Neighborhoods

“I’VE GOT A SCHOOL TO BUILD.” Phoenix Arts District (P.A.D.) is prepping to be a game changer for Jacksonville. The district will house the Jacksonville Florida School of the Arts (JFSOTA), and will be a community space with lots of moving parts. The major focus will be on hands-on art education and building a home for local and visiting artists. P.A.D. is such a big undertaking that it needs a whole community of support–and thankfully there is a great team working on it. Local entrepreneur Christy Frazier and her business partner Aislynn Thomas-McDonald are at the helm. The two met …

A DUAL CRITICS REVIEW BY DICK KEREKES & LEISLA SANSOM THEATRE JACKSONVILLE THROUGH NOV 20 Jacksonville’s legendary playhouse located in San Marco has opened “The Game’s Afoot,” an exciting comedy/farce by contemporary playwright Ken Ludwig, who is well-known for his humorous inventive scripts. The play received an Edgar Award in 2012 from Mystery Writers of America for Best Play. Over the years Ludwig’s plays have frequently graced the stages of many of our local theatres: other award-winning hits include” Lend Me a Tenor,” “Leading Ladies,” “Moon Over Buffalo” and “Crazy for You.” What most theatre patrons don’t know is that …

BY SHANNON BLANKINSHIP, Outreach Director, St. Johns Riverkeeper There’s nothing like a hurricane to demonstrate that our creeks, rivers and ocean suffer significantly from our waste. Whether it is litter, debris or just items from our back yard, if it wasn’t tied down or tightly secured, it may have ended up in the river. While Hurricane Matthew was an extreme example of this regular phenomenon, it happens during even normal rainfall events. Our creeks, especially in our urban neighborhoods, continue to be depositories for everything that can be carried by wind or water from yards, driveways, and roads. The young …

Fall is finally starting to arrive in north Florida! The morning air is chilly. The humidity is gone, and we can open our windows to enjoy cool breezes. At Tree Hill Nature Center, our staff and volunteers welcome the change in weather as do our animals. It’s hard to imagine, but even the goats are more active! educators have the option of tweaking their programs to mention the autumn changes. As fall settles in we begin to turn our attention to planning the annual , which is our sole fundraiser. Autumn in Florida takes longer to arrive than it does …

Cast iron is a building material with weight, distinguishing itself from more flimsy alloys and plastics that are common today. Behind that weight is the 8,000 year history of human experiments with smelting and metallurgy to develop crafted metal tools. To behold a cast iron object is to feel the weight of history resting in your hands. Designers commonly employ cast iron for structure or ornamentation to achieve an authentic industrial or Victorian motif. The material gained popularity during England’s industrial revolution when in the early 1700s, Abraham Darby developed a blast furnace fired by coke, a high-carbon, low-impurity fuel …

A fundamental part of the human condition is the ability to see the world through the lens of our experiences. Those experiences are carved out in smile lines, a furrowed brow or a pensive gaze. It’s the job of a portrait artist to navigate the map of human expression and emphasize the details that speak to each stage of our individual journey. Artist stages her exhibit “” December 2nd at with a performance by with . The exhibit features a series of new portraits that explore the myriad of emotions that live in all of us. The exhibit will run …

  It’s an irreverent puppet comedy about a possessed Christian-ministry puppet. In the hilarious dark comedy , a foul-mouthed sock puppet named Tyrone teaches those around him that the urges that can drive a person to give in to their darkest desires fit like a glove. The good children of Cypress, Texas are taught to obey the Bible in order to evade Satan’s hand. But when students at the Christian Puppet Ministry put those teachings into practice, Tyrone takes on a shocking personality that no one could have expected. “Audiences will have a sore belly from laughing, a questioning perspective …

  The Elbow Jam is back and it’s better than ever! Presented Nov 17 by Downtown Vision, Inc., “The Elbow Jam” offers six bands on two outdoor stages in the city’s Entertainment District. The bash formerly known as also includes live mural artists, dance performances and more. The outdoor “activation areas” will feature live music performances on the Bay Street and Adams Street stages. Wise River kicks things off at 7 pm on the Bay Street Stage followed by at 8 pm and at 9 pm. On the Adams Street Stage, Bigfoot Barefoot starts things off a 7 pm. Dr. …

  Jacksonville Beach FREE, with limited ability to purchase VIP viewing cabanas on Eventbrite $15-25 per person. It’s a skyward display of epic proportions as the returns to . The free, three-day event offers breathtaking demonstrations from many of the premiere flying teams, including the Geico Skytypers Airshow Team. With the Blue Angels bringing the sleek, fast-flying maneuvers that make them a crowd favorite, the Geico Skytypers Team demonstration features WWII-era aircraft. The Geico Skytypers will perform their 18-minute low-level precision flying demonstration utilizing six WWII-era SNJs on Nov 5-6 during the Jacksonville Beach Sea & Sky Airshow. “These maneuvers …