During “season” in Sarasota, most local arts leaders barely have time to eat and catch a few hours sleep, much less do anything other than keep their organizations rolling. But with a little more breathing room during the summer months, we thought it would be fun to find out how they’ve spent their free time:  Indulging in sports? Taking a busman’s holiday? Attending to neglected fitness routines? Being an audience member rather than a creator/director?

Their responses revealed a wide variety of pursuits and included a lot of fun pictures (all provided by the contributors). So many, in fact, that we had to edit a few for length. We hope you enjoy as much as we have seeing how our hard-working creatives recharged their batteries for the coming onslaught. And just in case you were wondering, read to the end to find out what the ArtsBeat staff has been up to!

Samantha Bennett and George Nickson, Artistic Directors, ensembleNEWSRQ

Our summer travels took us across the West, mixing plenty of music with time outdoors along the way. We camped in Utah’s Little Grand Canyon before heading to Colorado for the Dallas Symphony’s five-concert residency at Bravo! Vail. From there, we spent two weeks in Santa Cruz for the Cabrillo Festival, immersed in an incredible lineup of new music for orchestra, and Sam also made a stop in Albuquerque to perform two chamber music programs with Chatter. A busy summer of concerts, new places, and some much-needed time outside!

Michaela Stockhill, Engagement Director, Embracing Our Differences

This summer I went on a two-week vacation to southern Africa with my best friends and Dad. On our trip we were able to visit the southernmost tip of the African continent, see a field of rainbows practically sprouting from Victoria Falls, and slept under the Milky Way in a Namibian desert. Through safaris in Namibia and Botswana, we were able to spot the Big 5, including the critically endangered black rhino. It was the trip of a lifetime, and we can't wait to go back again. 

Joseph Caulkins, Artistic Director & CEO, Key Chorale

Most arts leaders I know spend the summer recharging somewhere involving a beach, a good book, and perhaps an adult beverage with an umbrella. I apparently recharge by climbing glaciers at 15,000 feet.

This summer, I returned to the Italian Alps to settle some unfinished business. Twelve years ago, I attempted Punta Gnifetti on the Monte Rosa massif and was forced to turn back because of too much new snow. This time, I wisely brought an Italian mountain guide, Fabio, along. We started at 4:15 a.m. in what looked like promising weather. Naturally, the mountain had other plans. As we climbed higher, the conditions deteriorated until we were in a full whiteout, battling fierce winds and temperatures of -4°C. After several hours, we finally reached the Margherita Hut at nearly 15,000 feet—the highest building in Europe. We waited, hoping the weather might improve. It didn’t. The mountain was clearly telling us, in its own rather emphatic way, that we had seen enough. So we headed back down through the glacier and eventually into the valley, where the European heatwave was still in full force.

There is something surreal about going from -4°C, snow and whiteout conditions to sweltering summer heat in the space of a few hours. Standing beside an enormous crevasse, looking down into that impossibly blue-black ice, or beneath towering seracs that seem to defy gravity, has a way of resetting your perspective. For several days, there were no emails, rehearsals, budgets, programs or artistic decisions. There was simply the next step, the weather, the mountain and the person on the other end of the rope. As someone who spends most of the year trying to convince 100-plus people to breathe together, listen to one another and move in the same direction, there was something wonderfully familiar about that. The mountains gave me exactly what I needed: a little adventure, a lot of humility, and a very healthy reminder that sometimes you don’t get to choose the program. The mountain does.

Michelle Butler, Deputy Executive Director, The Sarasota Ballet

This was an unusual summer for us, and since we didn’t have time for a full family vacation, we improvised. My daughter, Morgan, graduated from the University of Florida, so afterwards we took a quick girls’ trip to Nashville, where we visited family and, of course, explored the downtown scene. Meanwhile, my son, Austin, traveled to Senegal, Africa with buildOn and 17 other students to help build a school. We also managed to sneak in some family boating time on our local waters.

Leymis Bolanos Wilmott, Co-founder and Director, Sarasota Contemporary Dance

After more than 21 years of building Sarasota Contemporary Dance while raising a family, this summer became the most restorative season of travel I have experienced in my adult life. Looking back, I realize it wasn’t about checking destinations off a list, it was about reconnecting with the people who have shaped my life.

The summer began with a girls’ getaway to St. Simons Island with my sister, a dear friend and the co-founder of Fuzion Dance Artists and a company member, along with our daughters, all dancers, to celebrate the oldest daughter’s graduation, after dropping off my son at Florida State University for jazz camp. Soon after, I traveled deep into the Brazilian Amazon with one of my besties and longtime dance partner, Stephanie Bastos, to celebrate her 50th birthday. We ended June with a joyful weekend in Orlando floating down lazy rivers with the Jamaican side of our family, then began July with a staycation with precious days at a beach house with my parents, sisters, cousins. I ended the summer with a solo trip to Mexico City to visit my goddaughter, who is now living and working there.

This summer reminded me that rest is not a luxury, it is part of sustaining a creative life. As someone who wears many hats — wife, mom, artist, nonprofit leader — I know we often spend our time caring for our organizations, our communities, and our families. These moments with lifelong friends and loved ones, along with the opportunity to experience different cultures and landscapes, renewed my spirit in ways I didn’t realize I needed. I returned home filled with gratitude, fresh perspective, and excitement to begin Sarasota Contemporary Dance’s 21st season with renewed energy and purpose.

Summer Wallace, Co-founder and Producing Artistic Director, Urbanite Theatre

I spent my summer vacation doing what every sane Floridian does, setting my alarm for 4 or 5 a.m. and heading into the glorious humidity to train for the Sydney Marathon! I logged more than 600 miles as part of the Comfort Zone Camp race team, supporting an incredible grief camp for kids where I volunteer, and running in honor of my dad, grandpa, sister, and dear friend Deb, so there’s a lot of heart (and sweat!) behind every mile. When I wasn’t running, I stayed happily in the Florida heat gardening, while also dreaming, planning, and gearing up for Urbanite’s Season 13. Running, plants, theatre, pasta Fridays for long run Saturdays … what’s an off season? 

Race day is August 30th. 

Ariel Serrano, Co-founder and Artistic Director, Sarasota Cuban Ballet

I had a lot of fun teaching in London at Carlos Acosta’s Summer Intensive at the Acosta Dance Centre. It was amazing because all the teachers were fellow humans from Cuba. I got to work with people that I grew up with and haven’t seen in a long time. So I spent a week in London teaching, meeting new dancers, seeing Carlos [we trained together as dancers in Cuba] perform at the Royal Opera House, and catching up with my son Panchi [Francisco Serrano, a soloist with The Royal Ballet]. Panchi just returned from The Royal’s Japan tour, where he danced Hilarion in Giselle.

Carlos’ show, “Myths and Modern Masters,” was fantastic, very diverse. He danced Jose Limon’s “Moor’s Pavane,” a new piece from a contemporary choreographer he commissioned and “Rooster,” with Rolling Stones music. I told Carlos that at age 53, he keeps playing the young man’s game … and winning!  Carlos also showed off some of his “Nutcracker in Havana” with his company Acosta Dance – he Cubanized Tchaikovsky! That night he also danced on stage for the first time with his 14-year-old daughter, Alia, as Clara. I remember Alia as a 3-year-old dancing for us in Carlos’ living room, so this was very special. But what brought down the house was Katherine Ochoa in “Diana and Actaeon. Katherine was 15 years old when she first came to our Sarasota school. She is now a first soloist with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. The same spectacular dancer she was at 15, but now with maturity.

Richard Russell, General & Artistic Director, Sarasota Opera

Summer is usually the time when I visit several of the opera festivals around the U.S.—Santa Fe, Glimmerglass, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis. I enjoy seeing my colleagues’ work and keeping an eye out for future talent for Sarasota Opera. The highlight of my summer, however, was a vacation my wife and I took to England. London is one of our favorite cities, and this trip included a special treat: a day at Wimbledon watching some great tennis, including matches featuring Novak Djokovic, Naomi Osaka, and Jannik Sinner. The artistic highlight for us was a performance of Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd” at the Glyndebourne Festival. The English country-house opera tradition is unique: audiences dressed to the nines, world-class performances on a sprawling estate complete with sheep in the adjacent meadow, an intimate theater almost exactly the size of the Sarasota Opera House, and a long intermission for a leisurely dinner between acts. It is a special way to experience opera – right out of “Downton Abbey”!

Jason Ellis, Executive Director and Amanda Heisey, Marketing and Public Relations Director, The Sarasota Players

Summer vacation often means getting away, slowing down, and maybe, if you're lucky, taking a break. For us  it meant writing and performing in Sarasota's own little-fringe-festival-that-could, Squeaky Wheel Fringe. Somewhere between running an arts organization, promoting productions, and putting out the inevitable fires, we decided to write a variety show centered around a revival meeting. It was irreverent and very much a parody, and we got to include a bunch of our other artist friends using their amazing skills in wild and unhinged ways. 

It's partially what Jason and I love about Sarasota. The community is full of talented people with hidden (and not-so-hidden) abilities, and while we both love doing musicals and plays, sometimes it's nice to stretch those creative muscles and create something brand new. Not just new, something a little weird and wonderful, and how lucky are we that there's a place to get to do that? We also got to collaborate with another arts organization (which we love), AND we got to see local talent as well as out-of-city and out-of-state performances. Did we take a break this summer? No, not really; we had too many shows going on, summer camps, and a renovation to plan, but we did make time to fill our cup artistically.

Brian Hersh, CEO, Arts Alliance of Sarasota County

This summer, my son and I chased the World Cup up and down the East Coast – an experience of a lifetime we will both always cherish. We caught Brazil vs. Scotland in Miami, where the crowd sang and danced through the entire match, then headed up to NYC to see France vs. Sweden (technically in New Jersey). Watching Olise and Mbappé (France) play was some of the most beautiful football I've ever seen in person. Every time my son shouted "Allez les Bleus!" to a fan in French colors, he got an emphatic "Allez!" right back. Strangers, instantly connected. Between matches, we ate our way through Manhattan, caught the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra at the Village Vanguard, and toured the kitchen at Gramercy Tavern after relishing their tasting menu.

What struck me most was how much it echoed the arts work I do every day. These shared experiences are something that unifies us, and amplifies the human spirit. Whether it was on a stage or on the pitch, the performances were beautiful and inspiring, and, in this instance, sports provided the same awe and wonder I find in the arts. I came home reminded why I do what I do, and already plotting how to get back for World Cup 2030 in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. 

Richard Hopkins, Executive Producer, Florida Studio Theatre

I look forward to vacation the same way I looked forward to summer vacation as a child. It’s a time of freedom, a chance to do what I want. In my case, that means assuming the attitude of a James Joyce character and letting my thoughts and spirit wander wherever they choose. It’s a chance to free the spirit within.

This year Rebecca  [FST’s Executive Director, Rebecca Hopkins] and I are in Europe.  First, a week in London, where we managed to see nine shows in five days. Nobody does theater better than the English. They’ve perfected it. Call it a busman’s holiday, but we both love going to the theater. This trip gave us some wonderful experiences, from “Paddington the Bear,” a delightful musical that brings out the child in all of us, to “The Truth,” a laugh-out-loud French comedy that lowers every standard of morality, elevates lying to an art form, and somehow leaves us feeling perfectly comfortable living in a world of fake news, fake politics, and fake wars. Theater is a good cleanser. It reminds us that fake everything has probably been with us from the beginning.

From there we traveled on to Amsterdam to board a river cruise that would take us through Germany to Vienna and finally ending in Budapest. It has been a dream of both of ours to visit these great cities.

Even on vacation, we can’t escape reality. In truth, we don’t want to. Travel has a way of putting my world into context, into the larger human story. So the question remains: What will we do with this one small life to make the world a little better for all of us? That is why I’m in the theater. To give what I can. To help make the world a better place. And along the way, I’ll keep looking for the comedy in it all.

Joan Sussman, Executive Director, La Musica

I planned a busman’s holiday meeting friends from the West Coast in Santa Fe.  We purchased tickets to “Madame Butterfly” and “Eugene Onegin.” “Butterfly” began and when the chorus entered wearing face masks I had second thoughts about the performance. Within 10 minutes the General Manager halted the performance due to smokey conditions from the Frijoles fire in the canyon. Two days later our “Onegin” performance was cancelled. 

What’s a girl to do in those circumstances but eat marvelous Southwestern food and shop! We did go to Los Alamos, which is an hour outside Santa Fe and offers a very controversial part of our national history.

Virginia Shearer, Executive Director, Sarasota Museum of Art

My family and I had a truly magical summer, one that began with a quick trip to San Francisco to visit dear friends. No visit to SF is complete without a stop at The Exploratorium, the incredible museum of science, technology, and art founded by pioneering physicist and educator Frank Oppenheimer in 1969. The Exploratorium takes play seriously. It's my kind of place.

Next stop: downtown Seattle for breakfast at Ludi's Restaurant, where we had an incredible Filipino breakfast and a big hug from the owner, Greg Rosas, aka the downtown grandpa. That evening we set sail for a weeklong cruise to Alaska, a dream vacation that had long been on my bucket list.

My father has lived in the Puget Sound, overlooking the cruise ship route, for years. As our ship passed through with the sun setting over Skunk Bay, he lit up his house and flashed his lights on and off so I could spot his windows from the water. He even tracked us on radar for the entire trip, turning it into a fun ride-along for both of us.

A wonderful naturalist led special programs throughout the tour, sharing tips for spotting bald eagles, whales, and other sea creatures. We got lucky more than once, especially when we spotted a family of Dall's porpoises weaving in and out of our wake. Dall's porpoises are the largest porpoise species and the fastest swimmers in the marine world.

Alaska was breathtaking: floating blue ice formations, dramatic waterfalls, green stretching as far as the eye could see. Our visit to the glacial fjords south of Juneau culminated in an ice calving, a dramatic reminder that nothing stays the same forever.

Giancarlo Guerrero, Music Director, Sarasota Orchestra

One of my favorite summer moments had to be throwing out the first pitch at a Chicago Cubs game in June. I also had the incredible opportunity to perform Mozart’s Requiem and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Grant Park Music Festival Orchestra in Chicago, where I serve as artistic director and principal conductor. Another highlight was traveling to Mexico City to conduct the Sinfónica de Minería, followed by a few relaxing days in Cancún with my wife Shirley.

Jean Evans, Deputy Director, The Ringling Museum

Here I am standing before The Annunciation by Fra Angelico in Florence. The fresco, painted for the Convent of San Marco, greets visitors at the top of the grand staircase leading to the dormitories. I've returned to see this work whenever I've had the chance since first encountering it on a study-abroad program many years ago. This visit offered something new as well. The convent was hosting a special exhibition of works by Mark Rothko, and it was remarkable to see how Rothko's luminous fields of color held their own conversation across centuries with Fra Angelico's radiant fresco.

Along with revisiting favorite places, my family and I made new memories, including a hike to the rim of Mount Vesuvius, where the sweeping views were unforgettable. My agenda for this vacation was the same as usual; enjoy every day with my kids, have as many art encounters as possible, and then sit in cafes and enjoy as much pasta and gelato as we’re able. While the summer began with a health challenge, it ended with a hand-crank pasta maker in my kitchen. In between were countless moments of beauty, family time, and new adventures.

Jay Handelman, Co-founder and Editor, ArtsBeat

My "summer vacation" won't actually happen until the fall with a long-planned trip to Paris. But we managed three long weekend trips for weddings and memorial celebrations across the country. One of those weddings was in a small town in northeastern Tennessee, which gave us a day for our first visit to Dollywood, which seems like a calmer, less crowded version of the Orlando theme parks, and nestled in the mountains. It only made me appreciate Dolly Parton more than I already did. We also got to travel around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which I had not realized was the most visited park in the system.

And now I understand why. There were beautiful views almost everywhere you looked. We stopped for a very brief walk along the Appalachian Trail (just to say we did it), and walked to the highest point in the park, Kuwohi (once known as Clingmans Dome), which would have had a breathtaking view over the trees and into a valley if it hadn’t been so foggy (or is that smoky). I grew up traveling with my family to many of the National Parks and they have always been among my favorite destinations because you become one with nature and away from the rest of the world. Of course, leaving the park took us through the crowded streets and honky tonk vibe of Gatlinburg. Back to the real world.

Carrie Seidman, Co-founder and Editor, ArtsBeat

My only summer travel this year was my annual quick trip to Vermont to gather with my sisters and the grandchildren, who hail from as far away as London and British Columbia. Besides haying, horseback riding and jumping on the trampoline, an essential part of the gathering is our yearly trip to the Dairy Crème for the soft-serve ice cream known in Vermont as “creemees.” The requisite flavor? Maple, of course.

The rest of my free time has been spent training to return to the competition dance floor after a more than 25-year hiatus (gulp). It may not have been the smartest thing I’ve ever done, but has certainly been the most challenging.  As I write this I’m in the last weeks of working with my professional instructor/partner, Maksym Lototskyy of Dynasty Dance studios, to compete in the Pro-Am division at the United States Dance Championships in Orlando (the U.S. Nationals) in early September. Coming back to dancing, my first love, at this age and stage of my life has been simultaneously exhilarating, frustrating, fear-inducing and fulfilling. Writing fuels my head but dancing fuels my heart; I’m grateful to have been afforded one more chance to experience its magic.