After reports of slow-coming funding, the non-profit behind the 400m plan hosts a gala, and our reporter is looking for hints.
By Gretchen Cochran
Original Air Date: October 31, 2025
Rendering of the space between the main theater building (right) and the lobby building of the proposed Sarasota Performing Arts Center. Photo courtesy of City of Sarasota
Host: Is the ambitious Sarasota Performing Arts Center plan alive? The non-profit behind the $400 million project is planning a fundraiser gala, and Gretchen Cochran tried to find out what it’s all about.
Gretchen Cochran: What does a witch eat for dinner? Spiders and snakes? Squid and salamanders?
No, we’re not musing about Halloween dining. Rather, we’re talking with CEO Tania Castroverde Moskalenko and Development Director Kelly Addington who are planning a March gala to benefit the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation. Believe it or not, a portion of the party will include what we call “witch food.”
Idina Menzel. Photo by Shayan Asgharnia
That’s because they’ve landed Idena Menzel of wicked witch fame. The silver screen and Broadway stage artist will perform at the Van Wezel as a fund raiser to further the foundation’s support for Sarasota area arts. Donors will move through the Van Wezel—that sea-shell-shaped building affectionately called “the purple cow.”
The event is just beginning to take shape, but for sure, donors will begin with ice-cold hors d’oeuvres on the sea-side apron on the first level. The idea is to capture the ambience of “Frozen,” the ultra-popular movie featuring Menzel to much acclaim.
For the main course, they’ll move inside for the witch’s dinner, fashioned to reflect Menzel’s popular portrayal of Elphaba, the once-considered-evil witch depicted in “Wicked.”
Following dinner, Menzel will perform in the great auditorium for donors and the public. Then will come dessert, served with music and dance in an area capturing the feeling of the inner city and Menzel’s performance in “Rent.”
Picture large graffiti, Addington said.
The goal is to raise a million dollars that night that will be used to support the foundation’s bringing arts to people who might not get the opportunity.
Tania Moskalenko
Tania Moskalenko: That’s what the evening is all about. It’s about raising funds so that the programs at the Van Wezel and under the foundation can remain accessible.
GC: Addington picked up the thread.
Kelly Addington: To take the audience on that journey to experience three different looks and sounds feels with the music and to really focus on that impact and remind our donors that the important part of our mission is that we want to be able to continue to serve 40,000 plus educators, students and families each year to help the arts thrive in the Sarasota community and make sure that the arts are accessible to all.
Of course, we thought the money would be going to what was once the talk of the town, the new performing arts center.
Photo courtesy of City of Sarasota
Frankly, some thought it was dead. Remember just a few months ago when our media partner Suncoast Searchlight presented a thoroughly researched piece with a number of sources concluding that the projected $400 million Italian-designed complex had simply fallen into the “too hard” box.
But then we dropped by a Tiger Bay meeting of area decision makers who generally concluded the dream was a good one and might just take much longer than expected, now projected at perhaps 15 to 20 years away.
Melba Martinez and Jim Matras
And here’s what Jim Matras and Melba Ramirez, co-chairs of the March event, say: “We are honored to chair Sarasota’s most exciting event of the year! Together, we will ensure that the Sarasota Performing Arts Foundation continues to bring the arts to everyone through innovative education programs, community partnerships, and life-changing access to the arts. Our vision includes a new, world-class Performing Arts Center that will help sustain this mission for generations to come in perpetuity.”
For WSLR, this is Gretchen Cochran.
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