If the human experience is an unending series of identity mutations, Alissa Silvers has been a prolific shapeshifter. Born in Switzerland, that centrally located European hodgepodge of languages and cultures, she studied fashion design and figure drawing. She parlayed those skills into work as a visual merchandiser, then pivoted to interior design and, after connecting with a creative director, morphed into a graphic designer. And in between it all, she “was always painting a little bit,” she says.

After visiting Florida with a friend, Silvers met her future husband and would eventually relocate to Sarasota. Among the boxes of commonplace objects like clothes and toothbrushes, she also brought with her the trunk of design experience she amassed in Switzerland and set out to begin again the crafting of yet another identity: abstract portrait artist. And with her experience illustrating human figures and dressing them in bespoke clothing, Silvers was uniquely positioned to bring a fresh take to the endeavor. 

Her portrait work can at times seem as though it’s pulled straight from the cover of a fashion magazine, with a bright pallet of well-coordinated colors that perfectly complement the feminine faces, which themselves evoke the rapid sketches of a fashion designer’s conceptual work. The pieces are joyful, accessible and kinetic, while the recurring use of black and white stripes brings a self-assuredness and order to the abstract rendering of her work’s subject. Altogether, Silvers has quickly managed to create a distinct aesthetic out of her grasp of space and color. “I don’t know, I think I’m still looking for my style,” she says, but all humility aside, her work caught the eye of Art Ovation’s curators, where she spent some time as an artist in residence. She also had a larger exhibition planned for the Harmony Gallery at Sarasota Orchestra’s Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center. It was scheduled to run from April 1st through May 22nd. Her momentum was building, her name and art creeping its way into increasingly prestigious spaces, her transformation into a fine artist nearing fruition. 

Until the coronavirus pandemic upended the social, economic and arts landscape for the region. “I wanted 2020 to be a big year for me,” she says. Though she is fortunate enough to have plenty of remote design work from her contacts and contracts back in Switzerland, the imminent cancellation of her exhibition forced her to reevaluate her trajectory and identity once again. The social distancing protocols and the seclusion they promote are a time for her creative mind to make new connections and ponder new possibilities. In her case, a new possibility stared back at her from the female faces on her canvases. 

In her attempts to make a name for herself in the Sarasota arts scene, she inadvertently made a brand with a signature look. So, she got to thinking: what if fine art could be used as a tool for branding in addition to the tried and true digital methods? “I think I proved with my own work what can be done with fine art in branding,” she says, and she hopes to be able to combine the two into an endeavor that blends her skills with a brush and her penchant for branding. “Artists don’t always have the best business sense,” she says, “but my design and merchandising work taught me a lot about that.” Silvers feels that perhaps instead of crafting a new identity for herself she has found a way to stitch together all the cuts of her previous creative experiences into a cohesive, form-fitting suit, one that gives her the ability to flex in and out of mediums. “This coronavirus thing was kind of a wakeup call,” she says, “but I thought, ‘maybe I need to think bigger.’” 

Photo by Arianna J Photography.

Liss Art Design

Sarasota Contemporary Dance will launch SCD Virtual Studio Classes which will include five classes a week, including several bonus classes, in our private Facebook group. Participants may join the class live or save the class for later. SCD encourages everyone to continue to move at home and are excited to provide a fun and safe space to move together virtually. Classes are $30 for two weeks. 

Purchase live stream classes.

The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art is pleased to announce a series of programs that will allow visitors to engage with the museum during the closure due to COVID-19. Visitors can experience The Ringling’s collections online through a virtual museum. Children, parents and educators can participate in learning and art making activities and those at home can enjoy the beauty of The Ringling’s gardens. The Ringling’s vast collections, including artworks, furnishings, objects, circus posters, photographs, and ephemera are available to be viewed online via the E-Museum at emuseum.ringling.org/emuseum/collections. Visitors may search for and learn about over 28,000 objects.

The Ringling’s 66 acres of beautiful grounds and gardens can also be visited virtually Kai Sacco, Horticulturist of The Mable Ringling Rose Garden has instituted video grounds tours and will premier a new one every Friday on The Ringling’s Instagram platform. Kai is also responsible for tracking the 100+ species of trees using TreeKeeper, which is an app that is available to the public. The Ringling is certified as a Level II Arboretum and plans are being made to highlight additional tours and video classes presented by the horticulture staff.

Additionally, the museum’s education staff has created Learn from Home with The Ringling. Visit ringling.org/learnfromhome to find art making projects families can do at home, lesson plans for teachers, and other activities for students to learn from home with The Ringling. Parents are encouraged to join The Ringling’s Family Programs Facebook Group where they will discover fun, educational and creative projects every week.

ROAR, (Ringling Order of Art Readers) is one of the museum’s most popular programs and is dedicated to providing a story time and art making experience for early learners and their adults. ROAR has been redesigned as Read Along with The Ringling and can be found posted on Ringling.org/learnfrom home.

The Ringling staff, most of whom are working remotely, are dedicated to continuing the work of the museum as they continue to inspire a love of art and learning even while their doors are closed. They are planning to expand their offerings weekly and will be sharing exhibitions, collections, programs for children and adults, and the beauty of The Ringling digitally. 

More about Learn From Home with The Ringling

An update from the Florida Cultural Alliance—Late Wednesday night, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed (96-0) the third phase of the coronavirus (COVID-19) response relief package. The $2 trillion emergency stimulus package included important provisions supporting the arts sector and creative workforce. The nation's arts and culture industry is experiencing devastating economic losses with closed venues and cancelled performances, exhibitions, and events as a result of the pandemic. The U.S. House plans to vote on the bill this morning at 9 am ET and President Trump, who has already signaled his support of the legislation, is expected to sign it into law shortly thereafter. 

According to the Florida Cultural Alliance, this vital piece of legislation includes direct support for both nonprofit cultural organizations and state and local arts and humanities agencies, as well as economic relief provisions for independent contractors, "gig economy" workers and artists, entrepreneurs, and small businesses working in the creative economy. "We are thankful to you, the thousands of advocates and state and local arts agencies, who responded to our action alerts these last few weeks. Your advocacy has been effective and many of our policy asks have been addressed. But we know it's not enough and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin acknowledged yesterday at a press conference that he thought this legislation was just a three-month economic solution to help workers and affected industries."

Specifically, the bill includes the following arts-related items to address the continuing damage caused by the COVID-19 virus:

Federal Arts Funding (Note: This is a supplement to their annual appropriations)

• $75 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
• $75 million for the National Endowment for the Humanities
• Special note: Congress accepted our ask to waive matching grant requirements and to waive the requirement for grants to be project-specific. All these new fast-track grants will be for general operating support with no match.  
• $75 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• $50 million for the Institute of Library and Museum Sciences
• $25 million for the Kennedy Center
• $7.5 million for the Smithsonian
• Community Development Block Grants, Small Business Administration, and Unemployment Insurance$5 billion for Community Development Block Grants to cities and counties. Arts groups should work directly with their mayors and local economic development offices for grant support.
• $350 billion for Small Business Administration (SBA) emergency loans of up to $10 million for small businesses—including nonprofits (with less than 500 employees), sole proprietors, independent contractors, and self-employed individuals (like individual artists)—to cover payroll costs, mortgage/rent costs, utilities, and other operations. These loans can be forgiven if used for those purposes. This new eligibility has been a key element of the CREATE Act we've been pursuing;
• $10 billion for Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) for loans up to $10,000 for small businesses and nonprofits to be used for providing paid sick leave for employees, maintaining payroll, mortgage/rent payments, and other operating costs; 
• Expanded Unemployment Insurance (UI) that includes coverage for furloughed workers, freelancers, and "gig economy" workers. The bill also increases UI payments by $600/week for four months, in addition to what one claims under a state unemployment program.   
• Charitable Giving Tax DeductionAn "above-the-line" or universal charitable giving incentive for contributions made in 2020 of up to $300. This provision will now allow all non-itemizer taxpayers (close to 90% of all taxpayers) to deduct charitable contributions from their tax return, an incentive previously unavailable to them. Additionally, the stimulus legislation lifts the existing cap on annual contributions for itemizers from 60 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) to 100 percent of AGI for contributions made in 2020.

The inclusion of these provisions to help nonprofits, the arts sector, and the creative workforce can be attributed, in part, to the incredible grassroots outreach by arts advocates across the country, coordination with national nonprofit coalitions, and Americans for the Arts and Arts Action Fund outreach to Congress and the Trump Administration.  Americans for the Arts and the Arts Action Fund will continue to work for increased support for our sector as we deal with this global pandemic. In addition to the continuing damage reports being collected through our national economic snapshot survey and dashboard, our up-to-the-minute COVID-19 Resource Center updates, we're also planning a series of webinars through our ArtsU platform to present experts and guidance to the field to help navigate through these new federal provisions during this challenging time. More to come. 

In the face of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe officials have canceled the remainder of WBTT's 2019-2020 performance season. In addition to the final three weeks of the run of “Your Arms Too Short to Box with God,” WBTT has canceled the highly-anticipated world-premiere musical “Ruby” and the season’s closing production, “Flyin’ West.” The cancellation of these shows has the potential to cost the theatre as much as $400,000 in revenue and could potentially put WBTT in the red for the season. “Ruby” will be slotted into the 2020-2021 season in place of the planned production of “Eubie!” The regular season shows, running from October 7, 2020 through June 6, 2021, will now be “Broadway in Black,” “Ruby,” “Pipeline” and “Smokey Joe’s Café.” The holiday show is “Black Nativity.” WBTT has already postponed its annual spring fundraiser, the April Fools Fete, from March 30 to May 18; this event benefits WBTT's education programs. The organization is still hoping to be able to hold it as well as start its Stage of Discovery musical theatre camp in June, as scheduled, but will continue to monitor the coronavirus situation to determine if these programs are possible. "While we are heartbroken to have to cancel the remainder of our season, we simply had no other options in the face of current realities," said WBTT Executive Director Julie Leach. "Our first priority must be to protect the health and safety of our patrons, artists and staff. This situation is more painful as we’re losing the majority of our season – our theater renovations in 2019 caused us to push the entirety of our production schedule to 2020. Our leadership is currently looking at ways to address the financial ramifications of this critical and significant lost revenue, but have managed to pay our casts and musicians some severance and to keep our staff and creative team employed and engaged in planning our future creative projects."  While WBTT continues to encourage supporters to consider donating the cost of their tickets to help the nonprofit performing arts organization through these difficult times, it is offering refunds for the canceled shows. The Box Office is closed for in-person transactions but the phone lines (941-366-1505) are staffed. The organization asks for patience and requests that patrons unable to get through immediately leave voicemails, with a promise to return calls in the order they are received. Emails will also be answered and may be sent to boxoffice@westcoastblacktheatre.org. Season subscribers will receive their 2020-2021 subscription packages in early May; single tickets will go on sale in August. WBTT is posting updates on its website: westcoastblacktheatre.org. 

For updates.

Music Compound has launched a 30 minute music lesson at no charge for area youth daily at Monday thru Thursday at 11 am while school is out of session.  Music Compound has created sessions for elementary, middle and high school students.  This time slot will allow parents time to breathe and prepare lunch. Topics and instruments will vary.   “We know parents know math, english and more but many can’t host the weekly music class so we will do it for them.” said Jenny Townsend, owner of Music Compound.  Free music classes will be streamed via Music Compound Facebook Page and later available via their Youtube Channel.   Music Compound is doing everything possible to provide the same great service online. Their leadership team  is committed to keeping their clients engaged and instructors working during this time of uncertainty.  Music Compound’s new business model allows wanna be and seasoned musicians to take lessons at home any day or time. They have twenty-five instructors that are multi-instrumentalist.   

For more.

The Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce’s CareerEdge workforce initiative, is partnering with Suncoast Technical College to place their full-time trades students, who are only months away from graduation, in paid internships to gain hands-on skills, course credit and a paycheck while schools are closed.  “We are in unprecedented times. Working with the technical colleges, we came up with a creative approach allowing trades students to continue their education through hands-on training. Our partnership provides students near the completion of their education the chance to pursue the skills needed to gain employment after graduation,” said Mireya Eavey, CareerEdge Executive Vice President.  

Responding to the evolution of need during this time, CareerEdge adapted their Intern Reimbursement program model to make funding for this program possible. CareerEdge funding will reimburse participating employers $10/hour of the intern’s wage and is asking companies to pay their interns at least $13/hour.   CareerEdge is seeking employers in construction, HVAC, electrical, automotive, manufacturing, and plumbing to hire technical school student interns to continue their education through a quality on-the-job training experience.“This program helps the students and our business to meet our customer’s needs.  This is a wonderful partnership. I encourage local employers in the trades to take advantage of this unique opportunity,” said Bill Pabis, President, Mictron Inc. When schools reopen, the students will return to complete their programs. The technical schools are developing a procedure to count the internship toward the students’ certification. 

Interested businesses can contact Mireya Eavey, Executive Vice President, CareerEdge at: meavey@sarasotachamber.com or 941-809-7430. 

More about CareerEdge.

Leveraging its classification last week as an essential critical infrastructure company by the United States government, SmartHouse Integration today began offering H.O.P.E. to home based small business owners who are now being challenged to upgrade their technology infrastructure to remain competitive and productive during the coronavirus pandemic. “As an essential critical infrastructure company, SmartHouse Integration is not only allowed to keep operating as usual, it has a mandate to help small business owners in our market area to upgrade their entire home network to remain competitive,” explained SmartHouse President Mark van den Broek. “Most home networks are not prepared for the increased level of traffic they are now experiencing. Our Home Office Preparation Executive program upgrades networks and systems, installs and maintains security systems, provides a virtual technician to monitor, troubleshoot and resolve issues remotely.” 

In short, H.O.P.E. is a comprehensive, turnkey program that addresses a home’s networks, security, surveillance, power management, cellular back-up and battery back-up. Van den Broek explained that, with entire families now working and going to school from home, the existing home technology infrastructure simply will not, in many cases, be able to keep up with the many multiple streaming devices operating around the clock.  “The H.O.P.E. program tests the reliability of the current network, the Wi-Fi coverage area and the speed of the network — and provides the corrective steps necessary to upgrade the technology backbone of the house,” he explained. Van den Broek sees a lasting impact of the coronavirus on the way home based businesses will operate once the pandemic passes. “The Coronavirus is a shot across the bow for small business owners and homeowners,” he asserted.  “This virus will pass but we need to be prepared for the next one and putting the right technology infrastructure in place now will save a lot of time and lost productivity when the next threat arrives.”

For more information about the SmartHouse H.O.P.E. program small business owners can call the SmartHouse emergency telephone number 800-351-6191, send an email to hope@smarthouseintegration.com 

More info.

RocketKids Summer Camps Special Edition is your family's ultimate guide to Summer on the Suncoast. Click HERE on your mobile device for a comprehensive list of summer camp options and family programs scheduled at destinations in the Sarasota-Bradenton area. As your family's go-to guide to Summer 2020, RocketKids highlights the exciting opportunities that our region offers. 

RocketKids Magazine Summer Camps Special Edition

Whether you find yourself needing to homeschool your kids or to keep yourself entertained — or both — you can still turn to The Bishop Museum of Science and Nature. Although they are temporarily closed, you can still connect with them from home on Facebook to explore cool topics like fossils, gardening, astronomy, seashells — and of course manatees. And check out Pathways, their free app for smartphones and tablets that you can use anytime, for virtual tours of the Museum that reveal surprising connections among many of the objects in their collection.

Facebook

Check their Facebook page every weekday around noon to explore a different topic every day. They're mixing it up with Facebook Live sessions on some days and recorded sessions on other days, but each day The Bishop’s own experts and educators share about a variety of topics related to their collections.  Saturdays at 3 pm, The Bishop hosts a virtual story time especially for kids and their grown-ups with Tales Under the Tree from the Mosaic Backyard Universe at The Bishop. 

To connect, just join them on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/BishopScienceFL.  Here are the sessions they have planned for the rest of this week:

• Noon, Friday, March 27:
  Garden-Variety Nature. Fun fact: There’s a lush outdoor garden at The Bishop, just outside the doors of the Mosaic Backyard Universe. Our curator Tiffany Birakis gives you a close-up look at our herbs, flowers, succulents and other plants, and even a few of the animals that depend on them. See how our garden grows!
  
  
• 3 pm Saturday, March 28:
  Tales Under the Tree. Gather the kiddos and settle in for story time with us! This week we read "Rosie Revere, Engineer," by Andrea Beaty. After story time, see if you can build your own tower at home!

They're adding new Facebook content each day. Visit them at www.BishopScience.org/events for the topics of future sessions. 

For more.

Our lives are connected to the oceans, no matter where we are. While Mote Aquarium is closed temporarily, they're bringing the oceans to you every week.

Cecil the Traveling Terrapin

Diamondback terrapin Cecil took a stroll in Mote Aquarium—the first of many #CecilAdventures to come.

Shark Feeding

Our sharks don’t engage in a “feeding frenzy” (in other words, they’re not like humans with our comfort food!). At Mote, sharks are trained to swim toward special targets to receive their food and vitamins, which helps us take great care of them.

#HappyOTTER

Missed Mote Marine's Virtual #HappyOTTER (happy hour) on Facebook Live? Fear not—it’s recorded just for you, because it’s always 5 o’clock somewhere. Happy Otter features Leatherback Lager and Reef Revival Session IPA from Darwin Brewing, which provide a donation to Mote with every six pack purchased.

ReMote Experiments with Dr. Fanara

Try a little science at home with #ReMoteExperiments featuring Mote's own Dr. Tracy Fanara! You'll discover it can be super fun to #ExploreIndoors.

ArtSEA fun: Learn to draw a shark!

Need a little stress relief? Relax the artSEA way: Learn to draw a shark with Hayley at Mote. Click the link for a demo video on Facebook, and there, post your shark drawings in the comments! 

#HappyOTTER

The Department of Health in Sarasota County, Sarasota County Government along with Sarasota Memorial Hospital have partnered to establish a COVID-19 appointment only drive-thru specimen collection site for symptomatic people who meet current CDC testing guidance. Specimens collected at the site will be sent to labs for testing. Visitors to the Sarasota County COVID-19 testing site must be referred by a physician to be tested. The physician's office will contact DOH Sarasota who will then contact the individual with an appointment day and time. 

The site has been set up at Twin Lakes Park, located at 6700 Clark Road in Sarasota.

Please be reminded:

• Individuals being tested must be in a vehicle. No walk-ups.
• Remain in their vehicle at all times.
• Present a photo ID and prescription for specimen collection, written by their health care provider. (Name on ID and prescription must match.) 

Sarasota County residents who believe they may have COVID-19 are asked to call the Sarasota County COVID-19 call center at 941-861-2883 before visiting a hospital emergency room or health care provider. The site will be open from 8 am to noon, beginning today, Friday, March 27 2020. To make an appointment, call 941-861-2883.  

For more.

Covering all the best Lakewood has to offer! 

Click here to read the full story in our March 2020 Home Edition of SRQ Magazine!

To show appreciation for front-line responders fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Kahwa Coffee Roasters is offering free coffee to doctors, nurses, healthcare providers and first responders at various cafe locations in the Tampa Bay Area. Any medical professional or first responder that visits a Kahwa Cafe drive-thru (or to-go) can present their work ID to receive a free small coffee beverage starting today. “Our hearts go out to all individuals on the front-line fighting this pandemic,” said Sarah Perrier co-owner of Kahwa Coffee Roasters. “Our driving force is the love we have for our community and we want to show our appreciation to those on the front-line that are risking their health to ensure we all stay safe. Both Raphael and I feel it is the least we can do to help them get through their day.”

Department of Health staff today collected specimens from 50 potential COVID-19 patients during the first day of collections at the Bradenton Area Convention Center. Vacancies remain for patients with prescriptions to book appointments over the remaining days of collections.  Manatee County patients who may have COVID-19 should call the Manatee Health Line at 941-242-6649 to speak with an operator about symptoms, travel history and other criteria to determine whether a COVID-19 test is recommended. If testing is recommended, patients are directed to contact their health care provider to get a prescription and then to call DOH Manatee at (941) 748-0747 to book an appointment for the drive-thru testing site. Patients who have booked an appointment should bring the doctor's prescription, a photo ID with name that matches that on the prescription and proof of Manatee County residency (driver’s license, utility bill, etc.). 

Tax Update on Property Tax
Property tax is normally due by March 31 in the year following the year the taxes are assessed. The Florida Department of Revenue (FDOR) extended the final due date for citizens and businesses to pay property taxes in all Florida Counties from March 31 to April 15, 2020.  Payments that are remitted by April 15, 2020, for the 2019 tax year will be considered paid on-time. Additional information can be found in the DOR Emergency Order 20-52-DOR-001 (Property Tax Oversight). 

For more.

The full cost of the jazz festival as planned was $201,124. This includes everything: musicians, venues, vendor services, materials, and supplies for the festival events as planned. Nearly all these expenses except musician salaries were prepaid by contract prior to the start of the festival. With the shutdown of the festival, an aggressive effort was made to renegotiate all costs. This generated a savings of $57,740, resulting in a final festival cost of $143,384. A total of $74,443 was raised in grants and sponsorships. Leaving a balance needed to cover costs of $68,941. A total of $92,039 was raised in ticket sales, with an estimate of a loss of $30,000 in additional ticket sales as concerns about the virus grew. Since last week 47% of the ticket buyers have responded to the 4 Refund Options that were offered: Option 1 Donate Tickets, Option 2 New Memberships, Option 3 Credit for 2021 Festival, Option 4 Full Refund Request. If the remainder of the refund requests follows this pattern, the Jazz Club will fall short of meeting all of its obligations by about $33,500. The Jazz Club is asking all patrons requesting a refund to file a refund request by Friday, April 3. This is the deadline for submitting a refund request. To know where the balance and options stand, this deadline is necessary to encourage ticket buyers to respond to the Survey ASAP. No refund request will be honored after April 3, 2020. 

Submit refund request(s) here. Please do not resubmit a previously submitted request.