We at the Ringling Museum and the BAC are quickly learning what it takes to put together a international festival as we work hard behind-the-scenes to make sure everything goes as planned come October. Sure, it is still five months away, but we cannot rest on our laurels there is marketing to be done, travel arrangements to be made, and physical coordination of events to be organized, to name only a few. It takes more than just calling some artists and asking them to participate. It takes uber-organization skills, the ability to walk backwards in high-heels (figuratively speaking of course, unless you are Meow Meow who probably can do it in her sleep) and the ability to keep a sense of humor. The ride has been fun so far, stay tuned for more.
Posts Tagged ‘“Ringling Museum of Art”’
Venue Spotlight: The Historic Asolo Theater
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009One of the venues at the Ringling International Arts Festival will be the Historic Asolo Theater. Ella Hickson, Peter Brook / C.I.T.C., and Chamber Music Programs A & B are scheduled to perform in the Historic Asolo.
An 18th-century treasure in a 21st-century venue, the Historic Asolo Theater is a work of art in its own right. The palace playhouse was created in Asolo, Italy in 1798 to honor the 15th-century exiled Queen Catherine Cornaro of Cyprus. In the late 1940s, the theater was dismantled and brought to the Ringling Estate.
In 2006, after years of painstaking restoration, the 265-seat theater was reset in the John M. McKay Visitors Pavilion just inside the historic Cà d’Zan Gatehouse on the Ringling Museum estate. All levels are wheelchair accessible.
Festival Package Sales Off and Running
Tuesday, April 14th, 2009As the manager of ticket sales for the festival, I must say that the public response to the marketing launch of the first Ringling International Arts Festival has been overwhelmingly positive.
Within 24 hours of the brochure mailing, orders were being received at the Historic Asolo Theater box office, and – as of this writing – we are well ahead of our sales projections for Festival Packages. Enthusiastic ticket buyers are embracing the entire line-up of core stage programs – many opting to attend performances by all eight of our productions. Single ticket sales begin May 15 – and should we continue to enjoy brisk box office activity, we may very likely see some Festival performances sold out before the summer’s end.
Additionally, the phone calls and emails coming to my office – many from our community’s more discerning patrons of the performing arts – are unabashedly enthusiastic. This came in from one woman in Sarasota with a long and distinguished career in professional theater: “I am blown away by what all is being offered.”
Finally, great support is being garnered from area convention and tourist bureaus, local chambers of commerce, transportation authorities, the hospitality industry, as well as city, county, and state officials. Sarasota and Manatee Counties are getting ready to roll out red carpets all along Florida’s southwest gulf coast. And it looks like there will be quite a crowd gathering on those runways to attend what promises to be a most auspicious launch of a wonderful new celebration of the arts in Florida.
Dwight Currie
Dwight Currie is the Associate Director for Museum Programs at the Ringling Museum.
