The $34,953 grant will help fund the organization’s 2019-2020 community arts and cultural programs.
[Sarasota County, FL]— The Sarasota County Commission awarded the Hermitage Artist Retreat in Englewood a $34,953 Tourist Development Cultural/Arts grant to help fund its 2019-2020 community arts and cultural programs. The award-winning creators of all artistic disciplines who stay at the Hermitage provide free public programs that attract thousands of residents and tourists every year. These programs take place at the Hermitage, area schools, colleges, and in collaboration with regional cultural organizations.
Bruce Rodgers, executive director of the Hermitage, explains that these cultural gatherings exist to give both residents and visitors the rare opportunity to interact with celebrated authors, poets, artists, composers and performers from around the world.
“Many of these artists work on projects at the Hermitage that will have a significant impact on artistic culture of our society,” says Rodgers. “Over the past decade, the Hermitage has been the creative birthplace for works by numerous Pulitzer Prize-winning authors, poets, playwrights and composers, MacArthur Genius Fellows and internationally acclaimed visual and performing artists.” Rodgers adds that, after watching a program in its embryonic stages in Sarasota County, visitors often are able to experience the fully realized projects in their own home towns.
“We are honored that the Tourist Development Commission recognizes the importance of the Hermitage’s role in serving as an integral part of the community’s rich arts and cultural fabric,” says Rodgers.
About the Hermitage Artist Retreat:
The Hermitage is a nonprofit artist retreat located in Englewood, Sarasota County, Florida. It invites accomplished artists in all disciplines for residencies on its beachfront campus which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Its artists, who are asked to interact with the community, touch thousands of Gulf Coast residents and visitors with unique and inspiring programs. Hermitage fellows have included Pulitzer, Tony, Emmy, Grammy and MacArthur Fellowship award winners. The Hermitage awards the $30,000 Greenfield Prize for a new work of art, and the Aspen Music Festival awards the annual Hermitage Prize in Composition. For more information about The Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
The Hermitage is supported by:
Hermitage programs are supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues; and by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida (Section 286.25 Florida Statutes).