Anna Maria's Island's Cultural Connection...
Realize Bradenton is all about the arts, the culture and the heritage behind the community of Bradenton.
The idea of turning downtown Bradenton into a vibrant hot spot, or 'Cultural Destination' if you will, seems to have rubbed off on neighboring Anna Maria Island.
As January Holmes put it in his recent article entitled 'Buzz Worthy: Anna Maria's Cultural Connection'... the idea of a Cultural Connection is, "a contagious phrase — in a good way." In the article he says, "I recently had the opportunity to meet a group trying to make a difference for Anna Maria Island — Cultural Connections. It’s mission: promoting the island’s appealing cultural attributes."
He goes on to explain that, "Those attributes are more than the white sand beaches that lure thousands of visitors each year." And lets face it, he is right when he says, "One can only sit on the beach so long before wondering what other things are hidden in this tropical paradise."
Anna Maria Island truly is a tropical paradise. That... no one would deny, yet there is so, so much more, and that’s where Cultural Connections comes in. Cultural Connections on Anna Maria Island is the "guiding light to area festivals, art, theater, history and other must-see events".
The History of the Arts on Anna Maria Island
The arts movement on Anna Maria Island has its roots with the formation of the Island Players 61 years ago, an organization committed to the theater and the people who make it happen. Yet it took another 40 years before other arts organizations began coming together on Anna Maria Island.
Holmes states that, "From that time, most of the arts groups felt, and at times continue to feel somewhat invisible compared to the attention their mainland counterparts receive. So a few of them started meeting informally, eventually evolving into Cultural Connections."
It was 2008 when Cultural Connections of Anna Maria Island was established for the purpose of promoting and supporting our island culture. 'Cultural Connections' mission was and is... to promote Anna Maria Island as a cultural destination.
An example of their success was November’s ArtsHop at the beginning of the season, which Cultural Connections helped promote.
According to Holmes, the event attracted more than half of its festival-goers from off the island. The art galleries involved said their sales tripled!
The organization hopes to do the same thing during the month-long Festival sARTee surrounding the second annual Ringling International Arts Festival in October.
Building on the momentum from last fall's inaugural Ringling International Arts Festival, organizers have said the next festival will include several world and U.S. premieres, including performances by renowned dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov... Wow!
Organizers also said that the festival, a collaboration between the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York, will be an annual rather than biennial event. It is scheduled for Oct. 13-17.
The lineup also includes the world premieres of a play written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winner Nilo Cruz, a musical composition commissioned from modernist composer Philip Glass and the U.S. premiere of a circus-music-puppetry act from the Czech Republic.
It is important to support Anna Maria Island's Cultural Connections because it helps build a stronger arts effort for an island that already has so much to offer.
Have ideas on how Cultural Connections can best spotlight Anna Maria?
Or maybe you just want to learn more about arts, galleries, music, theater, history, festivals and lectures on Anna Maria Island... visit www.culturalconnections.info.
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