Photos: CULTURE & COCKTAILS Attracts 100+ To Jazzy Conversation With Music On The Sunset Lounge

Dave Lawrence, President & CEO of the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County, welcomed more than 100 fans of cool conversation and hot music to this season’s final CULTURE & COCKTAILS, held last week in the beautiful rooftop ballroom of The Ben Hotel in downtown West Palm Beach.

A Conversation with Music on the Jazzy Past & Future of the Legendary Sunset Lounge

Participants included:

• Alisha R. Winn, Ph.D., an applied cultural anthropologist, historian, and consultant for community and heritage education projects who lives in the neighborhood around the Sunset Lounge, the Historic Northwest. An adjunct professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s School of Ministry, she is the founder of Consider the Culture, was director for the Palm Beach County African American Virtual Oral History Project and served as a board member for the City of West Palm Beach Mayor’s Taskforce for Racial and Ethnic Equality.
• Avery Sommers is a South Florida treasure and Broadway veteran with a “powerhouse” voice (The New York Times) and charismatic stage presence. She appeared on Broadway in Ain’t Misbehavin’ replacing Nell Carter, Chicago, Showboat, and Broadway, and was in the first national tours of both The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (starring Ann-Margret) and Chicago, for which she won a Los Angles Ovation Award for Best Supporting Actress. Locally Sommers has headlined concerts at the Kravis Center, Café Centro, Arts Garage, Palm Beach Institute for the Entertainment Arts, and the much-missed Royal Room Cabaret at The Colony Hotel, Palm Beach.
• Copeland Davis is an Emmy-nominated pianist who has appeared on the Tonight Show, was inducted into the Las Vegas Entertainers Hall of Fame, and has wowed audiences at the Kravis Center, Arts Garage, Cafe Centro, Duncan Theatre, and at The Dream Awards, Las Vegas last October.
• Matthew Harper, an extraordinarily talented 16-year-old trumpet player and student at the Alex Dreyfoos School of the Arts.

The moderator of this delicious, song-filled C&C was Barbara Cheives, President and CEO of Converge & Associates Consulting, who specializes in race and ethnic relations consulting, employee relations, and community engagement.

The 2024 season of CULTURE & COCKTAILS was generously sponsored by The Roe Green Foundation, Roe Green, Founder; Donald M. Ephraim Family Foundation; Milton and Tamar Maltz; Jean Sharf; Bonnie Lautenberg; Lesser Lesser Landy & Smith, PLLC; Scott Teich, Senior Vice President, Teich Wealth Management of Raymond James; The Gardens Mall; CIBC Private Wealth; Palm Beach Media Group; Palm Beach Daily News; Legends Radio; and PR-BS, a Boca-based public relations firm.

All proceeds from CULTURE & COCKTAILS go to support the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s mission to champion, engage, and grow the arts in Palm Beach County.

About the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County

The Cultural Council for Palm Beach County is the official support agency for arts and culture in The Palm Beaches, Florida’s Cultural Capital®. Headquartered in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. building in Downtown Lake Worth Beach, the Council presents exciting year-round exhibitions and performances featuring artists who live or work in Palm Beach County. The Council features spectacular work by Palm Beach County-based professional artists in its Roe Green Uniquely Palm Beach Store and offers complimentary resources for visitors in its Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Visitor Information Center. The Council is currently open to the public Tuesday through Saturday from Noon to 5 pm. For more information and a comprehensive calendar of cultural events in The Palm Beaches, visit palmbeachculture.com.