She will serve through August 2030
The Sarasota County Tourist Development Council, which serves in an advisory capacity to the County Commission, has a new member, thanks to a County Commission vote this week.
Elana Rosenbaum, manager of Turtle Beach Resort and New Art Agency, which are located on Midnight Pass Road on Siesta Key, will serve on the council through August 2030, as noted in a county staff memo included in the agenda packet for the commission’s regular meeting on Sept. 22.
She will fill a seat that had come open with the expiration of one member’s term, a county staff memo explained.
The appointment came in the form of the commissioners’ approval of their Consent Agenda of routine business matters. Although any board member may pull an item from that agenda for discussion, the commissioners typically take a vote on the entire Consent Agenda without comments.
No one addressed any of the items before the vote on Sept. 22.
As indicated by the agenda packet, Rosenbaum’s application was the only one submitted to county staff for the seat. On some occasions, commissioners request that staff readvertise an advisory board seat if only one person applies to fill it.
In response to the question on the county form about why she wanted to serve on the Tourist Development council, Rosenbaum wrote, “I grew up in Sarasota, and I believe in its success as both a place to live and a travel destination. I want to give back to the community now that I’m a little older and have more time and experience.”
In the section on the form regarding her background, Rosenbaum, nee Rubinfeld, wrote, that she “is a Certified Art Appraiser with the Appraisers Association of America and is the founder of New Art Agency, “a distinguished art advisory and appraisal firm dedicated to helping collectors curate and manage their collections.”
“A native of Sarasota,” she explained, she “began her career in New York City in 2003, as an artist, before transitioning into the role of arts advocate. Over the span of 15 years,” she continued, she “held positions as a gallery director, curator, researcher, artist liaison, and art advisor.”
In 2018, she added, she returned with her family to Sarasota.
She “is the host of ‘Inside the Artworld,’ a monthly talk held on the first Tuesday of each month at the Sarasota Art Museum,” Rosenbaum wrote, but she also manages and operates Turtle Beach Resort, “a family business that I started working with during Covid and never left.”
Rosenbaum did point out that she uses her maiden name professionally, “but I’m registered to vote under my married name, ‘Rosenbaum.’ ”
She is a member of the Siesta Key Chamber of Commerce, she added.