In a political climate where sharp divisions often threaten to drive us apart, it’s something of a comfort to know that Embracing Our Differences, which opens its annual art exhibition this month in Bayfront Park, continues to survive, and even thrive.

That’s in spite of the often-shifting landscape of government funding for the nonprofit, which states as its mission, “Through arts and education, we inspire kindness and respect.” For more than 20 years, the most visible sign of that mission has been the billboard-sized artworks, tied to quotations, submitted by students, adults, artists and writers around the world. Since 2024, more than 5 million people have viewed those pieces in Bayfront Park. Last year alone, there were more than 380,000 visitors.

For most of that time, EOD, as it’s often abbreviated, received funding from the Sarasota County Commission through Tourist Development Tax collections. But, “Two years ago, they changed their regulations to exclude us from funding,” explains president and CEO Sarah Wertheimer. “We complied with their requirement to have a single point of entrance, but they decided that still wasn’t going to work for them,” instead requiring paid or ticketed entrance. “We cannot do that, nor do we want to do that,” says Wertheimer. “Our goal is to bring the arts
to everyone.”

On the more positive side, EOD did receive significant state funding ($145,000) in 2025, one of only a handful of arts organizations in the Sarasota-Manatee region to get the amount requested, after scoring a perfect 100 on that grant application. For 2026, requirements are again in flux, so it’s hard to predict what amount the state might provide towards EOD’s nearly $2 million annual budget.

The bulk of that money, Wertheimer says, “is funded by wonderful institutions and individuals” who support not only the annual exhibition but the educational programs that really form the majority of the work Embracing Our Differences does.

“We devote more of our time and energy to that than the exhibition,” according to Wertheimer. “We have reading days in elementary schools, twice a year, in Sarasota, Manatee and Pinellas [where the exhibition also takes place once it comes down in Sarasota], donating tens of thousands of books focusing on kindness, respect, bullying prevention and differences of all kinds.” EOD also hosts professional development workshops for area educators throughout the year and supports Unity Day programs and coexistence clubs in area high schools.

A lot of that work is made possible by more than 500 volunteers annually, including docents trained in partnership with The Ringling while the exhibition is on display. This year, the 50 artworks on view were drawn from nearly 15,000 submissions from 124 countries, 48 states and 574 schools—quite an expansion from the first year’s 124 entries.

No matter the number of entries, though, the goal of EOD remains the same. “We really want the exhibition and all of our programming to bring the community together,” says Wertheimer, “to celebrate our differences, but also what we have in common—to celebrate that shared humanity.”

The Embracing Our Differences exhibition at Bayfront Park opens Jan. 17 and runs through April 19. For more information, visit embracingourdifferences.org.