Business Features
Ritz Chamber Players
Celebrate 25 Years of Expanding the Stage A landmark Silver Jubilee Season honors the extraordinary journey of a Jacksonville-born ensemble while opening the door to its next quarter-century. Twenty-five years ago, the Ritz Chamber Players (RCP) opened a door that classical music had kept too narrow for too long. Through it came extraordinary Black musicians, overlooked masterworks, new music, and audiences invited to hear the classical tradition with fresh ears. What began in Jacksonville as a bold vision has grown into an ensemble of...
read moreIgniting Downtown Through Public Art
The Story Behind Frank Stella’s Jacksonville Stacked Stars Written by Amber Sesnick, Director of Communications, Arts UNF & MOCA Jacksonville If you have explored downtown Jacksonville this summer, you may have been stopped in your tracks by a monumental new work of public art in the heart of the city. Standing at nearly three stories tall, “Jacksonville Stacked Stars,” created by Frank Stella and installed just outside of the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville, is the culmination of the museum’s 100th anniversary...
read moreJacksonville’s Museum Jacksonville’s Moment
By Amy Pierce, Chief Development Officer, Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens Jacksonville is growing quickly. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 population estimates, the city has crossed the one-million-resident threshold. It is an exciting milestone, and it offers an important opportunity to think not only about how much we are growing, but about the creativity, connection, and sense of belonging that will shape the kind of city we become. That vision will not be defined by development projects or economic rankings alone. It will be...
read moreThe Conversation: Allison DeFoor
President/CEO North Florida Land Trust If North Florida’s natural lands disappeared tomorrow, what would people notice first and what would they lose that they might not expect? The first thing people would notice is water. North Florida’s forests, wetlands, and marshes filter and protect the water we drink every day. Without them, you would see declines in water quality and quantity almost immediately. What people might not expect to lose is something like shrimp and grits. Our fisheries, estuaries, marshes, and working...
read morePublisher’s Note
Nature conservation is the ethical/moral philosophy and conservation movement focused on protecting species from extinction, maintaining and restoring habitats, enhancing ecosystem services, and protecting biological diversity. Florida is fortunate to have many reputable conservation organizations and areas tendered through careful maintenance and upkeep of natural resources to prevent them from disappearing for everything from wildlife to land management. Audubon Florida Summer is nesting season for beach-nesting sea and shorebirds....
read moreA Reimagined Jacoby Symphony Hall
By Steven Libman The 2026/27 season of the Jacksonville Symphony will introduce new sounds, new faces, and a refreshed experience for our audiences. As I write this, Jacoby Symphony Hall is undergoing a significant transformation, with larger, more comfortable seating, new carpet, enhanced acoustic elements, and new speakers—all set to debut in time for the upcoming season. This project has been in development for more than two years in collaboration with Stages Consultants, a New Jersey-based firm specializing in the planning, design, and...
read moreJax Rising From Ashes to Ambition: The Unfolding of an Architectural Renaissance
By Sheri Webber In Jacksonville, architecture has always told a story of resilience. From the devastation of the Great Fire of 1901 to the steady momentum of today’s redevelopment surge, the city has repeatedly reimagined itself through the built environment. Now, as cranes punctuate the skyline and long-envisioned projects rise along the St. Johns River and throughout the city, Jacksonville appears to be entering another defining chapter—one shaped not by crisis, but by intention. “This really started in 2012 and 2013, for JWB, with...
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The Haydon Burns Now The Jessie: Rebirth of a Welcoming Community Space
By Wayne W. Wood A century from now, when architectural historians come to visit Jacksonville, one of the four most important buildings they will want to see is the former Haydon Burns Library, aka The Jessie. (The other three would almost surely be the St. James Building, Gulf Life tower, and Chart House.) The fact that the old library building still exists is a miracle in itself. Like many of the buildings in downtown Jacksonville, it is interwoven with the story of destruction and rebirth. On May 3, 1901, 90 percent of...
read moreThe Great Fire of 1901 Jacksonville’s Day of Destiny
By Wayne W. Wood Most people in Jacksonville have heard about the Great Fire of 1901, but few know the story of how it all started. It began on Friday, May 3, 1901. Not much was happening in Florida’s largest city, population 28,000. The weather report had not changed for weeks—hot and dry. In the LaVilla suburb west of town, workers at the Cleaveland Fiber Factory were taking a break for the noonday meal. Located diagonally across from where the Ritz Theatre is today on Davis Street, this large factory had a 200-foot-long elevated...
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