Sharon Geltner

By Sharon Geltner | Broward Arts Journalism Alliance

Pompano Beach – It wasn’t easy finding a silver lining during COVID-19, but Pompano Beach’s leaders did. They used that time to plan an ambitious rebranding of the city as an international destination with a first-class arts and culture scene. Soon they hired key employees with performing arts and local government experience.
One of the fruits of this labor is a new resident theater troupe. This month, the Cultural Affairs Department of Pom...

Fort Lauderdale theater company finds a new home in Hollywood

As the Arts and Culture Center/Hollywood approaches its 50th anniversary in 2025, it has already had a season of important milestones, ranging from new leadership, to an expansion underway, to contributing to ending the city’s 20-year drought of professional, live theater.

Under new CEO Jennifer Homan, who started last fall, the Center has rapidly embarked on a series of first-time accomplishments in an effort to expand its reach to...

Kristen Beck uses personal experience to inform her latest work.

Oct 16, 2024
Sharon Geltner, BAJA

Kristin Beck’s personal experience of caring for her father who was diagnosed with dementia in 2019 was what inspired the artist to create “Before I Forget.”
“Alzheimer’s touches everyone,” says Kristin Beck, curator and solo artist of “Before I Forget” on view at the North Regional/Broward College Library in Coconut Creek through Friday, Nov. 29.

Beck, a native Floridian, is from Miami and cu...

A renowned developer is parting ways with his home in a historic enclave of Jupiter Farms

September 19, 2024

Sharon Geltner / Florida Weekly Correspondent

The man who came out of retirement to build the successful Belvedere West Industrial Park in West Palm Beach is now selling his customized Reynolds Ranch home on what used to be Burt Reynolds’ private airstrip.

Douglas McMillen built the largest open-air shopping mall (at the time) in Florida. Later, he built an out parcel at Boynton Beach Mall. He and his ...

You may have heard the expression, “Brevity is the soul of discretion.”
Well, “Brevity is the soul of art” in the current exhibition at the Bailey Contemporary Arts Center (BaCA) in Pompano Beach.
At “SMS: Semantic Textiles Art Exhibition,” on display through Friday, Sept. 20, the show’s creator and curator, Lisa Rockford of Rockford Projects, has put together a very “of the moment” show that sprawls through three galleries and over 6,000 square feet, with 70 works by 20 artists. Rockford own...

It wasn’t easy finding a silver living during COVID-19, but Pompano Beach’s leaders did. They used that time to plan an ambitious rebranding of the city as an international destination with a first-class arts and culture scene. Soon they hired key employees with performing arts and local government experience.
One of the fruits of this labor is a new resident theater troupe. In October, the Cultural Affairs Department of Pompano Beach will introduce the Pompano Players. The company’s six-show...

Launching the Pompano Players is part of ongoing effort to make city a destination

It wasn’t easy finding a silver living during COVID-19, but Pompano Beach’s leaders did.

They used that time to plan an ambitious rebranding of the city as an international destination with a first-class arts and culture scene. Soon they hired key employees with performing arts and local government experience. One of the fruits of this labor is a new resident theater troupe. In October, the Cultural Affairs Dep...

Every year for the past half-century, the Society for Professional Journalism has honored the best in Florida journalism.

The state’s largest and oldest journalism contest recognizes the best writing, photography, and design for both pros and students.

Click here to see the 2024 winners.

Here are the past winners.

By Jeff Perlman

About a month ago, the arts community was shocked when Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $32 million in grants designed to support 663 cultural organizations in Florida.

The move was unexpected—at least by the arts community. With the stroke of a pen, Florida went from near the top of states to the bottom in terms of support for the arts.

In hindsight, maybe the veto shouldn’t have been surprising. Maybe, it’s time to listen and yes believe what some politicians say. That sentence sounds counterintuitive...

In a humble, wooden 1912 schoolhouse in Davie, Barbie expert Constance Ruppender, a longtime resident of Wilton Manors, carefully arranges her exquisite collection of 300 dolls, for her exhibit: Barbie Girl: A Collector’s Showcase. Without being aware of it, Ruppender not only beat a large, famous museum to the punch by two days, her doll collection is almost double the size of the one being touted globally by the famous Design Museum of London.

On July 5, the Design Museum of London debuted ...

Moving Company Workers Train to Spot Signs of Human Trafficking

July 25, 2024

By Sharon Geltner, Florida Weekly Correspondent

Good Greek Moving and Storage is making some big moves to help combat human trafficking.

The Jupiter-based moving and trucking company is now the first in the county to train its workers to spot the signs of exploited and abused children in homes, says owner and founder Spero Georgedakis,

The former police officer teamed up with the anti-trafficking non-profit organization Place of Hope....

For Delray Beach artist Patricia Lappin, teaching a young girl how to create collages was a highlight of the Open Studios weekend, hosted at the Boca Raton Innovation Campus (BRIC) as part of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s event.
“I was demonstrating collage designs with my own painted papers,” says Lippin, “when a little girl wandered by with her mother. I had set up collage materials and glue sticks with paper that kids and adults could tear up. Making collages opens their cre...

By Sharon Geltner
On June 3, Bill Hayes, producing artistic director of Palm Beach Dramaworks, was ecstatic.
That was the day the Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce honored his West Palm beach-based theater company as Nonprofit of the Year.
“That was a nice lead-in to our 25th anniversary,” Hayes said.
But within 10 days, his joy turned to shock.
On June 12, for the first time in state history, arts and culture funding in Florida’s budget was zeroed out. Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed not only the thea...

Every year for the past half-century, the Society for Professional Journalism has honored the best in Florida journalism.

The state’s largest and oldest journalism contest recognizes the best writing, photography, and design for both pros and students.

How it works

Q. Can Florida-based journalists who don’t cover Florida news apply?
Yes. If you work for a national ...

By Sharon Geltner

Lightning struck for Delray Beach resident Kelley McNeil when popular fantasy author Barbara Davis posted a positive review of McNeil’s debut novel, A Day Like This.
The fledgling author’s book hit number one on its first day and was a best seller in the United Kingdom and in three days was No. 1 in the United States. It stayed in the Top 5 of an Amazon chart for seven weeks, today has over 31,000 reviews, and United Talent Artists is shopping a screenplay.

That’s a hard act...