Patriot Plaza is an amphitheater and plaza at the Sarasota National Cemetery featuring large outdoor artworks about the military, family, American history, and one’s own place in the world. Its themes are: HONOR SERVICE, INSPIRE PATRIOTISM, and EMBRACE FREEDOM.
Trained Guides will provide a 60 to 90 minute tour and learning activity to groups that visit the plaza. Many of the Guides at Patriot Plaza are veterans or are the family members of veterans. They will share their own stories, as well as describe and discuss the stories that are in each artwork.
The artworks are as diverse as our heroes and include bronze sculptures, large mosaics, marble tablets, a global map etched in granite and documentary photographs in this open air museum.
School groups must work with the Patriot Plaza coordinator to secure charter buses. This will allow you to visit Bayfront Park and the Sarasota National Cemetery on the same day and not have to worry about the SCS or SDMC field trip busing window. Thanks to support from The Patterson Foundation, the Arts & Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County will cover expenses associated with charter bus transportation for school-aged groups.
Tour themes include:
Grades 4-6: Stories of Honor and Dedication
A Language Arts study using Patriot Plaza art helps students learn the American values of honoring service, inspiring patriotism, and embracing freedom. The students will interpret vocabulary and engage in text complexity. Easy to implement activities encourage writing and critical thinking.
Grades 7-8: Stories of Patriotism and Inspiration
Engage students’ emotional, patriotic, and historical awareness with a focus on civics, veterans, and the patriotic holidays of Veterans Day and Memorial Day. Study and discuss two documentary photographs from the Civil war. The tour addresses Social Studies, Visual Art, and language Arts standards.
Grades 9-12: Stories of History and Freedom
View art and analyze the 49 “Witness to Mission” photos that reflect the historical themes of the changing role of the USA in global conflicts, social institutions and movements, and cultural values. Learn about veterans and documentary photography from the Civil War to 2012. The tour addresses Social Studies, Visual Art, and Language Arts standards.