Tastemakers' Choices

"We’re becoming one world with South America and Mexico," Daniels says.

Artist Jonathan Green agrees there is a nascent Latin American and Caribbean art community in Southwest Florida, and he believes now is the time to nurture it. Many of these artists are working in a style he is familiar with—his own style, Regionalism—by painting or sculpting what they know from their own experiences. It’s also a style that he contends is attracting more attention from art enthusiasts.

Green says he’ll especially be watching two parts of Naples for up-and-coming artists: the bayfront area, which is home to several artists’ galleries, including his own; and the J&C Boulevard area, an industrial district-turned-artist hotspot.

For aficionados of all the arts, there’s no better time to be in Southwest Florida, promises Robert Cacioppo, producing artist director for Fort Myers’ Florida Repertory Theatre. New art centers are opening, such as the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers, and acclaimed national works are hitting the stage—the Rep’s 2008 season includes the award-winning play Doubt.

Nationally and locally produced original theatrical works are finding a home in Southwest Florida, too. Cacioppo says the Rep is accepting original submissions for theatrical works, and the 2008 season of Naples’ theatre company TheatreZone again includes Miracle in Rwanda, an original play written by Neapolitan Leslie Lewis Sword. Miracle in Rwanda premiered at TheatreZone in 2007, and Sword later performed the play in New York City.

"The art scene is growing," Cacioppo says. "Think about how little was in Southwest Florida 10 years ago."