Arts + Entertainment 12.08.22

BLACK TIE INSIDE:

For 30 years, he’s been one of the most recognizable faces in the Sarasota theater world. And he rarely accepts a curtain call.

Jim Prosser, Florida Studio The atre’s resident pianist, arrived on the scene decades ago as an intern with hopes of writing music for children’s theater. He quickly made an impact at the company and over the years, his role has grown and grown.

At this point, says FST’s Producing Artistic Director Richard Hopkins, the audience greets Prosser as soon as he steps on stage.

And it hardly matters that he’s situated on the stage periphery.

“He’s probably the most wellknown performer on the cabaret stage,” says Hopkins. “Jim has played so many cabaret shows, the audienc

es know him and love him. It’s truly amazing. I was surprised maybe 10 years ago when I realized that, ‘Oh, they know who Jim is.’

BEHINDTHEPIANO, AHEADOFTHECURVE

“Because the piano player is not dead center.”

Truth be told, that’s exactly how Prosser likes it.

He loves being part of the ensem ble, and he’s thrilled that he gets to be such a vital part of a performance on a regular basis.

It’s been a natural evolution for the piano man, who says he grew up in a musical household in New Haven, Connecticut. His dad, Hal Prosser, played a lot of Broadway, Beatles and show tunes, imparting a lifelong love of music that has enriched the younger Prosser’s life.

“He was my musical education,”

Piano man

says Prosser. “He basically made me want to play music every night.

“Every night, there would always be music playing while we had din ner. Whether it be musical theater, or the Beatles. Even classical music. There was a melting pot of musical influences growing up that kind of got into my writing.”

Prosser says his facility for writ ing music was learned at the George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania, where he was fortunate enough to learn from musical mentors who helped him get the most of his ability.

He was already writing songs for student revues in high school, and he later went on to study theory composition. Shortly after graduat ing college, Prosser had enrolled in business school with the intention of finding a safe job when he found an ad for his future home.

“Before computers, an art search was actually on a piece of paper that was mailed to you,” he says. “I saw the ad came back and just found me again, and I’m like, ‘Well, I guess I’m supposed to do this.’ So I left busi ness school, answered the ad and the rest is history.”

Hopkins says he was struck imme diately by the earnest young musi cian’s skill and affinity for children’s programming, which came in short supply.

“He was young and gangly, just out of school but very enthusiastic. He had a nice touch for music for kids,” says Hopkins. “He continues to write for our children’s theater. And he’s heavily involved with works in the cabaret; playing those shows and helping develop those shows. He’s in great demand at Florida Studio Theatre. We need three Jims.”

Rebecca Hopkins, the managing director of Florida Studio Theatre, says Prosser was already part of the scenery when she arrived in town 25 years ago. She met him as a peer and quickly grew to be his friend, and their relationship deepened over decades of working together.

The interesting part about Prosser, she says, is that his passion for musi cal theater has never dimmed.

He’s had a hand in developing more than 50 musical revues for FST over the decades.

“This guy is playing in a cabaret nine shows a week for almost 50 weeks of the year,” she says.

“If he gets a random night off that happens to coincide with the improv company, he’ll come in and play that show just for fun because he misses being able to do it.”

And while his stage work is a vital part of his contribution, Prosser has proven indispensable in crafting cabarets and Laughing Matters.

It’s not just that he does all the musical arrangements.

Richard Hopkins says that in the early conceptual stages of cabarets, Prosser is actually the only voice holding the project together.

“We’re usually using recordings,” he says of the cabaret process. “But once it’s far enough along, we ask Jim to sing all the roles.

“And we get other actors to read the book parts to see how it’s going. We call that an in-house reading and Jim is great at that.”

Then, once the running order is agreed to, Prosser really puts his stamp on the project. He’ll take the music home and work on it for a week, and when he comes back, the cabaret is fully fleshed out.

“Jim is playing the show, but he may add a drum, he may add a bass, he may add a horn,” says Hopkins of the cabaret. “He’ll add other things that he plays on the piano, but he records it in and loops in. “So every thing that you hear in the cabaret, Jim has created and played. And sometimes you might hear three or four instruments, and that’s all Jim. His contribution is mammoth.”

Sarah Durham, a writer and per former at Florida Studio Theatre, says she’s been at the theater for five years and that she’s collaborated with Prosser on pretty much every big project she’s worked on.

“It’s hard to find someone that does no wrong, but Jim Prosser is one of those people,” she says.

“He’s just such a caring, kind, giv ing co-worker. Whenever I can part ner with him, I want to.”

The cabaret shows are collabora tive efforts, and Prosser is usually laying down the supporting licks for the singers to carry the show.

But sometimes his quick thinking

is needed to save his colleagues. Rebecca Hopkins mentioned one such evening, when a singer had a mishap entering the stage and need ed some extra assistance.

“She was coming down the stairs for a cabaret show to sing ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ And she tripped coming down the stairs and tum bled,” she says. “The audience sees this and gasps. She gets up, makes a joke about it and forgets what she’s there for. Because she’s so flustered. Jim plays a few notes and starts singing the song to her. ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ It was a very poi gnant moment.”

Prosser, for his part, says his col leagues carry the show on a nightly basis and he’s thrilled to be making music with them.

Sometimes, he says, the job can be exhausting because they regularly

play a “six pack” of shows between Friday and Sunday evening.

But it’s so rewarding for him to take some of the most beloved songs in the pop canon and to give them new life on the FST stage.

“It’s just fun,” he says.

“I like approaching music in new ways and making it fresh. And that’s what I’ve liked about the cabaret.”

Over time, says Richard Hopkins, company members become more than colleagues.

They become family.

Prosser has endeared himself to his FST colleagues with his affable personality and his unflagging work ethic, and Hopkins says it’s not dif ficult to imagine him playing piano at FST another 20 years.

“Easily,” he says. “As long as his fingers hold out.”

Gardens for Lights in Bloom

Carolyn and Phil Babas are the crafty professionals who design the annual holiday spectacle at Selby Gardens. And they’re not sure they ever want to retire.

Carolyn Babas counted all the lights for Lights in Bloom once before. And she’s not going to do it again.

Babas and her husband, Phil, are the duo behind Affairs in the Air, a Bradenton-based wedding planner, and she has been hanging the effects for Lights in Bloom for 11 years now.

The last time she counted the lights, she says, there were more than 2 million. Since then, says Babas, there’s just no way to estimate how many more have been added.

“We’re not throwaway-ers,” says Babas, inventing a brand new word on the spot. “We like to continue to reuse, reuse, reuse. So we repair. I mean, we have some lights on things that have been on them for five years.

“You just repair them over and over and over again. When we final ly have to say a little prayer for them (and) throw them away, it’s terrible.”

Much of the show begins in Phil’s head; he’ll spend time in the sum mer creating new lighting effects, and then the crew of workers will set out to reproduce his work.

They bend the wire themselves, and they’ll even do the welding if it’s a simple task.

The process of creating new effects and repairing old ones takes about eight weeks in the summer. Then, months later, they’ll spend 1,500 to 2,000 hours setting everything up.

How have things changed over the years? For one thing, they’ve become more efficient.

“Everything was incandescent when we started,” says Babas. “We were like, ‘You don’t have enough

electric for the consumption of what you want us to do.’

“We had to change everything to LED, but it took like three years to actually take everything apart that was already put together. Now we run so much. And the power con sumption is minimal.”

Babas chuckles a moment later when asked if she’s afraid of heights.

In this industry, that’s a luxury she can’t afford.

They are Affairs in the Air, after all.

She and her husband lead a staff of seven full-time workers to set up Lights in Bloom and another three workers that help out part time.

The work is done mostly during the day, but for some tricky areas, they wait until the evening to avoid inconveniencing daytime Selby visi tors.

Babas says one or two workers will be on a lift hanging the lights, and more workers will be on the ground stretching the lights out and handing them to the people on the lift.

“It is better to tweak the lights at night,” she says. “My husband and I do a lot of ‘We just did all of this.

Tonight, let’s come back.’ Then we come back at night, we turn every thing on, we look at how everything is and we make notes. ‘This is too dark and that’s too bright. Move this. Move that.’ And then in the morning, they get the list and they start.”

Babas says her husband is really never finished designing the effects.

He’ll walk around the grounds and he’ll constantly think of ways he can make the lighting even better.

The couple also relish the oppor tunity to hear what people are saying about the display.

They remain on site for the first few nights to troubleshoot, which gives them a chance to see which parts of their work are inspiring the greatest reactions.

It’s the best feeling in the world,

IF YOU GO Lights in Bloom. Runs from Dec. 10 through Jan. 5. Selby Gardens, 1534 Mound St. $20-$40. Visit Selby.org

says Babas, to see people enjoying Lights in Bloom, and she plans on continuing to assemble it long after she retires from the wedding and events business.

“It’s so funny,” she says, “People say, ‘How come you don’t do your house for Christmas?’

“I’ll say, ‘Well, I do some lights at Selby Gardens.’ Eventually they’ll go and say, ‘Those lights at Selby? What part did you do?’ All of it.”

THIS WEEK

THURSDAY

ARTIST TALK: STEVEN AND WILLIAM LADD

6:30 p.m. at Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail $20 Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.

Few artists are as productive and as friendly as Steven and William Ladd. The brothers will greet the public and talk about their Sarasota Art Museum takeover, which includes both the Scrollathon and their “Lead with a Laugh” exhibit. The Ladds made a beaded portrait family tree that currently hangs in the museum, and “Lead with a Laugh” includes work they’ve developed over the last decade.

AN EVENING WITH RANDALL GOOSBY AND ZHU WANG

7: 30 p.m. at Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave. $40-$80

Visit PerlmanMusicProgramSuncoast. org.

PMP alumni Randall Goosby is back in town, and he’s ready to show a little bit of what he’s learned along the way. Goosby, an acclaimed virtuoso violinist, joined the PMP Orchestra at age 15 and spent a winter residency here in Sarasota. Goosby will be accompanied by pianist Zhu Wang.

FRIDAY

ANGÉLICA NEGRÓN: PLAYING A PLANT

5 p.m. at Hermitage Great Lawn, 6600 Manasota Key Road, Englewood $5, registration required

Visit HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Negrón, the winner of the 2022 Hermitage Greenfield Prize, is a composer who loves to mix in a bit of the unexpected. The Puerto Rico native likes to mix the sounds of plants and other found objects into her compositions, and she’ll talk a bit about her creative process at this event. Negrón will be back in Sarasota in 2024 to play the premiere of her Hermitage Greenfield Prize commission.

THREE DOG NIGHT

8 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail $47-$82

Visit VanWezel.org.

Three Dog Night. One Great Show. The band named for a trio of canines is barking up the right tree at the Van Wezel, and it will be aiming to bring Joy to the World for one night in Sarasota. Three Dog Night had a trio of top Billboard hits in its heyday, and it has been touring for five decades now.

SUNDAY

HOLLYWOOD HOLIDAYS

3 p.m. at Riverview Performing Arts Center, 1 Ram Way $30-$50

Visit ThePopsOrchestra.org

The Pops Orchestra and the State College of Florida film department team up to bring you Hollywood classics and the music you may already know by heart. It’s a dose of Holiday CineMagic, and The Pops will repeat their performance Monday afternoon at the Neel Performing Arts Center.

‘PEACE ON EARTH’ 7 p.m. at Church of the Redeemer, 222 S. Palm Ave. $35; $5 students

Visit ChoralArtistsSarasota.org.

Let Choral Artists bring you peace on Earth. The choral group will hit the high notes on a bunch of holiday selections including “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” and “O Come All Ye Faithful” in this event at Church of the Redeemer.

LEWIS BLACK: ‘OFF THE RAILS TOUR’ 7 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail $42-$87 Visit VanWezel.org.

He’s a very angry man. Lewis Black burns with passion so incandescently that sometimes he spits out his punchlines as if he can’t stand holding their acrid sensation in his mouth one moment longer. He’s thought deeply about many of the world’s worst problems, and he’s coming to tell you all about them in excruciating detail.

HOLIDAY HARMONY — JINGLE

ALL THE WAY

7 p.m. at Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave. $20-$25 Visit TheVeniceChorale.org.

Pretty voices and beautiful holiday songs will hit the stage at the Venice Performing Arts Center on Sunday. Venice Chorale will celebrate the season with choral masterworks, seasonal favorites and even an audience singalong.

MONDAY

CARLOS SERRANO, CLASSICAL GUITARIST

7:30 p.m. at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 2256 Bahia Vista St. Free Visit GuitarSarasota.org.

Colombian-born guitarist Carlos Serrano is taking center stage as part of Guitar Sarasota’s Emerging

DON’T MISS

‘THE NUTCRACKER’

If it’s the holiday season, it’s time for “The Nutcracker.” The classic ballet danced to a score by Tchaikovsky has taken on a life of its own here in the United States, and Sarasota is hosting several competing versions of the event this winter. The Sarasota Ballet School’s performance will feature costumes and sets designed by the late designer Peter Farmer, and there will be an encore performance Saturday afternoon.

IF YOU GO When: 7 p.m., Dec. 9; 3 p.m. Dec. 10 Where: Venice Performing Arts Center, 1 Indian Ave. Tickets: $36-$66 Info: Visit SarasotaBallet.org.

OUR PICK

‘HIP HOP NUTCRACKER’

If it’s good enough for ballet, then why wouldn’t it be good enough for hip-hop? Settle into your seats for the energetic, explosive and infectious stylings of the “Hip Hop Nutcracker,” which aims to take a stately and familiar institution and turn it into something raucous, wild and beautiful. This production has toured all

Artists Series. Serrano was a prizewinner at the Florida International University Concerto Competition, and he’s performed with a number of small guitar and mandolin ensembles.

TUESDAY

THE 442S

7:30 p.m. at Historic Asolo Theater, 5400 Bay Shore Road $30-$50

Visit ArtistSeriesConcerts.org.

It’s a holiday concert for the whole family. These Midwestern musicians are an acoustic quintet that includes three members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. You’ll hear fantastic group singing and inventive improvisation, and the music will move all along the shadowy borderlands that comprise the worlds of jazz, classical, folk and pop music.

over the country for a decade, and over time it may just become an institution of its own.

IF YOU GO

When: 7 p.m., Dec. 10 Where: Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail Tickets: $22-$92 Info: VanWezel.org.

‘MY FAIR LADY’

7:30 p.m. at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail. $42-$97 Visit VanWezel.org.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if you had a chance to see one of the most acclaimed Broadway musicals right in your backyard? The classic “My Fair Lady” comes to Sarasota with a new production helmed by Bartlett Sher. Runs through Dec. 15.

WEDNESDAY

SAM’S 3-YEAR ANNIVERSARY PARTY

11 a.m. at Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail Free with museum admission Visit SarasotaArtMuseum.org.

Time passes quickly when you’re having fun. The Sarasota Art Museum will celebrate its third year of bringing art exhibits and events to the community, and it’s inviting the public to join in the fun.

Listen

Listen Hear

December 17, 2022 Timothy Chooi and ChangYong Shin

January 28, 2023 Michelle Ross

April 15, 2023 Max Tan, Sam Boutris, and Chelsea Wang

Join our diverse roster of musicians this season on Saturdays at 2 pm in Thomas McGuire Hall.

Curated by concert violinist Max Tan, each salon-style event includes a short, classical music program, insights from the artists, and conversation.

A ‘Cabaret’ for today

The musical’s songs remain the same in this Asolo Repertory Theatre production. In Josh Rhodes’ bold reinterpretation, its story is now based on respect.

“L

ife is a cabaret.” That’s a famous line from a famous song from the famous musical “Cabaret.”

It’s now on the Asolo Repertory Theatre stage. Surprisingly, the talents behind this show have given the musical new life.

The basic story remains the same, of course. The year is 1931.

Seeking material for his next novel, an American author named Clifford Bradshaw (Alan Chandler) rents a flat in Berlin in the twilight of the Weimar Republic.

What he finds is Sally Bowles (Iris Beaumier), a vivacious, ambitious chanteuse. She leads him to the Kit Kat Klub, a fantasyland of artful song, dance and drag, where she’s the star performer.

The Emcee (Lincoln Clauss) is the gleeful ruler of this hedonistic domain, which has a strong magnetic pull on the young writer.

When Sally has a run-in with the manager and loses her gig, she winds up sharing his flat.

Cliff (who’s either gay or bisexual) thinks he might be falling for her.

But Cliff might also be falling for Ernst (Blake Price) — a shady German businessman who pays him handsomely to smuggle packages in from Paris.

Young love blossoms.

And middle-aged love does, too.

Fraulein Schneider (Kelly Lester), Cliff and Sally’s landlady, gives her heart to Herr Schultz (Philip Hoffman), a fruit shop proprietor, who happens to be Jewish.

Wedding bells are in the air, until the sound of Nazi jackboots drowns them out.

Fraulein Schneider withdraws her consent. The Nazi voices are getting louder, and breaking into the private world of the Kit Kat Klub.

Cliff decides to get the hell out of

Berlin. Sally stays.

Seen it before? Me, too.

I’ve seen “Cabaret” so many times that you could wake me at 2 in the morning and I could probably give you a plot synopsis.

But I’ve never seen this before.

Without violating the musical’s text, director/choreographer Josh Rhodes turns the context insideout.

In the process, he shows you something new. One simple shift of focus changes everything.

In Rhodes’ reimagining ...

He looks at the Kit Kat Klub’s art and artists with respect.

Sally Bowles isn’t a spoiled, notso-talented, rich kid slumming in Berlin — she’s a charismatic virtuoso on her way to bigger things.

The Emcee isn’t a corrupt, soulless creep. He’s a transgressive talent who’s created a refuge for other such talents.

The Kit Kat Klub isn’t a workingclass dive with a stage full of losers; it’s an alternative performance space and a launching pad for firstrate artists.

The gender-bending on its stage isn’t decadent; it’s a bold artistic experiment.

The actors’ powerful performances bring Rhodes’ vision to life.

Clauss’ Emcee steals the show whenever he appears.

His incarnation of the character is a gleeful, gender-fluid trickster, not a malign clown.

His Emcee is having fun; he wants the performers and audience

to have fun; his art is an expression of joy. (He’s also got amazingly expressive hands. They really should get separate billing.)

Beaumier is a smash as Sally Bowles 2.0. Her character’s wildly ambitious — and it’s no joke. She’s got the drive and talent to back it up.

(Halfway through the show, I realized I wasn’t comparing her to Liza Minnelli’s iconic performance. Having a fresh performer drive that memory out of my head is quite a feat. Brava!)

Chandler does a great job in the thankless role of Clifford Bradshaw (an Americanized stand-in for Christopher Isherwood).

He gets a few moments to shine — especially in the scenes where he refuses Nazi money and confronts Sally about their future in the USA.

But the bulk of “Cabaret” isn’t Cliff’s story — he’s mainly a witness to the stories of others.

Lester’s Fraulein Schneider initially dismisses the Nazi menace as a passing fad. As a landlady, she’s overworked and cash poor. As a human being, she’s basically decent. Hoffman’s Schultz is also good-hearted, and you can see how he won her heart.

Tijana Bjelajac’s set is a doubledecker birdcage spangled with geometric Art Deco designs. It’s seen some wear-and-tear, but it’s not a broke-down palace. The Kit Kat Klub is still a happening place.  (And American writers who drop in aren’t slumming.)

Sally

The lesser dancers on the kick-line get shabbier garb, and a few seem to be wearing their own lingerie.

Music director Angela Steiner keeps the band cooking on the set’s second tier.

According to the Emcee, “The orchestra is beautiful.”

I didn’t get a good look at them. But they made beautiful music with Kander and Ebb’s tunes.

It adds up to an evening to remember. I laughed, I cried, I thought, you name it.

This revivified vision ticked all the boxes of body, mind and soul.

It’s an entertaining show.

But it’s more than that.

Watching this musical’s characters is like watching the cast of a musical set in the World Trade Cen ter on Sept. 10, 2001.

You know what’s going to happen to them. It hasn’t happened yet.

But it’s only a matter of time.

The book for “Cabaret” leaves you guessing at the characters’ futures. Rhodes spells it out without hitting you over the head.

The musical ends with a haunting scene evoking the fates of people like the Emcee and Ernst.

Inside the Cabaret, life is beautiful. Outside, it’s getting very ugly in Nazi Germany. And we all know how that story ends.

IF YOU GO

‘CABARET’ When: Runs through Dec. 31 Where: FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 5555 N. Tamiami Trail. Tickets: $35-$99. Info: Call 351-8000 or visit AsoloRep. org.

DISTINCTIVE DISHES

WHAT’S THE DISH: When execu tive chef Kaytlin Dangaran began planning her lunch menu for Bistro, she knew she wanted some comfort food. So she took a page out of her home cookbook.

Dangaran says she loves making tomato soup and grilled cheese at home, which made it a natural fit for her menu for Bistro.

“I make it in the pan with butter, and it’s such a fun dish,” she says of her staple soup and sandwich.

“I know I have a can of tomatoes at home. I know I have cheese. I know I have bread and butter. And I know everybody will be happy with it. Kids, adults, everybody likes it.”

A QUEST FOR BREAD: When she first came to town, Dangaran says she and her husband, John, went all around town tasting bread.

They ultimately found a Pullman Loaf from C’est La Vie that was per fect for sandwiches, and then they started experimenting with different ways to use it.

Dangaran says she wants you to be able to pull the grilled cheese apart and savor it bite for decadent bite.

“We cut the bread,” she says. “And we soak the outside and one half of the inside with melted butter and a little salt.”

THREE CHEESES: You’ll taste three cheeses in the sandwich; there’s a fontina mornay on one side and an aged white cheddar on the other, and Dangaran says there’s also hints of parmesan.

“The parmesan is really that rounding, salty flavor that you want to keep eating,” she says of the deli cate balance of cheeses.

“The fontina mornay is the creamy base. And the cheddar is the thing that brings them together. It’s got some creaminess and it’s got some saltiness because it’s aged a little bit.”

What exactly is a fontina mornay?

“It’s like a fancy cheese sauce,” she says. “You take flour and butter and melt it down.

“You whisk in some milk. Then

GRILLED CHEESE AND TOMATO SOUP AT BISTRO

Address: Sarasota Art Museum, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail

Ambiance: Artsy cafeteria, lunch and light bites Price: Entrees from $11 to $17 Info: SarasotaArtMuseum.org/ Bistro

you take whatever cheese you want to do and you melt it in there. It’s a very classic French traditional cheese sauce.”

A SOUP TO DIP INTO: The tomato soup, says the chef, is delightfully simple.

“We start with whole cloves of garlic, fresh basil, fresh thyme, white onion, butter and olive oil,” she says.

“You let all that cook down. We used canned San Marzano tomatoes and we cook them down with chick en stock for about 45 minutes. And that’s it. Nothing else.”

A WINNING DISH: Dangaran says she’s selling about 10 tomato soups and grilled cheese orders per day, and Bistro also offers the soup and sandwich in a half-portion option. The dish is plated with side orders of

“When you order a grilled cheese, you’re not expecting the world. You just want comfort food, which is beautiful.”

pickles and chips.

“When you order a grilled cheese, you’re not expecting the world,” says Dangaran of the dish’s eternal appeal. “You just want comfort food,

which is beautiful. And then they have it and they’re like, ‘Oh, this is a really good grilled cheese.’”

35TH ANNIVERSARY WINTER GALA

Friday, Dec. 2, at Michael’s on East | Benefiting the Florida Center for Early Childhood

The Florida Center for Early Childhood continued its winter wonderland gala series with the “Castle By The Sea” fundraiser on Dec. 2.

The annual event — celebrating its 35th anniversary this year — brought hundreds of guests to Michael’s On East for an elegant evening supporting the nonprofit’s many educational and therapeutic programs for children with behavioral and developmental disorders.

Guests mingled with one another and bid on silent auction items outside Michael’s On East before heading inside to admire the day’s castle-themed decor and iconography.

The night’s program started with words from board Chair Michele Miller before Chief Development Officer Kristen Theisen thanked the donors and supporters for their support and attendance.

CEO Kristie Skoglund then addressed the crowd before it was time for Florida Center parent Amanda Jacobson — who has been involved with the organization’s Healthy Families program — to speak to the efficacy of the program and the impact it had on her family.

The night ended with music and danc ing.

Feast Upon The Fields

Dec. 4,

ats, cattle, goats and plenty of support were the name of the game during the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast’s latest fundraiser on Dec.4.

The “Feast Upon The Fields” luncheon brought the Conservation Foundation’s supporters to the Crowley Museum and Nature Center for an afternoon of fundraising for the nonprofit’s nature conservation initiatives.

There were plenty of animals, too. Guests took time to pet and feed goats upon walking to the tent event space, where they then picked up light bites and admired some of the nearby cattle. It was then time for the program, where guests heard from Conservation Foundation President Christine Johnson and Crowley Museum CEO Dixie Resnick before they enjoyed food from Mattison’s 41.

Winter Wonder Women Collective

Thursday, Dec. 1, at Grove restaurant | Benefiting Women’s Resource Center

The Women’s Resource Center brought some holiday cheer to Grove restaurant in Lakewood Ranch during its latest Wonder Women Collective fundraiser on Dec. 1.

The “Winter Wonder Women Collective” event saw the WRC’s clients, donors and partners mingling together for a year-end celebration of the organization’s work providing resources for women seeking guidance and support.

The evening started with light bites and drinks before guests sat to hear from TEDX speaker Robyn Faucy. Guests finished out the night enjoying music and bidding on silent auction items.

It’s Beginning to Look A lot Like Hanukkah

JFCS of the Suncoast shared a variety of stories and perspectives during its annual fundraiser on Dec. 4.

Hundreds of faithful supporters filled the Sarasota Yacht Club for an evening of fundraising, music and celebration. The annual fundraiser benefits the organization’s mental health counseling and human services programs.

Guests mingled during cocktail hour before settling down for a number of performances and displays of artistic talent from pianist Susan Hollins, the Rise Above Performing Arts show choir, cantor Riselle Bain, the a cappella jazz vocal ensemble Jet Stream from Booker High School and more. The program included words

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