Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition

Opera Naples new Executive Director Laura Burns’ first day on the job came less than a week after storm surge from Hurricane Ian caused significant damage to the Wang Opera Center. We’ll talk with Burns about ongoing hurricane recovery efforts, get a preview of Opera Naples productions this performance season, and learn about Burns’ life-long passion for the arts and background as an arts administrator and advocate.

We explore how local arts organizations have been impacted by Hurricane Ian and how they’re working to help the community recover in a conversation with Laboratory Theater of Florida Production Manager Margaret Cooley, Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center President and CEO Jim Griffith, Florida Repertory Theatre Artistic Director Greg Longenhagen, and Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre owner and Executive Producer Will Prather.

Blues, roots, and folk singer/songwriter and guitarist Jon Shain performs live in studio ahead of his concert Saturday, Sept. 24 in the Americana Community Music Association listening room in Fort Myers.

The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery is exhibiting a film installation titled “The Exquisite Moving Corpse” through Dec. 10. The project is a collaboration of more than 60 internationally renowned artists, sequentially contributing one minute of film, but only having the final frame of the previous artist’s film to respond to. We’ll take a closer look with Gallery Director Jade Dellinger and initiating and contributing artist Jack Massing.

In late July, Artis-Naples announced its full plans for the coming season. The overarching theme is “Distance – Devotion.” We’ll have an encore presentation of our recent conversation all about the 2022-2023 season with Artis-Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen.

We'll get a preview of what's in store for audiences in the upcoming 25th season of the Florida Repertory Theatre in downtown Fort Myers with the company's artistic director Greg Longenhagen.

The Laboratory Theater of Florida in downtown Fort Myers is currently performing the Southwest Florida premiere production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize winning drama “Fairview.”The play tackles themes of implicit bias, prejudices, stereotypes, race, surveillance and privilege, but through an innovative and powerful defiance of convention.We explore the play in a conversation with the production’s Assistant Director Makayla Davis, actors and cast members Zaria Brown and Tijuanna Clemons, and Laboratory Theater founder and Producing Artistic Director Annette Trossbach.

Artis-Naples has announced its full plans for the coming season. The overarching theme is “Distance – Devotion.” We’ll get a preview of the upcoming season with Artis-Naples CEO and President Kathleen van Bergen.

A conversation with and music performed live in-studio by the Florida phantom folk band the Swamp Rats consisting of Scotty Crow on vocals, guitar and cajón and Andy Starkey on vocals and banjo

We listen back to our episode from this past April featuring music from South Florida-based rap, hip-hop, and EDM artist, performer and producer Nory Aronfeld. From lo-fidelity beats to psychedelic instruments, to songs heavy on lyricism and wordplay, his original compositions are genre blending and genre bending.