Arts & Culture

Performing Arts

• Asolo Repertory Theatre – Florida’s oldest theatre company
• Florida Studio Theatre – Foremost among many contemporary theatre productions
• Sarasota Ballet – The Gulf Coast’s first professional ballet company
• Sarasota Opera – The Gulf Coast’s first professional opera
• Sarasota Orchestra – Florida’s oldest continuing orchestra
• Venice Chorale – Promotes the art of choral singing through vocal excellence and multi-generational education
• Venice Symphony – Professional orchestra offering a variety of concerts and educational programs
• Venice Theatre – One of the largest and most active community theatres in the US

Educational Outreach

Education lies at the heart of the city’s arts community. Sarasota Orchestra and Sarasota Opera include a Youth Orchestra and a Youth Opera respectively, while the Asolo, Florida Studio, Venice, and Players theaters offer outstanding educational programs to budding playwrights and actors.

The Sarasota Ballet offers Dance – The Next Generation, an arts-oriented at-risk youth retention program now in its 16th year.

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Itzhak Perlman Music Program and Jose Carrena Ballet all offer youth educational opportunities. In keeping with the community’s rich circus heritage, the famed Sailor Circus, part of Sarasota’s Circus Arts Conservatory, is a youth program that has been amazing audiences for over 60 years.

Any Given Child

So pervasive is the arts community’s commitment to education that the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts chose Sarasota as its partner for Any Given Child, a program that establishes long-range arts curriculum for public schools. No doubt, Sarasota County will remain the capital of Florida’s Cultural Coast for years to come.