Not that glorious Key Lime Pie isn’t enough! There are many other treats capable of representing the food of Florida Keys. Mango and Citrus and Conch everything, Cuban sandwiches, Bahamian BBQ, plus so much more. Cuisine of the region will take center stage in a national touring museum collaboration coming to Key West in early 2026.  – Editor

Florida Humanities, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), has launched a new exhibition partnership program, “Exhibition Starter Kit: FOOD.” The partnership has selected the Key West Art & Historical Society as an inaugural recipient. In total, eight nonprofit organizations received funding from Florida Humanities in June 2024. These nonprofits will create exhibitions that capture local narratives on food, utilizing resources and support from the Smithsonian.

Exhibition Starter Kits provide a Smithsonian-developed framework to guide selected venues through the development of local humanities-based exhibitions using their own collections. While working on their exhibition project, funded venues will receive guidance from the Smithsonian. These venues will learn how to design and develop compelling exhibitions that highlight their local history and culture through the lens of food.

“Peeling back the layers of our local and regional food, you uncover a much larger story centering around the Key West’s diverse community,” says Dr. Cori Convertito, curator for the Society. “We are elated to have been selected by the Smithsonian and Florida Humanities to be one of eight partners in the state. It’s an opportunity to tell the abundant Florida Keys food story that has been shaped by a mixture of Indigenous, Bahamian, Cuban, and international peoples.”

The post Food Is the Main Dish as Key West Preps to Highlight Florida Keys Cuisine appeared first on Go Gulf States.

A REEF diver operates the SMILE camera to measure fish length    •    Photo via REEF.org by Daryl Duda

Size matters – especially when it comes to fisheries management. A new collaborative project SMILE (Size Matters: Innovative Length Estimate) is now underway in the Florida Keys. The program helps collect information about fish lengths. These data are critical for fisheries stock assessments and are used to manage ecologically and economically important marine species. The SMILE project involves volunteer divers, innovative underwater camera technology, and citizen science to collect data for reef fish.

The REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project works with trained recreational divers to create one of the largest citizen science-based marine life databases in the world. Through the use of stereo video technology, SMILE works as a companion to the REEF Volunteer Fish Survey Project. By leveraging trained REEF citizen scientist divers, this collaboration will provide valuable fish length data for fisheries stock assessments and ecosystem-based management.

Citizen science programs, such as REEF and SMILE, empower the public to generate monitoring data and promote active participation in resource management science.

The post Latest Camera Tech Offers Fisheries Great Data in Citizen Science Projects appeared first on Go Gulf States.

At some point or another in his 71 years, Tennessee Williams left significant cultural footprints in all five Gulf states. AL, MS, FL, LA, and even TX bear proof of his preeminence as the Southern king of 20th-century American drama. Across the month of March, Key West hosts over a dozen events to celebrate the playwright behind Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Rose Tattoo, The Glass Menagerie, and A Streetcar Named Desire. It all culminates in the birthday celebration on March 26. Happy 112th, Tennessee Williams!  – Editor

In celebration of Tennessee Williams, the Pulitzer-prize winning literary icon that moved to Key West in 1949 and remained a resident for 34 years, Key West Art & Historical Society hosts an annual ‘Tennessee Williams Birthday Celebration,’ a month-long series of arts and cultural events that takes place each March at multiple Key West venues.

This yearly festival of events includes a museum fundraiser, plein air painting, poetry and short story writing contests, lectures, museum tours, film showings, live theater events and a birthday party complete with cake and bubbly to honor his life and accomplishments.

The post The Tennessee Who Shaped the Gulf: Happy Birthday, Thomas Lanier Williams III appeared first on Go Gulf States.

For the better part of 2022, the Key West Art & Historical Society has been running Key West 200 as the lead display in the Bryan and Bumpus Galleries at the Custom House Museum. The exhibit commemorates the 200th anniversary of the first permanent settlement of Key West in 1822.

Organized by decade, the exhibit highlights so much of what is celebrated today in Key West: the people, culture, and community – beginning with the settlers and government officials who arrived on this remote island in early 1822. It features rarely displayed artifacts that tell the story of the people, industries, migration, culture, and architecture that has shaped Key West over the course of two centuries.

Key West 200 will close on December 11.

The post The Last Week of Island Bicentennial Exhibit Key West 200 appeared first on Go Gulf States.

Osceola’s image continues to be one that invokes strong feelings and embodies Seminole resistance, power, and memory. Even over 180 years after his death, Osceola remains an important figure in Seminole history and art.

Click through to learn more about Osceola’s sash, and how it returned home.

The post 🪶 Why an 1800s Sash Is So Important to Osceola’s Legacy and the Seminole People appeared first on Go Gulf States.

Guy Harvey’s work may be most associated with coastal bound dads and dudes on fishing cruises, but his work goes way beyond pop culture fashion. The Key West Art & Historical Society offers this amazing online exhibition of Harvey’s “catch” of the timeless tale of Ernest Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man & the Sea.’ – Editor

Widely recognized today as one of the world’s finest marine wildlife artists, Guy Harvey combines his unique artistic talents with his background as a marine biologist, diver, photographer and angler, to create magnificent marine wildlife art. Guy’s artistic roots can be traced back to his childhood on the island of Jamaica, where he spent many hours fishing and diving. While attending a boarding school in England, Guy became captivated by Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea and subsequently began developing a series of sketches which are featured in this exhibition. His illustrations of the tale of Santiago’s epic battle with the marlin helped launch Guy Harvey’s career as an artist.

The online exhibition Depicting Hemingway: Guy Harvey Sketches ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ features 59 original pen-and-ink drawings by internationally-renowned marine wildlife artist and conservationist, Guy Harvey. The sketches follow the narrative of Ernest Hemingway’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Old Man and the Sea. Click through for full gallery of prints.

The post Explore Guy Harvey’s Powerful Take on Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man & the Sea’ appeared first on Go Gulf States.

Organized by decade, the exhibit highlights so much of what we celebrate today in Key West: the people, culture, and community – beginning with the settlers and government officials who arrived on this remote island in early 1822. It features rarely displayed artifacts that tell the story of the people, industries, migration, culture, and architecture that has shaped Key West over the course of two centuries.

The post Celebrate the Island’s Bicentennial at Key West 200 appeared first on Go Gulf States.