Gulf Coast Life Arts Edition

The Americans for the Arts’ AEP6 (Arts & Economic Prosperity Study 6) finds that Lee County’s nonprofit arts and culture sector generated more than $135 million in economic activity in 2022 and supported more than 2,500 full time jobs. We explore results of the study, and the case they make for more public support for the arts, in a conversation with Alliance for the Arts Executive Director Molly Rowan-Deckart, Florida Repertory Theatre Producing Artistic Director Greg Longenhagen, and local arts reporter and advocate Tom Hall.

A conversation with artist and conservationist Niki Butcher ahead of an exhibition of her work opens at the Marco Island Historical Museum titled “Daydreaming: Niki Butcher’s Hand-Painted Photography.”

Delta Blues guitarist, bassist and vocalist Anthony “Big A” Sherrod performed live in studio while in Southwest Florida for a Big A & The All Stars concert at Florida Gulf Coast University earlier this month. We’ll hear music and conversation from Sherrod along with Delta Blues documentarian, organizer and advocate Roger Stolle.

Players Circle Theater in Fort Myers is mounting a production of the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning drama “Proof,” by playwright David Auburn. We’ll explore the production in a conversation with Players Circle Theatre Producing Artistic Director Bob Cacioppo and actor Steven Coe.

Pine Island artists Deb Zwetsch and Zan Lombardo have collaborated on a joint exhibition now at the Alliance for the Arts in Fort Myers titled, “We Contain Multitudes.” The artists join us live in studio to talk about the exhibition, their artistic inspirations and their artistic approaches, both collaboratively and as individual artists.

Fort Myers-based artist Ananda War holds her first solo exhibition at DAAS CO-OP Art Gallery & Gifts titled “IS.” War is also a tattoo artist and owner of the Light Hand Tattoo & Healing Arts studio. Ahead of the exhibition’s opening reception, Feb. 2, War joins us in studio to talk about her creative process, her art and its connection to the metaphysical.

The Southwest Florida Symphony’s next Masterworks concert, Feb 3, will feature Naples-based pianist Alexandra Carlson performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, along with performances of Gideon Klein’s Partita for Strings, and Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. We’ll delve into the program in a conversation with Maestro Radu Paponiu and the symphony’s community outreach ambassador Robert Van Winkle.

The Wasmer Art Gallery at Florida Gulf Coast University hosts an installation titled “A Tenuous Framework,” Jan. 18 – Feb. 29. The installation comes from artistic collaborators and married couple Brent Budsberg and Shana McCaw. The exhibition continues the artists exploration of perceptions of history, ancestral memory, and psychological displacement. We take a deeper dive into the installation in a conversation with the artists and Wasmer Art Gallery Director John Loscuito.

Surface pattern designer turned award-winning expressionist painter Kim McAninch now has an exhibition at the Alliance for the Arts titled “It Makes Me Wonder.” We talk with the Sarasota-based artist about the exhibit, her background, and her creative process.

The Southwest Florida Symphony kicks off 2024 with the second concert of this season’s Masterworks series. The performance features Grammy winning violinist and vocalist Charles Yang performing arrangements of songs by The Beatles and the Animals. The concert also includes a performance of perhaps the most well-known classical composition in modern times, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.