The Ringling receives major gifts totaling $400,000
Eight or nine months from now, you may be sitting in the Charlotte and Charles Perret Family Performance Studio Space in Sarasota, watching world-class, home-grown theater music or dance.
The Ringling this week announced two major gifts to the new Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion. The gifts come from Charlotte and Charles Perret and Willis A. Smith Construction, and between the two they total $400,000.
The pavilion, which is set to open this fall, will house The Ringling’s growing collection of studio glass and also serve as the formal entrance to the Historic Asolo Theater. The gift from the Perrets will provide a new studio for rehearsals and performances.
Dwight Currie, The Ringling’s curator of performance, said the new studio will give The Ringling a chance to establish new residencies. Instead of coming into town, performing a show or two and then leaving, invited performing artists will have a dedicated space where they can develop new works over the period of days or weeks before they perform them at The Ringling.
“It give us a more active role in creating new works, rather than just presenting them,” Currie said.
Having arts companies in residence, Currie said, will allow The Ringling to offer more opportunities for interaction between those artists and audiences and students.
The Perrets have long been supporters of The Ringling’s Art of Performance program, which seeks to present new works that explore the contemporary world.
To note the gift from Willis Smith Construction, a company that has handled most of the construction at The Ringling for the past 14 years, the box office for the pavilion and the Historic Asolo Theater will be named the Willis A. Smith Construction Ticket Desk.
Construction is already underway on the pavilion, which is adjacent to the east side of the Historic Asolo Theater. The theater is closed during construction.
Marty Clear: 941-708-7919, @martinclear
This story was originally published January 6, 2017 at 6:26 PM with the headline "The Ringling receives major gifts totaling $400,000."