And we hope by April, we’ll be able to finalize it to three and then obviously make the final decision on the architect which is critical to design. We have received an incredible response of over 40 of the best architects in the world. We’re in the process of architectural selection, which is obviously a key milestone. The city commission approved the plan including a new performing arts center in the middle of the 53 acres, which really launched the process of the foundation, working directly with the city of Sarasota, and eventually the county of Sarasota, to build together, with a public private partnership, the new performing arts center as part of that master plan. There’s been a planning process that the city had launched, which we participated in, to develop 53 acres and there was a master plan approved for that. Jim TraversĪs the Sarasota Arts Center gets closer to starting construction, the interim director of the foundation, Jim Travers, spoke to Tampa Bay Business and Wealth about his vision for bringing the arts to students, their families and the community at large. The foundation is currently working on selecting an architecture firm to take on the project. Formerly called the Van Wezel Foundation the organization, while working toward the construction of the new Sarasota Performing Arts Center, is also rebranding its organization to be of the same name.
