Big step for the SPAF

While Sarasota’s new performing arts hall is years from reality, the selection of an architect marks a crucial step toward opening curtain and answering two big questions: How much will it cost? How long will it take?

While I know next to nothing about the process of constructing a building or architecture, I do know what steps are required to put on a show. While putting words to print, recounting the news and information you seek every week is a show within itself, a former career in the ballet world gave me experience in performing arts.

When premiering a new ballet, a choreographer first must be selected. Next the choreographer picks a concept and selects the music to which the ballet will be danced. Then the formulation of the steps and movements the dancers will perform begins.

Following all that are countless rehearsals and coaching, costume design, set production, lighting design, stage management, marketing, ticket sales and more. 

Finally: It’s curtain time for opening night. Without the choreographer, there is no show.

It’s not quite curtain time for the future Sarasota Performing Arts Center, but with the selection of the architect two weeks ago — Renzo Piano Building Workshop, the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation took a giant step toward bringing its vision to reality.

Renzo Piano’s selection, along with the caliber of the other 42 architects considered for the job, says a lot about Sarasota and what the other architects saw in this midsize city that is increasingly becoming discovered.

Indeed, each of the three finalists — Foster + Partners, Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Snøhetta — are all regarded as internationally acclaimed firms.

Snøhetta is currently leading the design of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s historic performance space, Powell Hall, with a 65,000-square-foot expansion to celebrate the performance hall’s centennial in 2025. 

I recently visited the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, which is the center of the Dallas Arts District. Designed by Foster + Partners, the performing arts hall is brightly lit in red with the glass horseshoe center revealing a sweeping staircase to the multilevel lobby areas and provides different plazas outside for the public. 

Nearby is a Renzo Piano project — Nasher Sculpture Center, which is a museum and sculpture garden that provides sanctuary among the downtown Dallas skyscrapers.

Seeing the latter two finalists’ projects firsthand in April, not knowing they would be finalists for the SPAC, I knew either architecture firm would create a world-class project for Sarasota. Yet, this “newsie” is a bit biased. One of the most impressive buildings I’ve ever visited is the New York Times building in New York City. The Renzo Piano-designed, 52-story building takes up half a block in Manhattan and hums with people devoted to putting out a newspaper every day.

Now that Renzo Piano has been selected as the architect for the planned SPAC, the big overarching questions can be answered:

• How much will it cost?
• How long will it take until the first curtain rises?

Much like Marie Selby Botanical Gardens and The Bay Park, before design firms and partners were selected, master plans were aspirational. Once architects and consultants were selected, budgets and actual construction costs were then developed.

“You can’t really get an estimate of costs until you have a concept,” says Jennifer Rominiecki, president and CEO of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Selby broke ground on its Master Plan in June 2021 and plans to host a ribbon cutting in November 2023. Rominiecki also shared that once an architect translates its design to reality, that’s when the costs come into focus.

After Renzo Piano goes through the city of Sarasota’s procurement process, the City Commission must vote on a concept from Renzo Piano and adopt an implementation agreement. 

Having been through the same process, Rominiecki says the most important aspect is conveying the big picture vision and the need. 

“The need is so important to the constituency understanding being patient,” she says. “If the need is there, the patience will be there.”

Renzo Piano’s first job will be a needs analysis to assess how to meet the needs of the community for generations to come. “They are doing a lot of diligence,” says Jim Travers, chairman of the board and interim CEO of the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation. “This is much more than a building. They are engaging the entire 53-acres and how to broadcast what’s happening inside out so that children and entire families can understand the arts in an amazing way. 

“To see that come to fruition is overall really exciting for the project and the community,” he says. 

Travers added that the SPAC is a generational project and is expected to serve the community for the next 50 to 60 years, much like the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall has performed since the 1960s. 

“Sarasota’s history and reputation for the performing arts is why people are here and coming here,” Travers says. “This is about my grandkids and your kids being able to have something to support the current state of the arts and where things are going.” 

Walking through Klyde Warren Park in the downtown Dallas Arts District makes the vision of having a Sarasota Arts and Cultural district more of a reality. Just think: With Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, The Bay Park and a world-class performing arts hall along our beautiful bayfront, our downtown core will rise to a new level, fulfilling untapped potential for decades to come. 

In a former life, this ballerina couldn’t wait to step her toes on that stage. Now I’m looking forward to being an audience member. Thankfully, the SPAF has taken the first step, or in ballet, first position, to get there.

Emily Walsh was a part of the Van Wezel Steering Committee in 2018 to help envision a new performing arts hall for Sarasota until she joined the board of the Bay Park Conservancy in 2019. She currently serves as secretary on the Bay Park Conservancy Board of Directors. Walsh served on the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Board of Directors from 2011 to 2017.