SRQ DAILY Mar 31, 2022
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"I'm hopeful we will work with the Governor's Office to produce constitutional maps he can sign."
Florida lawmakers just this month wrapped up the regular session but will have to go back in April. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday vetoed a congressional map approved by the Legislature, as expected. Lawmakers must now come up with cartography that satisfied the Governor, and that can withstand legal scrutiny. In the meantime, candidates for Congress remain in waiting.
Lawmakers from the region say they remain optimistic issues can be resolved when a Special Session convenes on April 19.
“I wasn’t surprised,” said state Rep. Will Robinson, R-Bradenton, who serves on the House Redistricting Committee. “Frankly, he has a constitutional role in the process, unlike the state legislative maps. I’m hopeful we will work with the Governor’s Office to produce constitutional maps he can sign.”
State Senate and House maps approved by the Legislature has already cleared a facial review before the Florida Supreme Court, so those lines are in place at least through the 2022 elections.
DeSantis’ office has argued the congressional maps violate the U.S. Constitute by racially gerrymandering seats. “Their I-guess-understandable zeal to try and comply with what they believe the Florida Constitution requires, they forgot to make sure what they were doing complied with the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” DeSantis said.
State lawmakers prioritized language in the Fair Districts amendment in the state constitution, passed in 2010. That forbids lawmakers redistricting in a way that diminishes the ability of minority communities to elect U.S. representatives of their choice.
The congressional maps vetoed by the Governor were passed by the Legislature with a 67-47 vote in the House and a 24-15 vote in the Senate. Nearly all Democrats voted against the maps amid complaints about whether there were enough minority access seats. That included Rep. Michele Rayner, D-St. Petersburg, the Bradenton-Sarasota’s only Democratic lawmaker. Only seven House Republicans voted against the map, including Rep. Tommy Gregory, R-Sarasota, who also suggested concerns about conflict with the U.S. Constitution that prohibit using race as the primary reason to draw district lines.
While the Governor’s veto message focused on North Florida districts, there’s still a chance the redistricting fight impacts this region. The map produced by the Legislature produces little shift in this area. District 17 closely resembles Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan’s current jurisdiction, including all of Manatee and north Sarasota County. District 18 is analogous to U.S. Rep. Greg Steube’s existing constituency, including Sarasota County from the Venice city limits southward, Charlotte County and much of inland Florida.
But the latest of two maps offered as suggestions by the Governor’s Office would have significant impacts. It would place all of Sarasota County in District 17 but all of Sarasota and Charlotte counties in District 18, with the Florida Heartland in District 16. It’s unclear in which district Buchanan or Steube might choose to run. Unlike state lawmakers, members of Congress are not required to live in their districts.
It's unclear at the moment whether a new draft map will look like the Legislature’s map outside of North Florida, or if it will mimic portions of the Governor’s map. But one thing is for certain— a new map will be in place for this year’s election. Florida picked up a U.S. House seat based on the 2020 Census, so the state map must go from 27 existing districts to 28 seats in order for Florida to send a full delegation to the next Congress. 
Left: Legislature-approved map. Right: Governor's proposed map.
In Sarasota, you don’t need to travel far to be transported to a different world. The miraculous beaches and splendid wildlife of the area are more than enough to broaden your horizons.
But what if you really want to immerse yourself in a different environment - one that calls on you to use your brain to engage with it? That would require a carefully, cultivated experience - the type of adventure found at Escape Reality, the Sarasota escape room venue.
Escape Reality offers three different escape rooms - Clue-Dunnit, Toxic Takedown, and their newest room, Brewery Heist - each replete with a unique theme, clues, and skill set necessary to escape. “The Clue Done-it room, is somewhat of a game of Clue where you’re presented with a murder and have to use clues to find the murder weapon and identify the murderer from a suspect board to escape. In Brewery Heist, you’re trying to save the beer because there's been a prohibition that’s stopped the sale and production of all alcoholic beverages. And in Toxic Takedown, you’re an FBI agent trying to get into club toxic to collect a toxic that a supervillain has created,” says assistant manager, Chase Burns.
All bookings are private at Escape Reality - ensuring that those in the room are only yourself and the members of your party. In each room your party is provided 60 minutes to escape - although the rooms are challenging, Burns admits, the staff tries to make the experience not feel like an actual life or death situation. “We do have very high escape rates - partially because we offer an unlimited amount of hints and monitor each room very closely to ensure that they escape on time and get the best experience. We want all of our guests to solve all of the puzzles and get the full experience of the room,” states Burns.
Escape Reality, 6250 N Lockwood Ridge Rd , Sarasota, 941-806-5858
Pictured: Brewery Heist escape room. Photo courtesy of Escape Reality.
Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties’ Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, together with Dr. Brennan Asplen, will host its annual Superintendent’s Forum, bringing together more than 70 teens representing seven local high schools. The Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, a youth-led board made up of teens and alumni from Boys & Girls Clubs of Sarasota and DeSoto Counties’ STAR Leadership Training Program, will host more than 70 teens from seven local high schools who will participate in open discussions with Dr. Asplen and designated school district officials. The Forum’s overall goal is to identify challenges, propose solutions, and prioritize focus areas for improving the high school experience. It will take place Thursday, March 31 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Suncoast Technical College, 4748 Beneva Road, Sarasota. For more information contact Yolanda Mancha, VP for Advancement, at ymancha@bgcsdc.org or 941-366-3911.
Meals On Wheels of Sarasota is proud to announce the members of its 2022 board of directors. The new board will help ensure the organization continues to provide nutritious meals and services to individuals in the community who are homebound and unable to provide meals for themselves. Elizabeth Van Riper, a real estate agent with Michael Saunders & Company, has been named president of the board of directors with William G. Gandy, a retired attorney, serving as vice president. Tom Flanagan, a retired construction executive, has been named secretary and Jan H. Voigts of Voigts Advisory, LLC will serve as treasurer. The 2022 directors are: Ralph Hall, retired attorney and educator, Jim Hastings, restauranteur and commercial real estate investor, Dwight D. Henry, pharmaceutical executive, John Hermansen, construction and hotel management executive, Mark Baldwin, CEO, Sunways Senior Living Concierge, Diane Weaver, retired insurance executive and Jill Raleigh, media, marketing, and sales executive. Meals On Wheels of Sarasota clients, who range in age from 3 to 106, receive meals because they are unable to prepare meals or go to a food pantry or grocery store. Hundreds of volunteers help prepare, pack, and deliver 800 heart-healthy meals daily throughout the year. To learn more about volunteering, or donating, contact Meals On Wheels of Sarasota: info@mealsonwheelsofsarasota.org or 941-366-6693.
Once again, RE/MAX Alliance Group has been ranked the #1 RE/MAX franchise in Florida for both sales volume and transactions, according to a RE/MAX report on 2021 performance. The company also placed #1 in the Southeast Region among multi-office brokerages for both sales volume and transactions, climbing from #2 the year before. An independently owned franchise with 12 offices throughout the Florida Gulf Coast, RE/MAX Alliance Group generated over $2.5 billion in sales and more than 6,500 transactions in 2021, ranking #14 in the entire RE/MAX network for transactions. RE/MAX Alliance Group offers residential and commercial real estate solutions through 12 offices in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco and Hernando counties. It is the #1 multi-office brokerage in the Southeast Region for contributions to the Children’s Miracle Network.
Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium is pleased to welcome retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frances Presley Rice as a new member of the Mote Board of Trustees. LTC Rice grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and served in the Army for 20 years, retiring as a lawyer in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Subsequently, she worked for the McDonnell Douglas Corporation as a government contract advisor on the law of space exploration. Mote's Board of Trustees supports the Lab in its mission of advancing marine science, education and outreach. This support includes guiding strategic Lab-wide initiatives and serving as a pillar to the creation of the new Mote Science Education Aquarium (Mote SEA). LTC Rice is also an author, screenwriter and co-founder of the non-profit Yocum African American History Association which has built a legacy of educational resources about black history, providing historical milestones that prove that black history is American history. In recognition of her accomplishments, the Governor and First Lady of the State of Florida recently invited her to attend a reception in honor of Florida’s 2022 Black History Celebration at The Governor’s Mansion.
Tampa-based Ya Levy La’ford’s art practice explores journeys, pathways, space, and the metaphysical complexities therein. La’ford’s work seeks to communicate humanity’s unseen experiences within the intricacies of geometric laden layers united through interconnecting lines. The exhibit began on June 21, 2021 and will end on April 3, 2022. As a first-generation Jamaican American, she moves between her own heritage and vulnerable communities in an attempt to find a universal language. Her work reflects La’ford’s cultural hybridity through her journey to challenge notions of humanistic patterns and spirituality. For Skyway 20/21: A Contemporary Collaboration, La’ford transformed the gallery space with American/Rōōts (2021), a site-specific installation consisting of gold and black geometric pattern that represents the concept of interconnectedness between all living things. The interwoven lines reference the rhizomatic system of roots found in nature, and the two glowing sculptures with gold-chromed surfaces, Antimatter and Neutrinos (both 2021), present abstracted views of trees. This work is an invitation to reflect on the collective trauma endured as a result of recent political conflict, a global health pandemic, and the ongoing climate crisis. Bringing the community together is at the forefront of this work, which offers a contemplative space for regeneration inside the museum that seeks to extend beyond its walls.
Sarasota Audubon Society (SAS) Oscar Scherer State Park Walks will take place every Thursday, from November 4 through April 7. Meet 8:30am inside park at Lake Osprey Nature Center (fee). 1st, 2nd and 5th Thursdays led by Venice Audubon; 3rd & 4th Thursdays led by Peter Brown (508-241-5541).
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is pleased to welcome Haitian-Canadian artist Rhodnie Désir for the world premiere of her first gallery installation. Rhodnie Désir: Conversations, which opens Dec. 11 and will run through April 3, 2022 in the Ringling's Monda Gallery. Désir’s inaugural exhibition, Conversations, is a co-creation with artists Paul Chambers, Lighting Design; Engone Endong, Music Composer; Manuel Chantre, Video and Sound Design; and Cecilia Bracmort, Curatorial adviser, who combine video, light, and sound to sculpt the space to explore Désir's experiences on the BOW’T TRAIL and bring the onstage performance into a new gallery-based medium. The installation evokes a liminal space, which is the in-between or transitional space that is often accessible through visions and rituals. With a cumulative and polyrhythmic approach, the artist seeks to share new perspectives through a plural conversation between the past and the present.
Star-studded performers highlight the Bradenton Gulf Island Concert Series which returns next month. Five popular acts will bring an array of hits – from classic rock to reggae – over a five-month stretch at The Center of Anna Maria Island. Bob Marley’s legendary band The Wailers kicks off the concert series on Dec. 11. Lou Gramm, the Juke Box Hero of Foreigner fame follows in January. February features Don Felder, best known as the Eagles’ lead guitarist and a member of the Musicians Hall of Fame. Grammy winner and seller of 30 milllion albums worldwide, Richard Marx is the featured artist for the March show. The concert series wraps in April with Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals. The concert series is sponsored by the Tourism Development Council, The Sandbar Restaurant and Cedar Cove Resort & Cottages. Proceeds will benefit the The Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria, where each show will take place. Each ticket sold will support the members and community partners of The Bradenton Gulf Islands. The concert series is as follows: Dec. 11, 2021 – The Wailers, Jan. 22, 2022 – Lou Gramm, The Juke Box Hero, Feb. 20, 2022 – Don Felder, March 23, 2022 – Richard Marx, April 2, 2022 – Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals.
Properties of Ground: Post (post) Painterly Abstraction, A Two Person Exhibit with Michael Crabb and Tom Stephens. The artwork in this exhibition is foregrounded by the artist’s practice, making the experience of painting paramount to the outcome. Post-painterly abstractionists rejected the mysticism of abstract expressionism and their preconceived references to the external world. They created a purely factual kind of art which functioned in terms of the basic elements of the medium itself; form, colour, texture, scale, composition and so on. Two abstract process painters, well known in the Sarasota/Bradenton/Tampa Area, Michael Crabb and Tom Stephens show their works in this very Post (post) Painterly exhibition focused on the studio experience. These painters emphasize the physical act of painting as an essential part of the finished work, taking precedence over content or representation. Opening Night Reception is Friday, March 18th, 2022 from 6pm to 8pm. Open Exhibition Dates are March 19th through April 2nd By Appointment Only.
Ringling College Undergraduate and Surrealist artist, Jude Zawaideh will have an exhibition on display April 1-May 6. Celebrtae the opening at the public reception on Friday, April 1st from 6-8pm . Viewings are free and open to the public.
Downtown gallery PS340, 340 Central Ave, Sarasota
Maestro Bramwell Tovey leads a program of works by composers who fearlessly charted their own paths on Friday, April 1 at 8pm, Saturday, April 2 at 8pm, and Sunday, April 3 at 2:30pm at the Van Wezel. British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Ballade for Orchestra is alternately tender and highly dramatic. Violinist Angelo Xiang Yu stars in the cinematic Concerto for Violin by Korngold, the first composer of classical music who was also renowned for his career writing Hollywood film scores. The program concludes with the glorious Symphony No. 7 by classical music's most famous "bad boy," Beethoven.
A Skeptic and a Bruja by Rosa Fernandez Directed by Patrice Amon is A WORLD PREMIERE produced in Collaboration with freeFall Theatre and will run from April 1 to May 1, 2022. Priscilla buys a home in the middle of nowhere with the hopes of turning it into a lucrative bed and breakfast. When she starts having paranormal experiences, she calls Sam and Jess from the hit ghost-hunting show "A Skeptic and a Bruja" to help her. None of the women are prepared for the haunting they encounter next.
Your first-Friday downtown block party continues with ART ON THE BLOCK. The city’s arts are the occasion to dance and celebrate creativity as we showcase performance, visual, and circus arts on Friday, April 1st on Lemon Avenue from 7-10pm. Featuring: dancing, free signature party favors, light bites, arts showcases, free polaroid portraits, beverages al fresco, and more.
This In-Studio Performance featuring Monessa Salley will take place on Friday April 1st and Saturday April 2nd 2022 at 7pm and its Virtual Stream will take place on April 2nd at 7pm.
A museum in motion as professional pavement artists from around the world use chalk as their medium and the pavement as their surface with a few pushing the boundaries, including walls and other materials. You are an integral part of the creative process as the viewer laying witness to artists creative process, turning the pavement into a museum in motion while creating oversized masterpieces in chalk. Become a part of the illusion by stepping onto the 3D paintings for photo opportunities and sharing memories. Each day the interactive zone for the 'Young and Young at Heart' is so you have the opportunity to be creative with chalk. We provide colorful chalk, ground surfaces and chalk walls so everyone can create their own mini-masterpiece, or just scribbles to see how easy, or challenging it can be to create with chalk. You can chalk your name or whatever comes to mind. Each day of the festival you can sit under the big tent and listen or dance to live music featuring a diverse selection of local and national musicians and bands. The line-up of live performances will be listed one month prior to event. Each day arts and craft vendors, food vendors, and beverages and spirits of all kinds are available so you can spend a few hours or all day getting lunch, listing to music, shopping with vendors, having a drink and taking your time strolling the artwork. The Chalk festivities run 3 days starting on Friday, April 1 - 3, 2022 from 10am to 8pm at the Venice Airport, 610 Airport Avenue East, Venice.
The 24th Annual Sarasota Film Festival will take place from April 1 to 10 at CMX CinéBistro Siesta Key. Independent and International narratives, docs and shorts are programmed into a schedule of over 100 features, themed shorts packages and additional programming sidebars that change each year to reflect the strengths of submitted films. Festival events include socially-driven parties and private receptions to honor guest filmmakers, community-wide street festivals and the black-tie Filmmakers Tribute Dinner. SFF patrons have enjoyed intimate performances from Aerosmith and The B52's as well as a host of special appearances from local and international musicians. A host of guests and filmmakers attend to promote their films and celebrate the accomplishments of their peers.
Save the date for the 13th Annual Signature Luncheon hosted by the Tidewell Foundation benefiting Tidewell Hospice. In response to recent increases of COVID-19 cases in the region, the event has been rescheduled for Friday, April 1, 2022 at 11:30am at The Ritz-Carlton, Sarasota. All proceeds from this event will help Tidewell Hospice provide care, comfort, and compassion to more than 10,000 patients and families each year. Featured Speaker is Emmy Award-Winning Actor, Author, Director & Producer Henry Winkler. During the event, a raffle for a chance to win a two night stay at the world-class Ritz-Carlton Sarasota & one round of Golf for Two at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club will also be held. There is a maximum of 500 raffle tickets available, and they are first-come, first-serve. To enter the raffle, a $100 donation payable to the Tidewell Foundation, Inc. is the suggested minimum donation. However, no purchase or contribution is necessary to participate.
Join Laura Snowden on Saturday, April 2, 2022 at Riverview Performing Arts Center at 7:30pm. British-French guitarist and composer Laura Snowden is acclaimed for her “poise and intensity” (The Guardian) and playing of “extraordinary dept” (Strings, Classical Music Magazine). The first guitarist to graduate from the Yehudi Menuhin School, made possible by the Rolling Stones, she is currently teaching there. After she was invited by guitarist Julian Bream to premiere his latest commissions at Wigmore Hall, her international appearances have since built rapidly, with festival debuts across Europe, China and the US, as well as concerto debuts with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and a recording of Lisa Streich’s guitar concerto Augenlider with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester.
Join us for the 2nd Annual Lido Beach Spring Craft Show on April 2-3, 2022 at Lido Beach in Sarasota, FL. Produced by Paragon Festivals and graciously hosted by the Downtown Sarasota Enrichment Association with the Humane Society of Sarasota the event’s Special Guest. Artisans and crafters from across Florida and throughout America will create a palette of artistic creations in mediums such as sculpture, jewelry, painting, photography, glass, ceramics, mixed-media, metalwork, fiber art, woodworking and more. If you do not find exactly what you wish, consider commissioning a piece made specifically for you as the artists creating all these works will be present at the event. Hours of the Lido Beach Spring Craft Show are Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission is free. Come discover the beauty and functionality in what people create. Find that piece of art for home or office to enrich your life and inspire you each day.
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