Business Features
Long-Awaited Collaboration between the Florida Theatre and Theatre Jacksonville Culminates in Mame:
The Broadway Musical ~ In Concert! August 24 and 25 By Laura Jane Pittman It’s about time! A staged concert of the 1960s Broadway classic Mame—which originally starred Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur—is coming to the Florida Theatre this month in a first-ever collaboration between two of the oldest venues in the region. The chief executive officers of the Florida Theatre and Theatre Jacksonville first began kicking around the possibility more than a decade ago, shortly after Florida Theatre president Numa Saisselin had moved...
read moreThe Essential Role of Parks to Jacksonville’s Well-being
Parks are more than just green spaces in a city—they are crucial components of a healthy, vibrant community. For the Blue Zones Project Jacksonville, parks play a central role in promoting well-being and longevity. Ninety percent of Americans spend most of their lives within a 20-mile radius of their home, this is known as the Life Radius model. When parks exist within that radius, communities can have access to more spaces to make healthy choices easier. Parks are integral to this mission of longevity. Promoting Physical Activity One of the...
read moreJust Face It
Bu Chris Flagg It was the early days of the pandemic, back in 2020, when professionals the world over were confronted with the stark reality of working from home for the foreseeable future. In my home office, away from the defined parameters of a regulated schedule, my workdays had become long and borderless. The soft edges between day and night contrasted with my sharp, relentless focus on a computer screen from early morning well into the evening. Fielding a carousel of virtual conference calls to stay in touch with my team began to wear on...
read moreSarah Crooks: A Circular Way of Being in the World
By Hope McMath Photos by Toni Smailagic Sarah Crooks is one of our region’s most enduring and endearing creatives, combining her experiences as a maker, healer, educator, and environmentalist. She is a multidisciplinary, ecofeminist artist. “An ecofeminist is someone who supports all of life,” Crooks explains. “It’s really breaking down hierarchies and looking at a circular way of being in the world. That expresses itself through my work and in the materials I choose, the way that I live.” Her latest creations combine with long-evolving...
read moreFrank Stella Jacksonville Stacked Stars
Frank Stella has produced an extraordinary body of work over the past six decades and continues to explore the expressive possibilities of visual space. “Jacksonville Stacked Stars” is a brand-new work of art created by Stella for the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Jacksonville’s Project Atrium and is a beautiful response to the museum’s 100th anniversary year. Throughout his career, Stella has returned to the star as motif, exploring its form, both abstract and figurative, in multiple variations of two-dimensional, free-standing, and...
read moreA River Runs Through It(Part 1)
For anyone traveling over the bridges of the St. Johns River in Jacksonville, it can sometimes feel like we are separate from the river that weaves its way through the city. A 2021 Public Space survey found that only 19 percent of Jaxsons go to the riverfront often to enjoy greenspace and the outdoors. Limited areas for residents to access the riverfront or interact with nature have restricted opportunities for the city to have the bustling waterfront vibe that so many other metro areas offer. Since 2014, Jacksonville has enjoyed some of the...
read moreFord Motor Company assembly plant
Jacksonville, Florida was honored for nearly a hundred years to be home to one of industrial architect Albert Kahn’s “automotive cathedrals” before it was demolished in June 2023 by its owner, Amkin Hill Street, LLC, just one year before the building would have reached its century mark in 2024. The Jacksonville Ford Motor Company Assembly Plant, on the bank of the St. Johns River just north of the Mathews Bridge, was constructed over a three-year period from January 1924 to November 1926, faithful to Kahn’s trademark “daylight factory” design...
read moreARCHITECTURAL DESIGN & BUILD PROJECTS 2024
Since architecture and design are both an art and a business, this annual issue feels like a seamless fit. Arbus takes great pride in serving as the platform for so many of the region’s best architects, designers, and builders to promote their work. Take a look and discover this year’s most exciting changes to our built environment. Be inspired.
read moreJoe Segal Juxtapositions of Hope
By Caitlin Flynn Joe Segal’s sculptures exist in a juxtaposed world calling the viewer to ruminate and reflect. At first glance, the sculptures appear simple, but then you see the laborious process infused; raw wood and polished metal. Simple in shape yet complex in detail. Rough nature and streamlined development. Some acting as reliefs, others standing on their own—they are defiant and reflective; simple and complex. Perhaps it is the contrasts that pull you in. You will find yourself standing before them, lost in thought, and a lot...
read moreWhen Hope Presses Into Generational Wrongs
By Sheri Leonard Webber Hope McMath has been active with “Take ‘Em Down Jax” since 2017, but it was two years into those efforts when she came to a critical point of connection. It was her second visit to the sites. “In 2019, I went with a group from 904WARD to Montgomery, Alabama, and the Equal Justice Initiative sites,” says McMath. She describes the museum, memorial, and sites as powerful—tracing threads of connection from the era of enslavement in this country through the Jim Crow era and lynching and into the present...
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