Focus on Manatee: Here’s how to support National Arts & Humanities Awareness Month around Bradenton

Earlier this year, I was pleased to announce that the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau filled a newly created role of cultural affairs director, in direct response to our ever-increasing commitment to promoting arts and heritage in the Bradenton area.

Knowing the importance of culture in our community, it is fitting that we join communities coast-to-coast in recognizing October as National Arts & Humanities Month.

Launched more than 30 years ago by Americans for the Arts, the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and arts partners around the community will participate in a month-long celebration with goals of focusing attention on culture in the Bradenton area, encouraging individuals and organizations to participate in local arts and heritage events, and raising public awareness about the role the arts and humanities play in our communities.

It is important to remember that art and historic venues in the Bradenton area benefits all of us in more ways than we may realize — arts and culture generates more than $45 million a year in direct economic impact for Manatee County.

Celebrating the arts and humanities in the Bradenton area is a perfect way to show visitors that in addition to sugar-sand beaches and aqua waters, the area is rich with exceptionally talented artists and performers and is home to numerous historical organizations and art schools of quality equal to any found along Florida’s Gulf Coast.

I hope you also notice the buzz of our cultural community.

Recent highlights include:

• The Riverwalk, home to public art enjoyed by all ages, is expanding another 1.5 miles east.
  
  
• The Island Players in Anna Maria celebrated its 70^th Anniversary, a milestone in local theater history.
  
  
• Theatre Odyssey is in rehearsals now for a November production featuring professional actors performing top finalists in the first national One-Act Play Festival that brought submissions from 100 playwrights in 27 states.
  
  
• Manatee Village Historical Park and Manatee County Agricultural Museum continue to expand the historical items on site, while developing new programming that highlights our rich traditions and provides the opportunity to step back in time and immerse yourself in the history of the Bradenton Area. Hands-on activities pay homage to a way of life that defined our area, and are fun and unique (have you ever painted with a fish?).
  
  
• A vibrant neighborhood with new artists, studios, creative shopping and dining opportunities, it may be said that Village of the Arts is experiencing another renaissance.
  
  
• The Pops Orchestra launched the inaugural Art & Rhythm & Culture Festival.
  
  
• The South Florida Museum and Bishop Planetarium is undergoing a physical transformation and opened a new, state-of-the art planetarium show and “star talk” interactive experience.
  
  

These are just a handful of the many wonderful cultural happenings in the Bradenton area. Throughout the year, you can see a Broadway musical, listen to a professional symphony or take Master Artist workshops, all in our destination and an easy drive from anywhere in Manatee County.

If you haven’t experienced the arts or visited our public historic parks and museums recently you are missing first-rate experiences right here at home.

As a destination, we will continue to see cultural tourism grow as travelers seek authentic experiences when they vacation, and we are excited to work with cultural partners to enhance awareness of those opportunities.

With summer gone and tourist season rapidly approaching, now is the perfect time to proudly participate and immerse yourself in the abundant cultural resources surrounding us in the Bradenton area and join me in celebrating National Arts & Humanities Awareness Month.

Organizations of all sizes that want to collaborate with the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau should email cultural affairs director Judith Tilton at Judith.Tilton@BACVB.com or call 941-729-9177, ext. 3986.

Elliott Falcione is the executive director of the Bradenton Area Convention and Visitors Bureau and can be reached at Elliott.Falcione@BACVB.com or 941-729-9177, ext. 3940.