D background,” says fourth grader Alexis Dempsey. “It made all our characters come to life.”

The students each received a copy of their published class book and celebrated at the end with a cake-filled “author signing party.” Meanwhile Principal Nzeza announced to the room, “It's one of those outside-the-box curriculums that are so unique,” she says. “This is what they’re going to remember. This is something they’re going to be able to hold in their hands 10-20 years from now. They’ll be able to say, ‘Oh gosh, remember when we did this in Mrs. Waite’s class?!’ I just think it’s so special.” 

Photo by Wyatt Kostygan.

Lighthouse of Manasota, a nonprofit organization that provides no-cost rehabilitation training and education to the blind and visually impaired in the region, has announced its new name and unveiled its new logo. The organization will now be known as Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center. Lighthouse has served the community for nearly 34 years. In recent years, stakeholder feedback indicated that the organization was not telling its story well enough. Additionally, its name no longer accurately represented its geographic region—which has grown to encompass five counties—and its logo appeared outdated. Wordslinger Marketing & PR spearheaded the rebranding and Rough & Ready Media designed the new logo. The new logo uses a font that is more friendly to the visually impaired, incorporates Braille letters and was designed using two shades of blue, a color that studies indicate is representative of hope. The organization also has a new tagline: “Hope and Empowerment for the Visually Impaired.” The New web address is below. 

Lighthouse Vision Loss Education Center

The Team Tony Cancer Foundation, a Sarasota-based nonprofit organization that provides free peer-to-peer cancer support and resources to cancer fighters, survivors and caregivers in the local community, recently hired Kelly Deam as its support program coordinator. Deam brings more than 16 years of experience in the not-for-profit sector to her position, and will oversee the peer-to-peer mentor and medical grant assistance programs and other project management tasks at the growing nonprofit. Past positions include manager of quality assurance and volunteers for Cardinal Ritter Senior Services, director of development and alumni relations for the American Youth Foundation and development director for Boys Hope Girls Hope and Friends of Kids with Cancer.

Deam and other staff members from the Team Tony Cancer Foundation will work out of the nonprofit’s new headquarters located at 3562 South Osprey Ave. in Sarasota. Called the Cancer Connection Center (C3), the coffee-shop-style concept that provides a safe, warm, supportive and welcoming environment designed to deliver peer-to-peer support, create a sense of belonging and provide free resources and educational opportunities to enhance the well-being of those impacted by cancer. 

Team Tony Cancer Foundation

The Boys & Girls Clubs of America Youth of the Year program has celebrated the inspirational stories of outstanding teens across the nation since 1947, and recognizes members who demonstrate strong leadership and service skills, as well as academic excellence and dedication to living a healthy lifestyle. Earlier this year, 18-year-old Riverview High School Senior Leonela Tase Sueiro secured the local 2019 Youth of the Year title for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County. And this month, Sueiro was selected as the 2019 Florida Youth of the Year.
Sueiro will advance to the Southeast Youth of the Year Celebration at the Georgia Aquarium on June 18 in Atlanta, GA. If she wins the 2019 Southeast Youth of the Year title, she will then go on to the National Youth of the Year Celebration in September at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. The national winner will become a role model, ambassador and spokesperson for 4 million Boys & Girls Clubs members across the United States, receive academic scholarships and have opportunities for life-changing experiences. 

Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota County

The Junior League of Sarasota County has donated $5,000 to the Florida Center for Early Childhood to outfit visitation rooms where children in the welfare system can visit parents and receive counseling from mental health professionals, transforming the rooms from a clinical setting into home-like spaces that are conducive for therapy sessions. The rooms, which were outfitted with comfortable furniture, soothing décor and toys for play therapy, are a crucial part of the Florida Center’s Early Childhood Court (ECC) Program.

ECC is a specialized, team-based approach that helps infants and toddlers find a stable, permanent home more quickly than in traditional court proceedings, so they don’t miss out on important relationship-building milestones. Research shows nurturing relationships are critical for a child’s healthy development. 

The Florida Center for Early Childhood manages the ECC program locally, in conjunction with Sarasota Family YMCA/Safe Children Coalition. ECC specialized intervention teams include a Case Manager, Infant Mental Health Therapist and Family Support Worker. Each ECC team can serve up to 20 children and their families. There are currently three ECC teams in Sarasota and Manatee counties. 

Florida Center for Early Childhood

Forty Carrots Family Center has been awarded a $6,000 grant from the Eugene F. and Elizabeth Hull Fund, Weichel Family Fund and Anonymous Donors of Manatee Community Foundation for its Partners in Play (PIP) parenting education summer program at the Braden River Library.

This program is designed to strengthen the bond between parents, caregivers and children (ages 0-5) by offering a safe, developmentally appropriate and creative play experience, guided by Forty Carrots’ professional parenting educators, at no cost to the participants. These research-based groups encourage both play and relationship building, which is at the heart of this program.  Since January 2018, Forty Carrots has served 533 unduplicated clients at Braden River, many returning week after week, and demand for groups consistently exceeds capacity.

Braden River Library is one of 15 library locations throughout Manatee and Sarasota counties where the PIP programs are offered, serving more than 2,500 clients annually at no cost. 

Forty Carrots Family Center