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ARTS & CULTURE
There's more to
Sarasota than award-winning, white-sand beaches. This
sophisticated European-style city has perfected the art of
living well. View the renowned collection of Baroque paintings
at the Ringling Museum of Art, the state museum of Florida.
See rare exotic orchids at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Or
watch the dolphins cavort in the Bay aboard a sunset dinner
boat. From world-class shopping and dining to boating, golf
and tennis, Sarasota has it all.
The
cultural capital of Southwest Florida, Sarasota is a mecca for
artists, musicians, writers and patrons of the arts. The
county’s cultural attractions put those of much larger cities
to shame with two symphonies, an opera house, a world-class
ballet company, numerous playhouses and a plethora of art
galleries.
John and
Mable Ringling bequeathed to Sarasotans, among other things,
one of the most beautiful museums in the United States, with a
collection recognized internationally for its Baroque
paintings, including John Paul Rubens’ Triumph of the
Eucharist series. When the state took over the gift in 1948,
it added the exquisite 18th century Asolo Theater
from Asolo, Italy, and the Ringling Museum of the Circus.
Sarasota is
not only home to nearly four times as many performing artists
as any other part of Florida, but stage actors from around the
globe come to train at the Asolo Theater Festival, while the
Ringling School of Art and Design turns out numerous sculptors
and painters.
ART FILMS
Sarasota Film Society - Burns Court Cinema
Sarasota Film Festival
BALLET
The Sarasota Ballet
LIVE THEATRE
Asolo
Theatre
Banyan Theater Company
Florida
Studio Theatre
Golden Apple Dinner Theatre
The
Players of Sarasota
Venice Little Theater
West Coast Black Theatre Troupe
OPERA
The Sarasota Opera
SYMPHONY/MUSIC
Florida West Coast Symphony
The Gloria Musicae Singers
Jazz Club of Sarasota
Key
Chorale
Sarasota Concert Band
Sarasota Folk Club Inc.
Sarasota Pops
La Musica
Van
Wezel Performing Arts Hall
The Venice Symphony
MUSEUMS
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art
Museum of Asian Art
South Florida Museum, Bishop Planetarium
and Parker Manatee Aquarium
Sarasota Classic Car Museum
Part of the Ringlings’ generous gift was an impressive array
of objects d'art, circus memorabilia, and the palace Ca’d’Zan
(House of John), their winter residence, whose garden and
extensive grounds overlook Sarasota Bay. When the state took
over the gift in 1948, it added the exquisite 18th
century Asolo Theater from Asolo, Italy, and the Ringling
Museum of the Circus, establishing an arts infrastructure that
attracted artists and art lovers from around the world. Now
Sarasota is home to nearly four times as many performing
artists as any other part of Florida. Actors come to train at
the Asolo Theater Festival, while the Ringling School of Art
and Design turns out numerous sculptors and painters.
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