September BrandStory: Firmo Construction

September 16, 2019

Now available for view and download, the SRQ September BrandStory highlights the place makers and innovative imprints of Firmo Construction.

Since 2003, the full-service construction management firm has spearheaded projects in underutilized areas of Sarasota County to earn those areas a greater community purpose and environmental impact. From commercial, hospitality, medical, retail and office tenant improvement, their buildings symbolize catalysts for change—structures that have opened the doors for activation and revitalization in corridors, often overlooked or neglected.

VIEW FIRMO CONSTRUCTION’S BRANDSTORY HERE

SRQ MEDIA Supports Visit Sarasota’s “Sarasota Big Pass—Plan the Ultimate Staycation”

September 9, 2019

An exciting cross-county program is underway this September that will connect you to dozens of deals courtesy of local businesses and Visit Sarasota. Introducing the Sarasota Big Pass—a one-stop-shop to take advantage of some of the region’s best promotions ranging from Buy One Get One, 25% Off and $5 off Discounts at favorite local attractions, restaurants, hotels and more. Since the Sarasota Big Pass is only available for a limited time, now is the perfect opportunity to plan a Staycation and cross a few local hot spots off from your bucket list. As the media sponsor for this local program, SRQ MEDIA has put together a list of not-to-be-missed Big Pass Deals and ways to experience a world-class vacation without traveling past the county line.

Stay

What’s better than a Staycation on one of Sarasota County’s picturesque beaches? When you book rooms at Big Pass participants like Zota Beach Resort, The Lido Beach Resort and the Inn on Siesta Key you’ll receive a 25% discount off your accommodation. No need to pack up your beach bag at the end of the day – stay oceanside for a sunset cocktail and ease into an evening at the beach.

Sip and Dine

Grab a friend and hit the town for BOGO drinks and dining at some of the area’s most popular spots. Use your Sarasota Big Pass to get a Buy One Get One drink at Evie’s Tavern in downtown Sarasota or two draft beers for the price of one at Rudolph’s Restaurant at the Sarasota Modern Hotel. Ready for dinner? Choose from an abundance of Big Pass promotions offered by local restaurants and cafes. With deals like Buy One Entrée, Get One 50% Off from Le Petit Jardin Café in Venice, 25% off your bill at Siesta Key Oyster Bar, and deals at downtown Sarasota hotspots like Bavaros Pizza, 99 Bottles, and Element, you can experience big flavors without a big hit to your wallet.

Enjoy

Take advantage of the region’s cultural offerings with special promotions from Urbanite Theater, The Ringling Museum, and Historic Spanish Point. Learn more about the Suncoast through a BOGO Discover Sarasota City Sightseeing Tour, or head out East with the family for BOGO tickets to TreeUmph! Adventure Course or a Buy One Get One child ticket to Big Cat Habitat. With shopping deals offered by local boutiques and promotions on unique experiences that range from yoga to axe throwing, the Big Pass is your ticket to some of the best attractions in the area.

All deals are available online. Physical passes are not required to redeem the deals, but a Big Pass can be downloaded from the Visit Sarasota website and can be picked up at one of the official Sarasota County Visitor Information Centers around the County:

Downtown Sarasota (inside the Greater Sarasota Chamber of Commerce)
Address: 1945 Fruitville Rd, Sarasota, FL 34236
Phone: 941-706-1253
Hours: Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Venice Center (inside the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce):
Address: 597 S Tamiami Trail, Venice, FL 34285
Phone: 941-706-1253
Hours: Monday – Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport Welcome Center (Located at Baggage Claim):
Address: 6000 Airport Circle, Sarasota, Fl 34243
Hours: accessible 24/7; staffed daily 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Visit the Sarasota Big Pass Website to learn more

SRQ MEDIA is proud to sponsor the September Big Pass in partnership with Visit Sarasota and local businesses.

Images courtesy of Visit Sarasota

In Your Mailbox: The 2019 September Trendsport Issue is Here!

September 3, 2019

2019-09-SRQSEPTCover-Web

FEATURES:

  • TRENDSPORT: SRQ editors’ trends in food, fashion and beyond for 2019.

While we may not be Parisian trendsetters dictating the runways for Fall fashion, or Wall Street masterminds predicting hot stock market investments, or even divine forecasting fans of a fantasy football league, we’d like to think we’ve got a discerning eye on what’s having a moment in the SRQ spotlight. From burgeoning jackfruit options, a proliferation of public murals, a tessellation of mosaic tiling, the contentious welcoming of CBD, advanced Cybersecurity protection, to a wild foray of animal prints and a rising uptick in drone flying—order a snifter of honeyed mead, buckle on a pair of platform wedges and slide into our Rolls-Royce rental to see where we’re headed this season.  

As a locally grown, locally owned company, SRQ Media pays tribute to our community’s visionary local businesses and the people behind them who work hard to create economic opportunities every day on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

SRQIST: Local Heart & Soul Stories About the People, Places and Experiences that Define Our Hometown

  • Bamboo Boom: Mixon Fruit Farms is up to their ears in bamboo crops in its first ever harvest.
  • Goodwill Hunting: An interview with the latest President and CEO of Goodwill Industries International Steven C. Preston.
  • Parenting Balance: An interview with award-winning author and clinical child psychologist Ross W. Greene. 

CULTURE CITY: Arts + Culture, Performing and Visual Arts, Portfolio, In Studio, Artsheet

  • The Space in Between: The Modern Works Festival at Urbanite Theatre gives emerging artists a voice.
  • Building a Brain: Moments of time converge and coalesce as sculptor Zach Gilliland maps his memories in steel.

CARGO: The Goods, Design Dossier, Retail Therapy, Antique Story, Nest, Books

  • Pineapple Parade: Doling out the crowning tropical fruit of liquid gold.
  • Scavenger Savvy: The Copper Acorn takes thrifting next level—sourcing and staging the scene for enchanting vintage affairs.
  • A Bathroom Exposé: Lock yourself in to some notably cool and unorthodox public restrooms found behind closed doors.

FORAGE: At the Table, Foodarama, Restaurants, Foodie Life

  • Pizza’s Made Man: Bavaro’s Napoletana & Pastaria brings pizza panache South of the Bay.
  • Best Kept Secret: Siam Gulf’s cover is about to be blown as the Thai hidden gem that it is.
  • Forks & Corks: Seeking shelter at The Ringling and looking at the glass half full at the 12th Annual Grand Tasting.

AGENDA: Insight on Politics, Government and Business

GIVING COAST: Stories from our Philanthropic Community

  • Funding Tech Futures: Tech has been good for Andrew and Judith Economos. Now they will give back to students in the field.

SPECIAL FLIPBOOK FEATURE:

2019-09-LivingLakewoodCover-Web

Living Lakewood: Despite being the region’s homebuilding game-changer for now roughly a quarter century, there’s still incredible growth on the horizon east of Interstate 75. In fact, Lakewood Ranch has become the most popular places to buy a home, not only in the greater Sarasota area, but the entire United States.

Get in on all the goodness and pick up a copy of this month’s edition today!

CLICK HERE to access the pages of the September 2019 SRQ digital edition.

-Team SRQ

Save the Date: RocketKids Modern Education Symposium | October 23, 2019

August 20, 2019

Join SRQ MEDIA on October 23, 2019 from 5:30-7pm to explore the options at local private and charter schools in Sarasota and Manatee Counties. Hear from representatives from: The Out-Of-Door Academy, NewGate School, St. Martha Catholic School, Sarasota Christian School and the Island Village Montessori School.

Free admission. Light bites and refreshments. RSVP online at SRQMAG.COM/MOED.

Do you know a Local Hero?

August 12, 2019

Do you know someone who’s making a real difference? Someone whose passion for giving back to a local nonprofit has had a positive impact on our community? Nominate them for the SRQ Good Hero Award. It could be an engaged staff member, volunteer, board member or donor patron who went above and beyond this past year to make our region a better place. Click here to share your story of caring.

Good Hero finalists and winners will be announced at the SB2 Philanthropic Agenda and Awards Luncheon on Monday, December 9, 2019.

Call for Entries: 4WALLS Design Competition

August 8, 2019

Are you an architect, interior designer, contractor, builder, or developer? Submit a recent project to the 4WALLS Design Competition. We’re looking for the best multi-unit projects designed as public or private spaces.The competition is open to multi-family, commercial or mixed use buildings, new home communities and public spaces. Your project does not have to be fully realized, but must have complete renderings to be considered.

The 4WALLS winners will be announced in the December 2019 edition of SRQ Magazine. Learn more and submit your entry HERE

SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy Symposium Wrap Up

July 29, 2019

SRQ MEDIA hosted the SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota on Thursday, July 25, 2019. The SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy luncheon and panel discussion explored new practices that are changing the face of the nonprofit world through innovative approaches, strategic mission development and groundbreaking initiatives that strengthen impact. 

Above: Debbie Devito, Director of Sales and Marketing, Hyatt Regency Sarasota, Series Host Sponsor.

Above: Heidi Brown, CEO and President of Season Sponsor JFCS.

Above: Event Sponsor, CoolToday Video Presentation

SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy began with a welcome from SB2 Series Sponsors Debbie Devito of the Hyatt Regency Sarasota and Heidi Brown, President and CEO of JFCS of the Suncoast as well as an opening video courtesy of SB2 Event Sponsor, Cool Today. 

SRQ MEDIA was pleased to introduce the SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy panel: David Moore, Founder and President of Moore Strategic Consulting; Sabeen Perwaiz, Executive Director of the Florida Nonprofit Alliance and Lilly Weinberg, Program Director of Community and National Initiatives for the Knight Foundation. 

Moderated by SRQ MEDIA Executive Publisher and Vice-President, Wes Roberts, the SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy panel explored how nonprofits can maximize their capacity to realize their mission. David Moore voiced concern that nonprofits often underinvest in themselves. “This sector is under-resourced,” David Moore explained, “The folks who are doing the most for us are actually paying themselves the least, and it’s actually a really serious capacity problem.”

“We forget that nonprofits are also businesses in the sense that they have overhead expenses,” noted Sabeen Perwaiz. The panel explained that overhead is always determined by each nonprofit’s unique budget and the typical percentage allotted for operational overhead ranges between 10 and 20% of an organization’s overall budget.


The group also discussed strategies for creating an effective and diverse board of directors. The panel suggested that nonprofits search for board members who can bring different skill sets to an organization. Lilly Weinberg stressed the importance of choosing the right board members. “You must be extra intentional about who you invite to your board,” said Weinberg. “A good measure of board diversity is: Does my board look like my own community.” Dave Moore added, “Board members must always be in love with your organization.”

As the conversation continued, the SB2 panelists addressed how to catalyze donor engagement in an evolving market and also discussed regional challenges faced by nonprofits in the Sarasota-Bradenton area.

David Moore urged that, “The role of the donor is not just to give money. They should bring capacity, knowledge and energy to an organization.” Engagement with donors and building trust is key. Perwaiz, Weinberg and Moore also emphasized the importance of building community relationships, collaboration, and advocacy.

“As an advocacy based organization, it’s baffling to me how reluctant and resistant nonprofits are to advocate, which is absolutely their right on issues that are important to the work that they’re doing,” said Perwaiz. “They are the experts in their local communities and they don’t leverage that voice enough.” 

SRQ MEDIA extends to thanks the SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy panel for the constructive, thoughtful conversation.

Thank you to the SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy event sponsor CoolToday and to the 2019-2020 SB2 Series sponsors: Merrill Lynch Mariash Lowther Wealth Management, JFCS of the Suncoast, The Hyatt Regency Sarasota and PSAV for their support for this community program.

Photos from SB2: Transformation in Philanthropy can be viewed on CLICKSRQ.

The next SB2 Program, SB2: Philanthropic Agenda, which will include a panel discussion led by community leaders in the nonprofit sectors followed by a presentation of the 2019 Good Hero Philanthropic Awards will take place on Monday, December 9, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. For more information visit SRQSB2.com.