There is 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

Sumphony / 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 18^th 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.