Cathy Carter

The Sarasota Concert Association was launched in 1938 with a mission to bring affordable world-class musicians to Sarasota. 

This year, the long-running cultural group is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

A proposed fish farm in federal waters is nearing its next regulatory hurdle. On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will host a public hearing on the proposal at Mote Marine Lab and Aquarium in Sarasota. 

According to the Florida Department of Education, nearly 87% of Florida teenagers earned a high school diploma last year, an increase of close to 1% over the previous school year.

Hillsborough County, the state’s third largest school district saw a slight graduation rate increase of 0.4%. The region’s largest bump was in Pinellas County which climbed by 2.5% to a total graduation rate of more than 88%.

Seattle and Sarasota have at least one thing in common: each are just one of eight cities to host the largest public photography exhibition in North America.

'The FENCE" presents a series of large-scale images printed on vinyl mesh and displayed on an 800-foot fence beside the lake at Nathan Benderson Park. The traveling show is back in Sarasota for its second year.

This week on Florida Matters, we share some of our favorite discussions about plants, animals and environmental challenges facing our state.

Guide and service dogs help people with disabilities and stress disorders better navigate life's challenges.

A new program at Southeastern Guide Dogs is educating the community on what it’s like to go through life with vision loss and PTSD. The Manatee County nonprofit hopes the show will help people better understand their mission.

Sarasota is home to several museums. But until now the city didn't have one dedicated exclusively to contemporary art. On Saturday, the public can visit the region’s first institution focused on the ‘art of our time’ with the opening of The Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College at the site of the original Sarasota High School.

Sarasota is home to a longtime theater troupe that features African American actors and the work of black playwrights.

On Monday, Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe kicks off its 20th anniversary season with a celebration at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota. The show will feature songs from WBTT’s most memorable musicals, including original compositions, Broadway tunes and Motown hits. 

A career retrospective from one of the founding cartoonists of MAD magazine has come to Sarasota. The Ringling College of Art & Design exhibition is a showcase of American pop culture told in ink, marker, colored pencils and watercolor.

In military language, a Stand Down is period of time when combat troops can rest.

But for the homeless veterans community, Stand Down events are an opportunity to receive creature comforts and critical social services.

Beekeeper Matt Davis has to walk something of a labyrinth to get to the rooftop apiary at The Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. First he climbs a set of stairs, passes a gallery of boldly colored canvases, and then walks down a series of hallways.

In the addiction recovery pod at the Sarasota County Jail, large windows flood the detention unit with sunlight. Two stories of jail cells frame an open area where men in orange jumpsuits sit at tables to chat or play a game of chess.

Soon, inmates like John will gather for one of the pod's four daily meetings focused on sober living.

In the middle of the lake at Nathan Benderson Park, a 42- foot long pink canoe rocks lightly in the wake of a passing boat.  Inside, 20 women sit two by two on narrow benches. Each holds a single paddle just above the water's surface.

Helping homeless people get back on their feet is the goal of a new specialized court in Sarasota.

Known as ‘Community Care Court,’ the cases are limited to homeless people charged with non-violent misdemeanors, such as trespassing or possessing an open container of alcohol.

The court does not sentence the defendants, but instead recommends resources for rehabilitation and sometimes requires them to check back in on their progress over the course of several hearings.

At the Bishop Animal Shelter in Bradenton, new arrivals like Petey and Joan of Arc wag their tails and enthusiastically greet visitors and potential new family members.

The dogs are among the dozens of animals from a shelter in Martin County that have been transported across the state to one in Manatee County.

A different kind of battle raged in Sarasota recently.

The participants came to the Art Ovation Hotel armed with palette knives, brushes, and tubes of paint.

Public schools are known for helping children who don’t speak English as a native language. But there isn't as much focus on "English Language Learner" education for adults with a similar language barrier.

Everyday situations like filling out a job application, reading street signs or going to the doctor can be daunting for someone born in a non-English speaking country.

On a perfectly manicured practice field at the new Atlanta Braves spring training facility in North Port, dozens of girls from across the country are lined up for batting practice.

They are here for a girls baseball camp, and are being coached by members of the gold medal winning U.S Women’s Baseball World Cup team, players from Canada’s national team, and alumni from the World War II era, All American Girl's Professional Baseball League, which inspired the movie, "A League of their Own." 

When the state released school grades recently, 20 in Manatee County received an A, and for one school in Palmetto, that score signified a jump of three full grades.