Program Description
Details
Clifford McDonald and Cedric Hameed present Newtown: A Beautiful Place
A Beautiful Place represents the essence and innermost aspirations of what we can collectively achieve in the space we hold... inner peace. We believe this to be the foundation of seeing the beauty in life and community!
Clifford McDonald is a local artist and Sarasota native. He graduated from Booker High School’s Visual Performing Arts program and later earned his degree in Fine Arts from the University of Maine at Presque Isle. McDonald also has experience as an arts educator, basketball coach, and youth advocate. The transformative power of the arts is undeniable. It can heal, spread hope, inspire, enlighten. Cliff uses that power as a tool to create positive social change in his community and inspires others to do the same.
Cedric Hameed is a fierce arts advocate and believes that local, national, and global change can be accomplished through expression. Evidence of his philosophy can be seen in the students, parents, and community of Southwest Florida and beyond! His philosophy and work helped him win a fellowship with The Nantucket Project in2017 which followed with him leading workshops at The Yale School of Business in 2018. A native of Schenectady, N.Y, Cedric grew accustomed to using words as an escape from his harsh realities. He never realized it would be the blueprint to creating a life-changing platform. "Poetry saved my life, literally! I see the world in metaphors and similes. And, when you can see in the abstract you can create. I can see the world we can all create!
**Art in Common PLaces**
Cynthia Burnell, Leslie Butterfield and Teresa Carson founded Art in Common Places because they believe art belongs to everyone. The program’s primary mission is to put art in public places—such as Laundromats, public housing, car washes, medical offices—so people can enjoy it in their everyday lives. The secondary mission is to facilitate live “collaborative conversations” between visual artists and poets to produce works of art that combine these talents. Art in Common Places will celebrate the centennial of Sarasota County by creating four broadsides focused on subjects related to the history of Sarasota and by offering presentations based on those broadsides in collaboration with Selby Library.