The Sarasota Experience | Invite to Participate

SARASOTA, FL – WEDU PBS and TriForce Pictures have partnered to produce The Sarasota Experience, a documentary exploring the area’s diverse and transformative history through the present day while focusing on what makes a community thrive.

WEDU is pleased to work with TriForce Pictures, historian Jeff LaHurd and leading figures throughout the Sarasota community on the film, premiering Thursday, April 20, at 8 pm, with plans for statewide distribution. 

The Sarasota Experience will feature events and individuals from Sarasota’s history, as well as some lesser-known and often underappreciated stories from the past. Those stories include the impact of the Civil Rights Movement on Sarasota and the area’s leading role in preserving and protecting the environment. With help from local experts, the film will review Sarasota’s first settlers, the creation of the city of Sarasota, the county of Sarasota, the roaring twenties, the hardship of the thirties, the World War II era, all the way through the 1950s and beyond. 

We Need Your Help

To make this film even more impactful, Sarasota residents are invited to participate in this exciting initiative by creating videos on their phones and recording themselves answering two questions:

-          What do you love most about Sarasota?

-          Why is Sarasota a strong Community?

Visit the Triforce Pictures website to submit your video.

"Our highest hope for The Sarasota Experience is to have a comprehensive documentary, a documentary that engages, educates, enlightens, and entertains, a documentary that inspires questions or creates change. Ultimately galvanize our community in some way, and invite people to use this knowledge to empower themselves, which will empower others." Shaun Greenspan, Director/Producer.

Submit your videos by Fri | Feb 10, 2023