Ole Art & Jazz Festival

Name: 3rd Annual Ole Art & Jazz Festival

Dates: February 18 & 19, 2012

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Place: This free art, wine and jazz festival is held at The Ole’ Village at Lely Resorts in Naples. This friendly community boasts charming Mediterranean architecture, lots of lush landscaping and inviting pedestrian thoroughfares situated around a thriving Village Center. The artists line the walkways around Spine Fountain while the renowned Alan Darcy Jazz Band performs in the Olé Amphitheater.

Lely Resort Golf & Country Club is set amidst nearly 3,000 acres of azure lakes and pristine preserves along Florida’s southwest coast in Naples, Florida. Set in the heart of Naples, Lely Resort is just minutes from the beautiful beaches and the highly desirable Fifth Avenue Shopping and Third Street South Gallery Districts which have made Naples the #1 small art market in the United States.

Lely Resort has long been regarded as one of the premier communities in Southwest Florida, featuring a spectacular collection of Naples homes and amenity-rich lifestyle including three championship golf courses, three lagoon-style pools with waterfalls and cabanas (right), seven tennis courts, and a luxurious spa and fitness center. All are set within a cosmopolitan atmosphere and lush surroundings that have made Lely Resort Golf & Country Club one of the most sought-after communities in all of southwest Florida. In fact, Lely Resort has been named Community of the Year three years running.

There are currently over 3,000 homes in Lely Resort, and upon completion, the community is expected to contain approximately 4,500 residences. Within Lely Resort, there are over 40 individual neighborhoods. Each neighborhood contains from a few dozen to over 100 homes. Stock Development purchased Lely Resort in 2001 and has since introduced an exciting lineup of housing options spread throughout these neighborhoods. Stock Development has received honors as Developer of the Year with its sister company, Stock Construction, being named Builder of the Year. Within the Naples real estate market, Stock Development is synonymous with quality and value.

Within Lely Resort is the Village Center in the Ole neighborhood.  The Ole Village is Lely Resort’s newest residential neighborhood. The Village Center is a Mediterranean-themed town center where Ole neighbors can come together and relax, mingle and play. The Village Center is reminiscent of a small village and it features a 20,000 square foot clubhouse with a relaxing resort-style outdoor pool and a full-service concierge. The Bistro in the Village Center offers fine dining for up to 90 patrons. For lighter fare, the Ole Pub has hearth style pizza and Friday night happy hours. Some residents enjoy sipping on a latte at the Internet cafe or having an ice cream cone at the Village Center ice cream parlor.

The Village Center is a short walk or bicycle ride from nearly every home in Ole at Lely Resort. The Center is seamlessly intertwined with the community via parks and inviting pedestrian walkways. Ole members can further enjoy tennis courts, beach volleyball, racquetball, bocce ball and basketball courts. Residents of the Ole neighborhood at Lely are automatically members of the Village Center and can also join The Players Club & Spa and the Lely Country Club for additional fees.

Ole’ Village is a really nice venue for a small, intimate show.

Description: Wine, Jazz, Food, Art – all go together pretty well. That is what you’ll find at the Ole’ Art and Jazz Festival.

This is a cozy boutique show with spaces available for just 40 national artists skilled in photography, jewelry, glass blowing and painting. Organizer Boulderbrook Productions has limited the number of artists for a variety of reasons. The small number of artists avoids duplication and repetition. It also ensures that festival patrons are exposed to only the highest quality art. Toward that end, festival director Richard Sullivan attends art shows, fairs and festivals every weekend he’s not hosting a festival of his own. “I know who’s the best and I try to get them to do my shows. It’s a selection process, not an application process. We send out invitations …. We know who we want and we go out and get them.”

Sullivan also limits the size and chooses intimate settings for his festivals in order to give participating artists and festival goers a reasonable opportunity to converse about the art on display in the show. Artists are even willing to bring artwork by patrons’ homes after show hours to see if it the perfect piece. “Our artists need to spend time with the collector,” explains Sullivan. “To explain what he has has value and quality. He can only do that at a small show that’s designed to bring in sophisticated patrons …. People [who] appreciate art.”

Cost: Admission is free.

Parking: Free and ample.

Organizer: Boulderbrook Productions

Director: Richard P. Sullivan, a native of Wellesley, Massachusetts. Not only is Sullivan on site throughout the festival, he knows just about every artist at every show that Boulderbrook produces throughout the year. “I want to know them and know their work. I’ll go to someone’s house just to talk to them about their art.” Sullivan is so conversant with each artist’s work that he’s been known to expound upon an artist’s work to potential collectors while he’s spelling them in their booth.

Website: http://www.boulderbrook.net/ole-art-and-jazz-festival-visitor.html

Facebook: None at present.

Related Festivals. In addition to Ole Art & Jazz Festival, Boulderbrook Productions also produces the following festivals in southwest Florida:

• Masters Art Festival at Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero (November 19 & 20, 2011)
• Sanibel Masters Art Festival at the Community House on Sanibel Island (November 25 & 26, 2011)
• Naples Masters Winter Art Festival at the Collection at Vanderbilt (January 21 & 22, 2012)
• Naples Masters Art Festival at the Collection at Vanderbilt (March 3 & 4, 2012)
• Marco Island Masters Festival of the Arts on Marco Island (March 31-April 1, 2012)

Fast Facts.

• Proceeds from this festival help support the Harry Chapin Food Bank.
• In the ’80s, Festival Director Richard Sullivan spent time in film and television production. For years, he hobnobbed with everyone from Steven Tyler of Aerosmith to James Taylor. “I not only got to the meet them, I had lunch with them,” he says.
• His work in music videos then opened the door to filming high-end commercials for products including Reebok. He traveled around the globe, from Milan to Brazil, filming famous athletes.
• Visiting his parents’ home in Naples, he met a girl and decided to stay permanently. Needing something to occupy his time, so he approached the newly-opened von Liebig Art Center about raising funds to build a dark room on the premises. His success in that fundraising effort prompted The von Liebig board of directors to seek his assistance with its most famous event, the Naples National Art Festival, a two-day event that attracts high-caliber artists from far and wide.
• When Sullivan left nearly seven years later, Naples National had gone from being rated the 11th to the fifth best festival in the nation by Sunshine Artist Magazine.
• Today, Sullivan produces art festivals throughout Florida and as far north as Nashville, Tennessee through his own business, Boulderbrook Productions, named after the brook in which he caught frogs near his Massachusetts childhood home.

Related Articles and Links

Ole Art & Jazz Festival takes place at Naples’ Lely Resort this weekend (02-17-12)