Business Features
Jacksonville Children’s Chorus
Filling the Heart of Our City with Song By Susan D. Brandenburg Just as he passionately directs each member of the Jacksonville Children’s Chorus (JCC) with care and concern, President and Artistic Director Darren Dailey has been intimately instrumental in helping to design the chorus’s spectacular new downtown headquarters. “This wonderful space would not have been possible without the support of VyStar Credit Union and our generous donors,” says Dailey, as he conducts a tour of the new headquarters, designed by Dasher Hurst...
read moreLightner Museum
An Iconic St. Augustine Museum Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary By David Bagnall, Executive Director of The Lightner Museum This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Lightner Museum and the 135th anniversary of the museum’s historic St. Augustine building. Located in the heart of downtown St. Augustine, the Lightner has been an important part of the community since it was first built as the Hotel Alcazar in 1888. Founded by Chicago publisher Otto C. Lightner (1886-1950), the Lightner Museum offers an immersive...
read moreBlue Zones Project®
Health and well-being on the First Coast can be difficult to achieve for some Jacksonville communities but, thanks to an innovative partnership of influential public and private organizations, the needle may soon move forward to improve community well-being, resilience, and economic vitality in Duval County, beginning with Westside, Northside, and East Jacksonville neighborhoods. A coalition of community leaders, including Baptist Health, Brooks Rehabilitation, the City of Jacksonville, Community First Credit Union, Florida Blue, Jacksonville...
read moreTransitory Permanence:
What does it mean to belong to the land? And what happens when your notion of home is a perpetual journey to the new unknown? There are exoduses of displaced people happening all around the world today. Millions are leaving their home countries, some looking to escape and some simply yearning for a dream. The purpose of this exhibition is to show the human behind the statistics and to acknowledge the path of the displaced toward a new culture as a surreal and uncanny permanence. I explore the journey of the displaced from...
read moreHistory + Art + Innovation = Dennis + Ives
By Sheri Leonard Webber In the shadow of I-95’s Arch Bridge, beyond the historic Myrtle Avenue tunnel, and amid the grumble of passing trains, you will discover the up-and-coming Rail Yard District, one of Jacksonville’s most unique historic communities. A relic of the Jacksonville Terminal Company has now become a hotbed for start-ups, adaptive reuse, and inventive development. At the gateway of the Rail Yard District, stands an ode to renovation and design: Dennis + Ives. The former cold storage warehouse has been reimagined as a...
read moreSHOP LOCAL GIFT GUIDE
Shopping for gifts during this holiday season will likely feel more normal this year as retail is back in full swing. It remains crucial to our beloved, independent, local businesses that we give them support as they continue to rebound from the pandemic. In thinking of things to make your dearest people smile, let’s try to shop our values and make our community smile, too. Each year, Arbus Magazine presents our Shop Local Gift Guide so that you can see what locally owned businesses are offering and be inspired to enjoy gift shopping. Many...
read moreHistoric Holiday Shopping.
A look at downtown Jacksonville’s iconic department stores. By Kate A. Hallock and Emily Cottrell. Jacksonville Historical Society Five years after the Civil War in America ended, December 25th was declared a national holiday and, by the late-19th century, the marketing of goods specifically for that holiday was in force. The holiday was celebrated with Christmas cards, stockings filled with nuts, fruit, and candies and handmade wooden toys or knitted dolls. In the early-20th century holiday gift-giving included factory-made toys and...
read moreThe Future is Here
Borowy Family Children’s Critical Care Tower By Meredith T. Matthews Photography by Michael LeGrand and Chad Baumer “The future is here.” This was the statement by Michael D. Aubin, president of Wolfson Children’s Hospital and chief philanthropy officer of the Baptist Health Foundation, when, after years of anticipation, the new Borowy Family Children’s Critical Care Tower officially opened in April 2022. The Borowy Tower serves two main functions for Wolfson Children’s Hospital and Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville—the building houses...
read moreWhat Lifts You Up?
Art With a Heart in Healthcare’s annual patient exhibition: Thru Jan. 8, 2023 My Meredith Mathews Quinalia Williams, 12 “Never Give Up” What helps you feel happy when you are having a bad day or going through a difficult time? In other words, “What Lifts You Up?” This is the question Art with a Heart in Healthcare (AWAHIH) presented to 16 Wolfson Children’s Hospital pediatric patients. Under the guidance of AWAHIH artists-in-residence, the participating patients created artwork conveying what brings them joy. Each work of art...
read moreShe Dared to Dream
Crumbling scrapbook pages yield historical insights. By Kate A. Hallock Jacksonville Historical Society During the first semester of the 1963-64 school year Jean Pope (also known as Mrs. Edgar Pope), first grade teacher at Central Riverside Elementary School, approached fellow members of the Garden Club of Jacksonville with a challenge. Would the club take on the project of designing a garden specifically as a learning tool for the blind and visually impaired students at the school? Chairman of the Garden Club’s HANDS Beautification Committee...
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