Museums & Attractions
- Florida's Tampa Museum of Art will present American Impressionists in the Garden, an exhibition organized by Cheekwood Botanical Garden and the Museum of Art in Nashville, Tenn., that explores the theme of the garden in American art and society of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The exhibition features paintings depicting European and American gardens by American Impressionist artists along with bronze sculptures created by American artists for the garden. The exhibition begins Sept. 25 and runs through Jan. 3, 2011. For more information, call 813.274.8130.
- Dallas' Hilton Anatolewill debut its redesigned Atrium II space later this fall. The project converts the 31,000-square-foot Atrium II into a park-like garden with a large reflecting pool and a pavilion for meetings or private events. The centerpiece is a large-scale kinetic sculpture called Nebula, which will be suspended over a 110-foot-high space.
Nebula, the work of San Francisco-based artist Reuben Margolin, is made of 10 miles of aircraft cable, 1,780 pulleys and over 4,500 amber crystals. For more information, call 214.748.1200.
Programs & Packages
- As the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay Hotel undergoes a $31 million renovation, the 600-room hotel is offering its Everything Miami package for meetings requiring 50 room nights or more. The offer, good through Dec. 31, includes a complimentary reception for up to 380 guests on a luxury charter yacht, as well as Marriott Rewards points, 35 percent allowable attrition—one per 35 comp rooms—and a 2 percent rebate off the master bill for any group over 100 room nights. The hotel renovations will include the addition of a 3,600-square-foot Bay View Ballroom along with a new boardroom to bring the indoor event space to 21,000 square feet. For more information, call 305.536.6381 or visit .
- The Courtyard Charleston/Summerville in South Carolina will be the first hotel built using Marriott International's green hotel prototype, in partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council. The company's goal is to have 300 LEED-certified hotels by 2015. Marriott is the first in the hospitality industry to launch a green hotel prototype that has been pre-approved by the council as part of its LEED Volume program, meaning that any Marriott hotel that follows these plans will earn basic LEED certification, or possibly higher, upon final approval. The new Courtyard hotel will open in early 2012 as part of the first phase of The Parks of Berkley, a community consisting of 5,000 acres and one of the largest planned developments in the Southeast. For more information.