The Living Arts Festival in Sarasota is an upcoming week-long celebration of the arts, scheduled for November 10-17, 2024. This inaugural festival, organized by Sarasota Rising, aims to showcase a diverse range of performing and visual arts, engaging both local residents and visitors from across Florida.
The Living Arts Festival seeks to celebrate diversity, inclusion, and the vibrant cultural landscape of Sarasota. It aims to attract both locals, residents from St. Petersburg and within driving distance and tourists, enhancing the visibility of the arts in the area and providing a platform for artists to showcase their talents.
In a Q & A, Paradise News editor Andrea Martone interviewed Jeffery Kin, Executive Director of The Living Arts Festival. Kin is an accomplished figure in the arts community, particularly known for his leadership roles in theater and arts organizations in Sarasota, Florida.
What is the Living Arts Festival scheduled for November 8 – 17 and where will the celebrations take place?
The Living Arts Festival is an area wide Cultural Coast initiative to help elevate and place a great big spotlight on the arts groups that are making a difference in our region every day. Unlike Spoletto and other performance driven festival’s that bring in groups and talent from around the world. We are here to celebrate the world of arts right here on our doorstep. Our entire region becomes a stage! All of our area arts organizations are participating in some way, and we are celebrating them in their venues (if they have them) or including others in the events we are producing. We are calling this a Festival in 6 acts, so there’s the 5 main events that we are producing: Pre-Festival Fete, Rise & Shine Saturday, The Opening Party-A World of Entertainment, Our Embrace Reimagined, The Closing Party – A Celebration of Youth! The 6th act is showcasing everyone else as they explore and start their seasons.
What is your long-term vision for Sarasota Rising and the Living Arts Festival? How do you plan to achieve it?
We are starting off as a small, supportive and grassroots festival. Inclusive and supporting the large and small, the professional and non-professional and ALL arts: Fine, Visual, Performing, Circus, Culinary…we rarely say no! In the coming years, we expect our reputation to grow and for people to attend first from our local region, then our state, then our country and who knows…wouldn’t it be great to become internationally known? Festivals are celebrations of a town or region, their civic pride is supporting and spotlighting the arts businesses and the area hotels, restaurants and all things touristy. We welcome cultural tourism…and we are rolling out the red carpet for our area supporters and those that may travel.
What are the main events of the Living Arts Festival?
- Gallery Exhibits: Visitors can explore diverse art exhibits showcasing the works of local artists and community members.
- Performances: The festival includes a range of performances, such as theater, music, and dance, highlighting the talents of various artists.
- Workshops: Interactive workshops will allow attendees to engage in hands-on artistic experiences, fostering creativity and skill development.
- Art Sales: There will be opportunities to purchase unique artworks, crafts, and handmade items from local artisans.
- Advocacy Events: The festival aims to promote community connections and address social issues through art, featuring discussions and advocacy programs.
Why would this weeklong celebration appeal to residents of St. Petersburg and its surrounding areas?
Like Sarasota, St. Petersburg residents embrace creativity with a thriving arts community. Sarasotans often flock to St. Pete’s for their culture, arts & music, and we hope St. Pete’s residents will do the same.
Are there any family-friendly activities during the festival?
Our goal is to offer a cornucopia of events and activities that ignites everyone’s passion for the arts. No events at this time are risqué or adult in nature. Everything is family friendly…whatever your family is! The two main events that will make kids of any age happy ….(I still think of myself as a kid) The Rise & Shine Saturday and The Closing Party both have spectacular performances that will make any kid smile. One is more interactive and one is more sit in your seat and watch…but both are there for a purpose: To immerse our incredible community in the arts!
How do you see the festival contributing to Sarasota’s cultural landscape and economic development?
Festivals can be huge revenue generators. And yes, our initial funding came from the Downtown Improvement District who felt there was a need for an arts type festival…now almost 3 years ago! What we hope will happen is what happened with other similar events around our country. First your locals attend, then you begin getting day trippers and weekenders, then people will want to be here the entire week! Each of them is a win/win as we get people excited and engaged and yes, spending money. We feel that as our audience and attendance grows, that area arts groups may take more chances on their productions as they know they have savvy festival attendees coming in to take up those seats. It all works together, and it just took our organization to pull our area artists together…together we are stronger.
What strategies (if any) do you have for engaging diverse communities and ensuring the festival is inclusive?
Our motto from the beginning has always been “It’s easier to say YES, than NO”. When organizations and artists reach out about participation? We know its our job to build a bigger table and be inclusive. From our very early Mission Statement, Vision Statement and our Values Statement the words we chose we chose wisely. Check them out on our website…they are the driving force behind everything we do
How do you plan to engage with local businesses and ensure the festival leads to economic uplift for the area?
It’s always a challenge to ‘sell’ a project that hasn’t happened yet. We have been working closely with many area businesses and strive to engage with more as time goes on. We’ve been blessed to have incredible support from some major players in the area, this always helps others see there’s merit in our project. Sometimes the issue is pure fear of the unknown, and there is something to be said that we need to prove ourselves at this first festival. All of us at Sarasota Rising understand that we have got to start somewhere. The goal will always be to build off our previous years successes so that economic impact and attendance just keeps rising year after year.
Arts Advocacy and Impact: How do you see the role of Sarasota Rising and the festival in advocating for the arts in the community?
I’ve said from the very beginning that this type of collaborative event will make a huge difference in the ‘tone’ of our arts community. It’s just a no brainer that all of us at The Festival promote the very organizations that have aligned themselves with us. It’s organic and ‘in our bones” to take the lead in shining a spotlight on ALL of the art in our region. We are stronger together, and if we can work together and show a united front? Then we accept that as a part of who and what we are. Our level of collaboration and arts focus has never been seen in our area before. We gladly accept the challenge of showing a united front in touting our creative strengths and fiscal power to all.
What is your experience in the arts world in Sarasota prior to coming onboard with Sarasota Rising?
Well, I am a product of community theater, starting on my hometown stage “The Star Theater” at the age of 13. After dozens of plays and musicals and a BFA in Performance from Otterbein University I took the leap to be a professional actor in New York. It took, though, my moving to Sarasota in the 1990’s to start Directing, Writing, Producing and Teaching. All of that culminated in 15 years as the Artistic Director at The Player Theater, 2 of those years as acting CEO. All of the bumps and bruises from producing mega shows at one of the area’s largest theaters has definitely helped in making strong choices in creating this festival. I have YEARS of experience creating plays, musicals and special events from scratch. This opportunity is the perfect culmination of all I’ve learned over the years and I couldn’t be prouder of the incredible work we’re doing on a daily basis.