- October 23, 2024
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Fabulous Arts Foundation may have a lot of work to do on the facility of its new LGBTQ+ center as it moves forward from Hurricane Milton.
Yet community members and partners are behind the organization, said founder and director Shannon Fortner.
"We've really seen a lot of folks coming together," they said. "I think that really is what keeps us all going."
An LGBTQ+ nonprofit focused on using the arts to facilitate healing and social change, the foundation initially postponed the soft opening of the center to Oct. 11 due to Hurricane Helene.
That was before Hurricane Milton arrived on Oct. 9.
"With heavy hearts we are informing you that we lost everything in the Hurricane," the organization wrote on social media after the storm. "Starting with the roof to our center."
With the roof gone, the rain from the storm was able to enter the new center, leaving the interior in disarray, with many wet materials having to be discarded.
Fortner said several areas of the 1,500-square-foot building will need to be gutted and a new roof needs to be installed.
The foundation is also seeking mold removal as well as equipment, furniture and more.
"I think our main focus is just trying to get things back to where they were," Fortner said on Oct. 14. "A lot of people showed up and volunteered to help clean up the space, just trying to get it to be able to have humans in it."
Fortner said on Oct. 22 the plan moving forward remains to be seen.
Located in the Limelight District, northeast of downtown Sarasota, the center takes up a place in an area that includes other arts-related enterprises such as Creative Liberties and The Bazaar on Apricot & Lime.
Fabulous Arts Foundation is known for its events and advocacy in the community, including the annual BE Fabulous festival, formerly known as the Harvey Milk Festival.
Once open, the center will serve as a "safe space," for the community, as well as a place that it can host mental health services, arts programming and other programming year-round.
In fact, the center had originally been planned to offer a reprieve for the community after Milton, in a collaboration with community partners, if it retained power.
"We weren't able to do that. I think that probably happened to a lot of folks," Fortner said.
Nonetheless, Fabulous Arts Foundation is still benefiting from community partnerships.
"It's nice to be able to work with community partners and find ways we can support each other and through different needs around hard times for the community, but still focus around lifting up the community," Fortner said.
The foundation is working on a partnership with Urbanite Theatre, a donor of seating to the foundation, to use the theater's rehearsal space for community support groups.
Fortner hopes this service can begin next week.
Some other nonprofit community partners have also offered space.
A page on Givebutter has also been helping to raise funds for the repairs. By 1 p.m. Oct. 22, it had raised $6,666, out of its goal of $10,000.
"It's been nice knowing that we have support," Fortner said. "We just look forward to the day of having a space so we don't have to keep bouncing around, but we're very grateful."
