Attractions Sarasota is home to
Mote Marine Laboratory, a marine rescue, research facility, an aquarium, the
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the
Sarasota Jungle Gardens and the Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary.
Circus One of Sarasota's nicknames is "Circus City", or alternatively "The Circus Capital of the World", owing in part to John Ringling's decision to move the winter quarters of
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus to Sarasota in 1927. The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art houses the Circus Museum and the Tibbals Learning Center, established in 1948. Sarasota is also home to The Circus Arts Conservatory, which is responsible for the
tent show Circus Sarasota and the "oldest youth circus", Sailor Circus. The Showfolks Club, a social organization that also puts on an annual circus performance billed as "Sarasota's longest running circus event", is located in Sarasota. The
Circus Ring of Fame is a series of
commemorative plaques in
St. Armand's Circle, honoring prominent figures in circus history, similar to the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. Honorees include
Paul Binder,
Nik Wallenda, and
the King Charles Troupe, among over 150 others. Residents of Sarasota that have been associated with the circus include
daredevil and
Guinness World Record holder
Bello Nock, himself an honoree of the Circus Ring of Fame,
Festivals Since 1998, the city has hosted the
Sarasota Film Festival annually. The festival attracts independent films from around the world. It claims to be one of Florida's largest film festivals. In 2009 the annual
Ringling International Arts Festival, held its premier and held its closing event in the historic Asolo theater, which had been moved and rebuilt again. The historic Venetian theater now is housed in the reception building for the museum where it is used for special events as well as performances, informative purposes, and another seasonal film series hosted by the museum. Florida Studio Theatre produces the annual Sarasota Improv Festival. Founded in 2009 by Rebecca Hopkins, FST's annual Sarasota Improv Festival brings together improvisers from across the country and worldwide. The Festival has become a destination event, drawing thousands across Florida and beyond. Past performers have come from as far as Mexico, Canada, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom to perform on Florida's Gulf Coast. In 2010, the
Sarasota Chalk Festival that is held yearly in the historic area of Burns Square became the first international
street painting festival in the United States. Celebrating the sixteenth-century performance art of Italian street painting, the festival hosted Maestro Madonnaro
Edgar Mueller from Germany, who created the first street painting that changed images from day to night. The festival has a different theme each year and has introduced new techniques in street art. Other applications of street art such as
murals and "cellograff graffiti" have become companion events also produced by
Avenida de Colores, Inc. The murals are part of the "Going Vertical" project, and although it sometimes coincides with the chalk festival, it is distinct from it and often continues throughout the year. Except for a few commissioned on public property in the Palm Avenue Parking Garage, the murals are on private property and are in many sections of Sarasota and Manatee County. the Sarasota Chalk festival has relocated to
Venice, south of Sarasota. The name Sarasota Chalk Festival remains the same. It is also home to the Fabulous Arts Foundation, formerly the Harvey Milk Festival, an independent music festival in support of
civil rights, focusing on the
LGBTQ community. It has been celebrated in May annually since 2010 on the weekend closest to
Harvey Milk's birthday. It is currently the largest independent music festival in Sarasota, with thousands of attendees throughout the free, public, multi-day event that also includes gallery showings, film, and other live performances. Sarasota is home to the Whiskey Obsession Festival, the largest whiskey festival in Florida. Established in 2013, the festival features several hundred whiskies from around the world. Dozens of professional brand ambassadors and distillers participate in the festival by engaging in panel discussions, leading classes, and tastings.
Music Sarasota is the home of the
Sarasota Orchestra, which was founded by Ruth Cotton Butler in 1949 and known for years as the
Florida West Coast Symphony. It holds a three-week
Sarasota Music Festival that is recognized internationally and boasts it attracts renowned teachers and the finest students of chamber music. Sarasota also boasts a symphonic chorus, Key Chorale, and professional vocal ensemble, Choral Artists of Sarasota. The Jazz Club of Sarasota is one of the largest and most active jazz clubs in the United States and has promoted jazz events in Sarasota for 39 years.
Joe Perry of
Aerosmith,
Brian Johnson of
AC/DC,
Dickey Betts of the
Allman Brothers Band,
Donald Dunn of the
Blues Brothers and
Graeme Edge of the
Moody Blues have all settled in Sarasota.
Performing and visual arts , John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art Sarasota is home to a vibrant performing arts scene, with numerous venues dedicated to music, dance, theatre, circus arts, and more. Among its many institutions are the
Sarasota Ballet,
Sarasota Opera,
Asolo Repertory Theatre,
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, and
Florida Studio Theatre. These venues, along with others like the Players Centre for Performing Arts and Sarasota Contemporary Dance, contribute to a culturally rich and diverse arts community. Several of Sarasota's theaters have historical significance. The
Sarasota Opera House began as the Edward Theatre in 1925, hosting stars like
Elvis Presley and
Will Rogers before becoming a permanent home for the Sarasota Opera. The Historic Asolo Theater, imported from
Asolo, Italy, and reconstructed by the Ringling Museum in the 1950s, originally served Queen
Catherine Cornaro of Cyprus. In the 1980s, another Asolo Theater, part of the
Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts, was constructed around the historic
Dunfermline Opera House from Scotland, housing the
FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training and hosting film festivals and theatrical performances.
Florida Studio Theatre (FST) has preserved and repurposed several historic buildings. Its Keating Theatre, once the
Sarasota Woman's Club founded in 1903, served as the town's first library and community hub before being saved from demolition in 1976. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and later expanded. FST also acquired the Gompertz Theatre, originally a 1920s movie house that underwent various transformations before becoming part of FST in 2003. Sarasota and the Cultural Coast are home to fine art, film-making, circus history and performance, and decorative arts. The
Sarasota Art Museum and the
John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art are both in Sarasota.
Architecture A large number of homes and buildings are designed in the Italian style. Italian architecture and culture are present in the area including at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. Ringling's home,
Cà d'Zan, was mostly modeled on the Venetian. Examples of those more typically seen in the same style are the residences of Edith Ringling and of Hester Ringling Lancaster Sanford, that also are among the structures in the
Caples–Ringling Estates Historic District. Italian inspired statues are also common and the copy of Michelangelo's David at the museum is used as the symbol of Sarasota. The
Sarasota School of Architecture developed as a variant of mid-century modernist architecture. It incorporates elements of both the
Bauhaus and
Frank Lloyd Wright's "organic" architecture. The style developed as an adaptation to the area's
sub-tropical climate and used newly emerging materials that were manufactured or implemented following World War II.
Historic buildings and sites By the end of the twentieth century, many of Sarasota's more modest historical structures were demolished. Recently, two historic buildings, the
Crocker Church and the Bidwell-Wood House (the oldest remaining structure in the city), first restored by Veronica Morgan and members of the Sarasota Alliance for Historic Preservation that she founded, became city property. These structures were relocated to this park, despite protests from residents who objected to the loss of park area. In the late 1970s, Sarasota County purchased the Terrace Hotel that
Charles Ringling built and renovated it for use as a county government office building. The
adjacent courthouse that he donated to the new county in 1921 has been listed on the
National Register of Historic Places. The courthouse complex was designed by
Dwight James Baum. In the next decade, the landmark hotel built by
Owen Burns, the
El Vernona, which had been turned into apartments, became endangered. By then, it was called the John Ringling Towers and was purchased by a phosphate miner, Gardinier, who wanted to turn it into his corporate headquarters. Plans were made to restore the building. The city commissioners initially supported the plan, but lobbying to undermine the project began, and one of the commissioners changed her vote. The project was denied at the final hearing. Remarkable preservation success occurred during the 1990s when the community exhibition hall, the
Municipal Auditorium, designed by
Thomas Reed Martin and Clarence A. Martin, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and meticulously restored to its depression recovery era, 1937
WPA community project, completion status, and its architectural glory—both inside and out. The city boasts that 100,000 people use it every year and it is a boon to the community for recreation, lawn sports, as well as being heavily attended for auctions, concerts, conventions, flea markets, galas, graduations, lectures, orchid and flower shows, and a full range of trade shows of interest to the community. Later the
Federal Building, designed by George Albee Freeman (the designer of
Seagate for industrialist
Powell Crosley Jr.) and Louis A. Simon, which initially had served as the post office was restored as well. Most of the luxurious historic residences from the 1920s boom period along the northern shore of Sarasota Bay also have survived. This string of homes, built on large parcels of elevated land along the widest point of the bay, is anchored by the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art at its center. Many significant structures from the comparatively recent "Sarasota School of Architecture" period of the mid-twentieth century, however, have not survived. Since they do not qualify under the age criteria set for historic preservation nominations, their historical aspect often escapes public recognition. Others frequently are threatened by demolition plans for new development without consideration of their cultural and historical importance to the community instead of motivating the implementation of plans to retain the buildings and integrate them into new plans. In 2006, the Sarasota County School Board slated one of
Paul Rudolph's largest Sarasota projects,
Riverview High School, for demolition. The board decided despite protests by many community members, including architects, historic preservationists, and urban planners. Others supported the demolition as they believed the structure was no longer functional. The issue was divisive. The
World Monuments Fund included the school on its
2008 Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in the category
Main Street Modern. Following a March 2007
charrette led by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, a proposal was advanced to renovate and preserve Rudolph's buildings. The school board decided to allow a year to consider implementing the innovative plan proposed to preserve the buildings, which would include building a parking garage with playing fields above it rather than demolishing the structures. In early June 2008, the school board voted in a 3–2 decision to allow the demolition; School board members Shirley Brown, Caroline Zucker and Frank Kovatch voted against preserving the historic high school. This decision was that school would be demolished and that a parking lot would replace it. One year later, in June 2009, Riverview High School was demolished. In December 2019, a former
Sarasota High School facility was transformed into the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College. The 93-year-old building was renovated to include 80,000 square feet for the museum's campus with about 15,000 square feet for exhibitions, costing about $30 million according to the president of
Ringling College, Larry Thompson.
Breaking Amish: Brave New World, a television series of
scripted reality is set in Pinecraft. It is a spin-off of
Breaking Amish. The Rosemary District was an African American community and is home to the Boulevard of the Arts.
Newtown is predominantly and historically African American. ==Sports==