Let the Van Wezel play a part in Sarasota's future

“The play’s the thing. Wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king,” mused Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

When it comes to parks and arts, recreation and nature, people and places, community and communities, the play is definitely the thing that unites our beautiful, diverse and unique city by Sarasota Bay.

If all the world is a stage and we are all just players, then Sarasota’s front curtain is about to unfurl with the long-awaited grand opening of Phase One of The Bay's transformation from parking lot to the green/blue oasis this community has yearned to have. 

I can’t wait to see kids enjoying the amazing Ibis-themed playground, and I can't wait to see people taking a stroll in the park or a paddle on the Bay. After years of pandemic-enforced social distancing, it is wonderful that we will soon witness the transformation of pavement to parkland.

The Sarasota City Commission recently approved the exploration of a $48 million bond against future earmarked taxes for The Bay project's Phase Two. What exactly is in the Phase Two plan? That remains unclear – it does not, for example, include the expected tiered parking garage that would allow the asphalt expanse to become greenspace.

Meanwhile, in March, through a split vote that was reached without any financial or market analyses – and without due diligence as to need, funding or community will – the city commission approved a preliminary agreement with the Van Wezel Foundation to replace the iconic Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, a facility that embodies Sarasota’s arts and architecture identity.

This rushed decision was in reaction to the Sarasota Orchestra’s announcement that it had purchased the cow pasture on Fruitville near Interstate 75 to build the large music hall it had once proposed for Payne Park. This venue will vie for touring acts and serve as the permanent home of the now-regional orchestra.

In any logical world, the Sarasota Orchestra's decision would have ended discussions about putting a replacement for the Van Wezel on the bayfront, if only to avoid hurting our own orchestra's fundraising and booking efforts.

We already compete with Tampa’s Straz Center, which is the largest performing arts hall in the Southeast United States. The truth is that no matter how large a variety performance hall we build, we will never outdo Tampa in attracting first-run shows like “Hamilton."

That's why there is no reason to discard our existing Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, which has a unique shell-shaped, organic form designed by the same structural architect behind The Guggenheim and the Fallingwater house. It is possible that this structural design enabled the Van Wezel to weather Hurricane Ian while the Venice Theater was destroyed by it.

The Van Wezel’s architect, William Wesley Peters, was Frank Lloyd Wright’s son-in-law and longtime associate at Taliesin – and Wright’s widow picked the distinctive purple color that is a landmark of Sarasota's organic architecture.

If our community leaders would listen to the residents of Sarasota – and play in concert with them – we would scrap the misguided idea of replacing the Van Wezel. And we would leverage the clear generosity of the performing arts philanthropists at the Van Wezel Foundation to:

• Shore up the Van Wezel against sea level rise.

• Raise funds to replace the Venice Theater.

• Retrofit either the Art Deco municipal auditorium at the Bayfront or the Sarasota School auditorium in Payne Park for The Players Centre and other local performing arts groups.

The community that plays together, stays together. Let’s play, Sarasota!

Kelly Franklin is a local public parks advocate.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Let the Van Wezel play a starring role in Sarasota's future