Monica Gagnier

Sarasota

Arts and Entertainment Editor at Observer Media Group

Coal miner's granddaughter. Berlin-born Army brat living car-free. @NewhouseSU grad who ❤️ Main St. Eye on arts, kids and climate. Views mine

Articles

Teen director makes her debut with 'My Guardian Angel'

1 week ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Lots of people of all ages dream about going back to their old school. The rock group Steely Dan even made a hit song vowing never to do such a thing. But there’s no denying that classroom and playground memories are powerful, whether you want to revisit them or not. Teen film director Nya Chambless returned to her old elementary school, Bay Haven School of Basics Plus, to shoot scenes for her feature film, “My Guardian Angel,” which premiered April 12 at the Sarasota Film Festival.
Take Tammy's trolley to learn all about Sarasota

2 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Want to learn more about Sarasota’s storied circus history? Fascinated by the town’s midcentury modern architecture? Intrigued by the Amish community in Pinecraft? Whatever your interest, Tammy Hauser’s Discover Sarasota Tours by trolley have got you covered. You’ll find Hauser’s entertainment empire (just a little hyperbole here, folks) housed in a 1930s bungalow on Fruitville Road not far from the intersection with Washington Avenue.
La Musica Chamber Festival gets a lift from new leadership

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Pianist Wu Han is a busy woman. Last week found her in Lawrence, Kansas, near Kansas City, where she was in the middle of a tour that included 13 concerts in 16 days. In addition to performing around the world, Wu and her husband, cellist David Finckel, serve as the artistic directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in New York and Silicon Valley’s Music@Menlo. They also run a classical music recording company and teach.
Sarasota architect Frank Folsom Smith dies at age 93

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Sarasota architect Frank Folsom Smith died on March 25 at age 93, according to an obituary prepared for Toale Brothers Funeral Home, which is handling arrangements. A member of the Sarasota School of Architecture, Smith was the lead architect for Sarasota's iconic Plymouth Harbor retirement community and a founding member of the Council of New Urbanism, whose emphasis on walkability laid the foundation for Sarasota's bustling downtown.
On the trail of things that go bump in the night at The Ringling

3 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

The desire to contact loved ones who have left the Earthly plane has been around as long as human life itself. So have the mediums, magicians and hucksters who have presented themselves as conduits to such supernatural communication. During the mid-19th century, Upstate New York became a hotbed of Spiritualism, utopian communities and new religions.
27th Sarasota Film Festival offers fresh flicks, communal screenings

4 weeks ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

When Sean Baker accepted his Oscar for best director for the film "Anora" at the 97th annual Academy Awards ceremony on March 2, he made a plea to the audience watching on their small screens at home — to watch movies in the theater with other moviegoers. “We are all here tonight because we love movies. Where did we fall in love with movies? At the movie theater," Baker said.
Azara Ballet uses dance to address screen addiction in its second season

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Kate Flowers knows a little something about the seductive power of the internet. Before she and her husband Martin (Roosaare) Flowers founded Azara Ballet in 2022, Flowers was a social media influencer. It's a term she doesn't endorse wholeheartedly, but it's the one that best describes what she was doing to promote a healthy lifestyle when she took a hiatus from dance.
Connecticut schoolteacher Synia Carroll found her voice in Sarasota

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

The first time Ed Linehan saw his future wife, Synia Carroll, was around 2000. He didn’t know Carroll at the time, but she caught his eye when he and his three sons stopped to watch her tell a children’s story during an arts festival on the village green in New Haven, Connecticut. “There was something mesmerizing about her. She was bigger than the place,” recalled Linehan, the former president of the Jazz Club of Sarasota, where he is still on the board.
Star Newman is all about the abracadabra

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

James Brown famously sang, “It’s a man’s world,” and those words still ring true in the world of magic, where only 8% of performers are women. But a female magician has even tougher odds (or better ones, depending how you look at it) of standing out in Sarasota, which historically has been a clown’s world. “Sarasota is saturated with circus, which is wonderful,” Newman says. “If you’re having a gala, you have an aerialist hanging from the ceiling.
Sarasota Film Festival poster sparks a Facebook firestorm

1 month ago | yourobserver.com | Monica Gagnier

Don't mess with Canada. Normally, "Don't Mess With ..." is associated with Texas, but Sarasota Film Festival President Mark Famiglio is learning the hard way that it applies to our neighbor to the north as well. Canadian snowbirds and transplants alike have taken umbrage at a whimsical map of Florida adorning the SFF's poster for its 27th edition, which runs from April 4-13 at various locations around town.