Laying the groundword for a new CAPA Center in Collier County

Planned site for Bayshore Cultural and Performing Arts Center. Left to right: Jean Jordan, Aurora Wells, Dwight Richardson, Commissioner Fred
Coyle, Susan Gibbons, Chick Heithaus, Commissioner Donna Fiala, Steve Kutler, Sondra Quinn

The Bayshore Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CAPA) mission is to provide a state-of-the-art cultural and performing arts center that showcases local visual and performing artists, thereby offering affordable and accessible educational, cultural and performance opportunities for the community.

With community support, a dedicated group of Collier County citizens is getting closer to the realization of this mission as they work together to raise $8 million dollars to finalize purchase of a 37.25-acre property located in the Bayshore Arts District for the new CAPA center. The site is ideally situated, across from Naples Botanical Garden, at the northwest corner of Bayshore Drive and Thomasson Drive. The CAPA board offer to purchase the property has been formally accepted by the property seller.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CAPA is led by a board of directors and leadership council including representatives of many Collier County cultural and performing arts groups as well as leaders from business and government.

Originally formed as Bayshore Arts in 2005, CAPA grew under the guidance of Founding President Maestro Erich Kunzel — internationally acclaimed conductor and recording artist — to include a cultural and performing arts center. Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala, long-time supporter of the arts in Collier County, also has been instrumental in moving CAPA toward the fulfillment of its mission and in the creation of the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Bayshore Arts District where the new center will be located. Plans call for the CAPA center to anchor the Arts District.

GALA 2013: The CAPA Swing Into Spring for the Arts Gala is on
March 22 at Windstar on Naples Bay. Left to right: Ken Lohmann,
Commissioner Donna Fiala, Raenell Murray

According to CAPA Board President Chick Heithaus, “Collier County has many outstanding cultural and performing arts organizations and talented visual and performing artists. The majority of them, though,  are in a constant search for adequate rehearsal, performance and studio space. The CAPA center will address this need, and provide a home for these organizations and artists. This will conserve community resources by superseding the need for individual arts organizations to launch capital campaign efforts to build their own single-use facilities.”

In January, the CAPA board took another major step forward by hiring Marci Seamples as the organization’s first executive director. CAPA has a pledge of support for the financial commitment associated with the new position.

A resident of Naples, Seamples most recently was vice president of development and marketing for the Education Foundation — Champions For Learning™ where she was responsible for the annual campaign, grant research and writing, and development of sponsorships, major gifts and planned giving. She also served as vice president of communications for the Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce, and as executive director of the Williston Area Chamber of Commerce in Williston, North Dakota. She is a 2011 graduate of Leadership Collier, and is in the process of earning her IOM designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute of Organization Management.

Seamples began her career at the Philharmonic Center for the Arts, now Artis—Naples, in the education and outreach division. She later worked with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, and Master of Arts in Management (MAM) degree in non-profit arts management from the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

“The board of directors of Bayshore Cultural and Performing Arts Center is very pleased that Marci is joining the CAPA team,” notes CAPA President Chick Heithaus. “Her knowledge, experience and many community relationships will take us forward as we work together to fulfill our mission to provide a state-of-the-art cultural and performing arts center to be experienced by all in our community.”

CAPA currently provides visual and performing arts programs including Jazz on the Green, November through April, and the Erich Kunzel Community Concert Series, December through May, at the Edison State College Collier County campus. Both feature nationally known, locally-based professional performers as well as emerging young stars of tomorrow.

CAPA’s annual fund-raising event, Swing Into Spring for the Arts, is March 22 at Windstar on Naples Bay. Guests will enjoy a reception with music by the Stu Shelton Trio, dinner, live auction and dancing to the swing music of The Music Makers Show Band. Tickets are $145 per person. Proceeds benefit the Bayshore Cultural and Performing Arts Center. The gala is sponsored by Windstar on Naples Bay Lovers of the Arts.

For information on CAPA plans and how you can help or for concert tickets and gala reservations, call 239.775.2800239.775.2800, at bayshorecapa.org, or via email at bayshorecapacenter@centurylink.net.