May 2025 Letter from the Chair

Dear Friends,

The 2024 - 25 Season is a wrap!

The Friends Board closed out the Season with an appreciation dinner held at Marina Jack's main dining room, in honor of Donna Maytham, Elaine Foster and Phyllis Myers. As many of you know, Donna has been a major advocate for the Friends of The Sarasota Ballet for over 30 years! We thank Elaine for her seven years as Treasurer, and Phyllis for single-handedly arranging seating for 100+ guests at five luncheons each season, a daunting task for sure. All your efforts, Ladies, are very much appreciated by all of us at the Friends and The Sarasota Ballet.

Elaine Foster and Donna Maytham (not pictured, Phyllis Myers)

Backstage Tours returned with an overwhelming response, attracting 141 guests for 11 tours, led by our amazing Friends Backstage Tour Coordinators, Carolou Marquet and Andi Lieberman, and their volunteer tour guides, along with The Sarasota Ballet Staff. Thank you to the entire team for a job well done! A good portion of the guests went on to purchase tickets to a Sarasota Ballet performance, several groups made small donations to the Ballet, and every guest had a chance to win a ticket to a Friends luncheon at the end of each Tour. A wait list is already in the works in anticipation of the announcement of the Tour dates in the fall. If you have a group interested in a tour, please contact Carolou Marquet at: sbcbackstagetours@gmail.com.



As one guest wrote about the Tours, "What an enjoyable and informative morning! Embarrassed to say I know so little about ballet - its traditions, its superstars, but I still got a sense of how special The Sarasota Ballet is, not just in the art world but also in the local community here. It certainly is a treasure. I especially loved seeing the dancers practice, I could have watched them for hours!"

2024 - 2025 Backstage Tour Guides (L to R): Carolou Marquet, Barbara Hyde, Susan Morse, Rosalyn Ehrenpreis, Andi Lieberman, Pat Corson (not pictured, Bob Griffiths)

Just a reminder, all Friends Membership renewals are due by May 31, 2025. Yearly Friends membership renewals are now underway, with four levels that provide benefits from June 1st through May 31st each season. Click on the link to easily renew online.

To renew by phone or mail, please call The Sarasota Ballet at 941-225-6504 or email friends@sarasotaballet.org.

For membership questions, please contact Betty Ferguson, Membership Coordinator, at bcamarest@yahoo.com or call The Sarasota Ballet at 941-225-6504.

I’m very excited that the Ballet will be on tour again this summer! The Sarasota Ballet returns to Jacob’s Pillow for the first time in ten years at the Ted Shawn Theatre from July 16 – 20, 2025. The Sarasota Ballet will perform Sir Frederick Ashton’s Dante Sonata and Birthday Offering as well as a World Premiere by Jessica Lang, the Virginia B. Toulmin & Muriel O’Neil Artist in Residence.

Wishing you all a glorious summer wherever you may be.

All the best,



Pat Golemme

Chair, Friends of The Sarasota Ballet