Before the crowds and before the sun broke out, we were at the stage, ready for Meredith Garofalo to sing the National Anthem, which kicked off this year’s Giving Hunger the Blues. But it was the young songbirds on center stage who stole the show and the attention of passers-by, including mine.

The 2012 Sarasota Chalk Festival is scheduled to kick off in Historic Burns Square on Sunday, Oct. 28 and will continue through Tuesday, Nov. 6. In fact, the street art will remain on the streets for 30 days after the completion of the festival. With approximately 200,000 visitors over a seven-day period last year, the 2012 festival is setting up to be even bigger. Now in its fifth season, this year’s theme of “Circus City, USA” pays homage to the circus roots that are an integral part of Sarasota’s heritage. If prior Chalk [...]

In recent years, the Sarasota Chalk Festival has become a draw for professional street artists from all over the world, and has grown to be the biggest festival of its kind in the country. Yet we all know that chalk has a deep association with childhood. Whether it’s drawing hopscotch on the street or learning everything from your ABCs to algebra on a chalkboard, we all have a certain nostalgia for the medium. In fact, when the festival began in 2007, the Children’s Chalk Playground was the most popular part [...]

As my husband and I watched the fireworks exploding overhead in the museum courtyard during the Ringling International Arts Festival (RIAF) closing night, I thought about the festival’s impact on our community. Several years ago, Sarasota Ballet Director Iain Webb told me of the move to create a major arts festival for Sarasota when I interviewed him for Attitudes magazine, and I was so excited! I had recently moved to Sarasota from New York City, willing to uproot because of the wide variety of local artistic offerings. But at the time [...]

Since its inaugural year in 2009, the Ringling International Arts Festival has never been one to cut any corners when it comes to style and pizzazz, and Wednesday’s RIAF Inspires Opening Night event had no trouble meeting the standards set by its forbearers: RIAF put on the Ritz to set the tone for what promises to be yet another unforgettable festival. As the sun began to dip below the horizon at the Ringling estate, the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival celebrated its kickoff with a glamorous cocktail reception on the grounds of the [...]

Anticipation is building rapidly in the final days leading up to the fourth annual Ringling International Arts Festival, which kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 10 and continues through the weekend in venues throughout the John and Mable Ringling Estate. The first-time inclusion of film to RIAF’s lineup ensures that this year’s festival will be more exciting and accessible than ever before, and with tickets to film screenings priced at just $10, seats are filling up quickly. In previous years, film was excluded from the festival, which focused solely on the [...]