Sarasota City Commission appoints panel to consider alternative plans for Van Wezel hall

As development and planning for a new performing arts center on the Sarasota Bayfront moves forward, the Sarasota City Commission has selected seven people to serve on a long-discussed panel that will help determine potential future uses for the existing Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall once it no longer operates as the main home for touring concerts, comedians and Broadway shows.

The city, which owns the Van Wezel and will also own the new facility, has an agreement with the Sarasota Performing Arts Center Foundation to split the estimated $300 million cost of building a new 2,250-seat hall, with a smaller secondary performance space, education facilities, rehearsal rooms and offices.

The building is intended to be the dominant feature in the new Bay Park Conservancy that is being built in stages in and around the parking lot for the Van Wezel.

There have been heated community debates about the need for a new performing arts hall and whether the 1,700-seat Van Wezel, which opened in 1970, could continue to serve the community’s needs. Proponents for a new facility say a hall needs more seats to attract top Broadway touring productions. They say the Van Wezel itself is prone to damage from sea level rise and requires costly improvements, among other issues.

Supporters of the Van Wezel say any building issues can be addressed more cheaply through renovations than what it would take to build a new facility, and that the Van Wezel is capable of continuing to serve the community for years to come. And the hall has booked the biggest Broadway musical on the road, “Hamilton” for next season.

The Sarasota Orchestra, a major local tenant of the Van Wezel for its Masterworks concerts, has announced plans to build its own music center outside the city limits on land just west of Interstate 75.

A separate panel recently selected the renowned international design firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop as the lead architect for the new performing arts center. The firm has previously designed the Whitney Museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Sarasota appoints "purple ribbon" panel

Over the last few months, the city advertised for volunteers to serve on what is referred to as a “purple ribbon” committee to determine the future for the hall with its distinctive purple color, assuming it will not be used for the kind of performances for which it is known. It requested volunteers with expertise in five specific categories: architecture and the design of performing arts centers; historical preservation; structural engineering; the performing arts; and climate adaptation and experience with FEMA floodplain. Two other members would represent the citizens of Sarasota.

Lee-en Chung, the first woman in Florida to be licensed as both a Certified General Contractor and a Registered Professional Engineer, was the only applicant in the civil structural engineering category. Morris (Marty) Hylton III, the president of Architecture Sarasota, was appointed in the historical preservation category. David Rovine, a consultant who works on special events, live concerts and other performing arts ventures, was chosen for the performing arts category.

Robert Bunting, CEO of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Center, was selected for the climate adaptation and experience with FEMA, and Charles Cosler was approved in the architecture category. Melissa Gissinger and Selma Goker Wilson, who each applied in two categories, were selected as citizen members representing city residents.

“Gosh, this was so hard,” said Commissioner Jennifer Ahearn-Koch. “Everybody I talked to and interviewed, I would take notes and say, 'yes.' I had 19 great candidates.”

City Manager Marlon Brown said he would work with city staff to “make sure that everyone is open minded” to the potential future uses of the Van Wezel.

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There is no set time frame for how long the panel will have to make decisions or recommendations.

Potential to 'double down' on culture

When the city approved its initial agreement with the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation in 2022, there was an understanding that the Van Wezel would not compete with the new venue. But the Foundation has been expressing a different tone in recent months.

“We wouldn’t want two performing arts centers competing for programming and audiences,” said Jim Travers, the Foundation chairman who is also serving as its interim director, said in a recent interview. “We wanted to protect the Foundation, which will be responsible for operating the new performing arts center.”

Travers, who promised commissioners in April that the Foundation will do a better job of communicating its message to the public, said the Foundation wants to be flexible in alternatives for the Van Wezel.

“We’re very much behind the committee to look at alternative purposes, as long as it wasn’t presenting and competing of Broadway and other things,” he said. It is possible that performing arts programs, possibly by smaller local organizations, could be part of the future of the Van Wezel.

The Foundation is searching for a new executive director to replace Cheryl Mendelson, who resigned earlier this year.

Nanci Weaver, a Foundation board member and chair of its arts education and community engagement committee, said the organization has always thought of the project as one big campus.

“I was hoping, truthfully, for Lincoln Center South, and that we can connect this beautiful park and the buildings that are already culturally vested, like the Van Wezel, Holly Hall, the Art Center, with a new and improved performing arts facility,” she said. “We could double down on the culture we’re delivering to the community.”

Weaver said she would like to see the Van Wezel become “an arts facility that is complementary to what we’re building.” She mentioned the possibility of smaller performing arts groups using the building for its own programs, arts education, music, arts libraries and rehearsal spaces.”

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Future of Van Wezel in hands of new Sarasota-appointed panel