Florida Theatre receives another Grant during pandemic

Delores Barr Weaver

The Florida Theatre is pleased to announce a $30,000 challenge gift from the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida. This gift will be added to the existing Florida Theatre Board of Directors match for the “Cross the Finish Line” Campaign, doubling donations through December 31.

After going without more than 90% of its typical income for over six months, on October 9, 2020, the Theatre launched the “Cross the Finish Line” Campaign to raise the funds needed to reopen this December.

With this generous donation from the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund, the “Cross the Finish Line” campaign now aims to raise $180,000 by December 31. This money will help the Theatre bridge the financial gap, and make it over the finish line for the December reopening.

“Mrs. Weaver has shown so much leadership in Jacksonville, encouraging the rest of us to support the many civic organizations that work to make Jacksonville a better place to live and work, and the Florida Theatre is extremely fortunate to be included in that effort during this time,” said Florida Theatre President Numa Saisselin. “From my perspective, it’s super energizing to have someone come along and tell you that your goal is not high enough, and then give you a boost towards the next level of achievement. It’s the philanthropic equivalent of Teddy Roosevelt leading the way up San Juan Hill.”

The historic, nonprofit Florida Theatre is sponsored by Community First Credit Union. For a complete list of upcoming events or to buy tickets visit the Theatre's official website floridatheatre.com.

About the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund: The Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida was created by Delores Barr Weaver in 2015 as the natural evolution of the Delores Barr Weaver Fund, which has awarded more than $86 million in grants since she created it in 2012. She also provides separate, annual support to 20 local, non-profit organizations for their annual fundraising events through the Delores Barr Weaver Forever Event Fund. Like the Delores Barr Weaver Fund, the Delores Barr Weaver Legacy Fund’s purpose is to provide grants to nonprofit organizations that do work she has supported over many years and to encourage others to do so as well. Mrs. Weaver has an extraordinary legacy of philanthropy, and she has provided transformative support to dozens of nonprofit organizations that uplift, enlighten and advance our community.

About the Florida Theatre: From ballet and opera to contemporary pop, jazz, rock, country and blues the nonprofit Florida Theatre offers 200 cultural and entertainment events annually for every taste and age. More than just an entertainment center, Florida Theatre is also home to graduations, awards ceremonies, lectures, business meetings and charity events that support the community's schools, churches, hospitals and civic groups. As an anchor to downtown development along the beautiful St. Johns River, Florida Theatre draws 250,000 people to Jacksonville's center each year. The magnificently restored Florida Theatre is recognized as one of the finest concert venues in the Southeast. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Florida Theatre holds special memories for four generations. From the Vaudeville acts and silent films of its earliest days to today's blend of performances of all kinds, the Florida Theatre has served as Jacksonville's premier entertainment center since 1927.

Cummer Museum receives $1.5 Million to endow a Garden Curator position

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens has received an $800,000 gift to name and endow the position of Garden Curator, thanks to the generosity of the Lorena “Lory” Doolittle and her family.  The gift allows the Museum to create The Doolittle Family Garden Curator position, which will work with the Museum team to create meaningful, impactful, and artful opportunities that share the Museum’s historic Gardens with visitors in engaging and inspiring ways.

“With this gift, Lory Doolittle and her family help assure that the treasures of landscape architecture here at the Cummer Museum will be stewarded into the future,” states Adam Levine, Ph.D., the Museum’s George W. and Kathleen I. Gibbs Director & Chief Executive Officer.  “The Cummer Museum houses masterpieces in its galleries by Rubens, Turner, and Degas, but those are equaled if not exceeded by our outdoor masterpieces by Meehan, Olmstead, and Shipman.  Ms. Doolittle has embraced this view and through this gift helps provide the care that will make these gardens available to the Jacksonville community for generations to come.”

Lory Doolittle has been actively involved with the Museum since moving to Jacksonville in 2004 from Connecticut.  She has worked as a volunteer with the Museum’s Docents since 2013, providing tours of the galleries and gardens for schools, private groups, and the general public.  She has also been actively involved with the Cummer Beaches affinity group.  Mrs. Doolittle has been a long-time supporter of the Museum’s mission and vision, through financial and volunteer support, including service on the Museum’s Education Committee.

“The Cummer Gardens were created by Ninah Cummer with care and devotion,” says Lory Doolittle.  “With the help of a garden curator, Mrs. Cummer’s garden legacy will continue to enhance the Cummer Museum and educate the public.”

The Doolittle gift fully funds the $1.5 million endowment for the position, the proceeds of which will be used to support the compensation and expenses related to maintaining a garden curator.  The Garden Curator will establish a strategy to create greater permeability and crossover between the Museum’s gardens and gallery spaces, develop garden-related programming, and create partnerships that will promote the visibility of the gardens in Jacksonville and beyond.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
   829 Riverside Avenue
   Jacksonville, Florida 32204
   (904) 356-6857
   Hours of Operation & Admission

Cummer Museum receives $30,000 toward Garden Reconstruction

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens is thrilled to announce the receipt of two significant gifts from national garden organizations, The Garden Conservancy and The Garden Club of America. These gifts, totaling $30,000, will help fund the reconstruction of the historic Cummer Gardens, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, which were severely damaged during Hurricane Irma.

The Cummer Gardens sustained extensive damage from Hurricane Irma and the subsequent unprecedented levels of storm surge flooding. The lower tier of all three formal garden spaces remained submerged for approximately 24 hours in as much as four feet of water. This resulted in the uprooting of plants, contamination of outdoor sculptures and fountains with corrosive contaminants, detached railings along the river, broken lighting, pervasive salinization of the soil, large amounts of debris, and significant impact to much of the physical infrastructure, including drainage, electric, fencing, and the well that services the landscape. The Museum has engaged WLA Studios of Athens, Ga., as a consultant to guide the reconstruction of these garden spaces.

The Garden Conservancy, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to saving and sharing outstanding American gardens for the education and inspiration of the public, has hosted an annual Open Day in Jacksonville in partnership with the Museum for five years.  The Open Days program opens the gates to local private gardens, fueling the public’s passion for gardens and gardening through self-guided tours and special programs presented by experts in many fields.  Building on its tradition of helping significant public gardens manage natural and manmade challenges, the Garden Conservancy presented the Museum a $20,000 donation to help fund the garden reconstruction effort.

Since 1999, Late Bloomers Garden Club, a member of The Garden Club of America, has been an important partner in maintaining the Cummer Gardens through financial and volunteer support. Resolving to help ensure recovery of the historic gardens after the unprecedented flooding, the Late Bloomers club submitted a request to The Garden Club of America’s Restoration Initiative, a fund supporting member clubs directly involved in public landscape restoration and conservation projects in communities devastated by natural disaster.  The resulting $10,000 grant will fund new plants and work toward reconstruction of the Italian Garden, with the goal of honoring the historic character of the site while making improvements that will prepare it to withstand future storms.

Your continued financial support will always be appreciated and feel free to donate HERE.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
  829 Riverside Avenue
  Jacksonville, Florida 32204
  (904) 356-6857
  Hours of Operation & Admission

Stage Aurora receives PNC financial Arts Alive Grant

Access to dance performances, the musical power of hip hop, Shakespeare theater, a traveling art mural project, and art labs are among the highlights of five Jacksonville arts organizations which will receive funds this year from the PNC Foundation’s Arts Alive program.  The grants are part of a three-year program to bring PNC Arts Alive to the Jacksonville, Florida community and Stage Aurora Theatrical Company is proud to be part of the mix.  The non-profit winners represent a wide range of disciplines, audiences and participatory experiences from arts groups’ large and small, city and suburban.  Throughout 2016, PNC has diligently worked with the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville to develop the Arts Alive opportunity locally and bring the initiative to its thriving community.

“The PNC Foundation has been a wonderful partner and we are thrilled they decided to bring PNC Arts Alive to our region’s arts and culture community,” said Antonio Allegretti, executive director, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville. “I’m confident these grant recipients will inject Jacksonville with innovative and exciting new programs for the entire family. Most importantly, these new resources will have profound effects on our sector and will improve the quality of life through access to art.”  The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville reports that its creative economy has a $2.4 billion impact on the region.

Through the PNC Arts Alive program, Jacksonville Dance Theatre’s Bridge Project, will commission a newly choreographed work by dancer and choreographer James Boyd, an African American dance artist with a national and renowned reputation in the field of professional dance.  The work will be presented to underserved audiences throughout Jacksonville documented by filmmaker Alexa Velez.  To learn more about James Boyd, visit his website.

Stage Aurora – Ritz Theatre is an innovative program designed to introduce professional African-American theatre to underserved audiences in Jacksonville, Florida.  For the 2016-17, the centerpiece of the project is four to five fully subsidized performances for families, seniors, middle and high school students of low-income status for a total of 2,000 tickets to attend The Ritz Theatre and Museum.  The proposed main stage season includes: Dreamgirls, Porgy and Bess, Lion King, Jr., Ain’t Misbehavin’, Drawn From The Water and/or To Kill a Mockingbird.  One performance of each production is subsidized at 400 seats for low-income patrons.

Congratulations to Darryl Reuben Hall and the Stage Aurora Theatrical Company, on their conquest to bring more culture to the city of Jacksonville and the surrounding area.

Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens meets NEH challenge

The Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens recently reached the first fundraising goal associated with receiving the 2015 Challenge Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).  The Challenge Grant is a matching grant program; in order to receive the full $500,000 award, the Museum must raise an additional $1.5 million from the community by 2020.  This year, Donors and Trustees generously gave $375,000 to match the first $125,000 from the NEH to complete year one of the challenge.  The Museum was one of only 15 institutions to have received the grant from the NEH, an independent federal agency dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities.  This funding will create a $2 million Programming Endowment that will provide sustained funding for multi-disciplinary programming including lectures, workshops, symposia, and bringing scholars and artists to Jacksonville.

“We are honored that this grant award validates the important work happening at the Cummer Museum, along with that of multiple collaborators and partners, to make the power of the humanities accessible to all.  This endowment will help support our ability to provide more public programs like those we have presented over the past several years, which empowered conversations about history, race, cultural values, and other challenges facing our community,” says Chief Operating Officer & Chief Curator Holly Keris.

The endowment will allow the Cummer Museum to create innovative programs that more deeply impact its diverse audiences by examining art through the lenses of literature, philosophy, religion, history, and more.  It will also allow the Museum to fully develop and share best practices in accessibility for individuals with disabilities, building on an area of strength while benefitting other institutions and the broadest cross-section of people who desire access to art and cultural content.  By creating in-depth, accessible, humanities-based programming, this endowment will create a regional hub for exploration and sharing ideas in an area where these opportunities are far too rare.

“The Cummer strives to transmit the profundity, joy, and humanity of the arts to the greater communities of Northeast Florida. In over fifty years of service to its constituents and stakeholders, the Cummer is one of the great jewels of art and culture in our state,” said Dr. Debra Murphy, Chair of Art & Design, University of North Florida.

Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens
  829 Riverside Avenue
  Jacksonville, Florida 32204
  (904) 356-6857
  Hours of Operation & Admission