WEST PALM BEACH — Elliot Bostwick Davis, CEO and director of the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach since March 2019, has resigned. “The events of the past months have impressed upon me the importance of being closer to my family and I’m looking forward to returning to Boston and beginning the next chapter of my life,” she said in a prepared statement. She declined to … [Read more...]
Arts briefs: Boca Museum reopens; Flagler back open Tuesday
The Boca Raton Museum of Art in Mizner Park reopened its doors to the public today. It was shut down March 16 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Officials stress the plan complies with guidelines from the state of Florida, Palm Beach County and city of Boca Raton, and is subject to change depending on circumstances. The museum has created an intense sanitizing program and will … [Read more...]
FAU names Studio One Theatre for arts benefactor Marleen Forkas
By Dale King Tradition has it that actors love to see their name in lights. A Boca Raton arts aficionado and longtime philanthropist has just solidified her own presence in dramaturgical nomenclature. Florida Atlantic University’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters announced earlier this month that it had received a $1.125 million gift from benefactor Marleen … [Read more...]
A tree of hope grows in my mind
Fructiferous. He said it didn’t exist. That word: Fructiferous. He was a seasoned editor, and who was I? But deep down I knew it did. Watching now the fruit-bearing tree in front of me weather a storm of bad news I, too, feel particularly fructiferous. My mind ventures out freely to catch whatever train of thought it feels like riding without abruptly being called back to … [Read more...]
Local arts organizations hopeful even as future looks bleak
By Jan Engoren When the Cannes Film Festival is canceled and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City is projected to lose $100 million after closing down because of the coronavirus, the impact on the arts and culture all over the world is significant. And Palm Beach County is no exception. While many sectors are suffering, arts organizations and cultural … [Read more...]
What we’re missing: Critics reflect on an arts-less season
The coronavirus pandemic, coming as it did in the heart of the arts season in South Florida, almost literally stopped Palm Beach ArtsPaper critics in their tracks. And it’s not just the arts events themselves that they miss. Here’s a roundup of mini-essays from some of our critics as they take a look at a season that stopped: * Camaraderie vanished, too, as theaters … [Read more...]
Kravis Center’s only CEO to retire after 30 years at top
By Dale King Judith Mitchell was hired as fundraising director for the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in 1989 when the 10.5-acre venture was simply an under-construction dream of local philanthropists intent on creating a major performance venue in downtown West Palm Beach. A bit more than 30 years later, inside the elegant showplace that now stands on … [Read more...]
Coronavirus fears shut Four Arts, Book Festival; other venues staying open
The Society of the Four Arts will close until further notice Friday, cutting short its arts and education season, and the Palm Beach Book Festival scheduled for next week has been canceled. Both are casualties of the worldwide COVID-19, or coronavirus, pandemic. “Coronavirus conference canceled in New York because of coronavirus,” read the headline in New York’s tabloid … [Read more...]
‘This will be the place to be’: Boynton shows off Town Square progress
In its centennial year, transformation is well underway in downtown Boynton Beach after a grass-roots effort to save the old Boynton Beach High School from demolition and turn it into a destination and cultural arts center called Boynton Town Square succeeded in 2018. The project is a public/private partnership between the city of Boynton Beach and E2L Real Estate Solutions … [Read more...]
40,000 stories later, The Moth is going strong – and coming to Boca fest
By Christina Wood Stories fill the pages of books, play out on movie and TV screens, and keep us coming back to social media time and time again. But nothing communicates a story quite like the voice of a person standing right in front of you. Maybe that explains the popularity of The Moth, an acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of … [Read more...]