Highlights include:
Key West to Celebrate Tennessee Williams, March
In Key West, fans of
theatrical drama can celebrate the life and work of Tennessee Williams, award-winning playwright of
“A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” among other works,
throughout March on the island he called home for more than three decades.
Festivities include a
fundraising garden party on 5 March, at the Key West home of Dennis Beaver and
Bert Whitt, founders of the exhibit that became the Tennessee Williams Museum.
Guests can get exclusive tours of the facility on 10 and 24 March. Museum exhibits include
personal photographs, rare memorabilia, a scale model of Williams’ Key West
home and other items that chronicle his years on the island. The celebration
concludes with a ‘birthday party’ on 26 March — the 112th anniversary of
Williams’ birth — at the Tennessee Williams Museum.
Mural Commemorates Florida Keys’ Bicentennial, February
through April
The eclectic and talented Florida Keys arts community comes
together each year through the Connections Project to form one large
mural made from hundreds of individual paintings by Keys artists. In 2023, the
Florida Keys Council of the Arts has announced a special edition entitled
“Connections Project: Celebrating Our Unique History” honouring the
bicentennial of the Florida Keys.
Artists have been tasked with the theme of “Pirates to
Pineapples in Paradise – 200 Years in Monroe County.” Their individual canvases
will be pieced together to form one 24-foot-long mural. Once the mosaic mural
is assembled, it will embark on a ‘road show’ tour of galleries and other
venues around the island chain. The special historic edition mural will be on
display at venues that include Marathon’s Royal Furniture Showroom beginning 2
March, Big Pine Key’s Artists in Paradise Gallery beginning 24 March and Key
West’s historic Gato Building beginning 20 April.
Divers Help Keys Coral Restoration, Earth Day, April
Visiting divers in the Florida Keys
can join marine scientists during hands-on coral restoration dive trips,
enabling them to play a role in protecting coral reefs for future generations. Captain
Hook’s on Big Pine Key is teaming up with Reef Renewal USA on a
three-day immersive citizen science initiative leading up to Earth Day in April
that enables divers to actively aid in reef restoration.
The programme begins with a two-day Coral Fragging Party set
for 20 and 21 April to study and participate in fragmenting corals into small
pieces for widespread propagation. Then divers suit up on Earth Day, 22 April,
for a Coral Nursery Dive to work on ‘coral tree’ development and planting.
After exploring landside exhibits and nurseries and hands-on
work to help grow and support the fragile coral reef system, visitors can
reward themselves by experiencing some of the most fascinating dives in the
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary along the Florida Keys Wreck Trek.