Sarasota County’s hot topic remains, as always, growth. And the arts and cultural portion of our community is no exception, with a number of building projects and high-profile capital campaigns with combined fundraising goals of $975 million on the horizon. Here’s a look at what’s planned to keep our arts reputation growing and glowing.

Sarasota Orchestra Music Center

The Sarasota Orchestra broke new ground last February with a record-breaking investment of $60 million by an anonymous donor to advance the planning and construction of its new music center at 5701 Fruitville Road. It was one of the largest gifts to any orchestra in the country and an historic philanthropic figure for Florida performing arts organizations.

That eye-popping amount was followed in May by a $10 million gift toward the center from longtime orchestra supporters Jack and Priscilla Schlegel. Combined, those two gifts put the orchestra in a strong position as it plans to transform the 32-acre site at estimated costs of between $375 million and $425 million, with a final project goal to be determined in early 2026.

Aside from money matters, the orchestra has also named its design architect, William Rawn Associates and HKS; its acoustician and theater planners, Stages Consultants; and its landscape architect, OJB Landscape Architecture. President and CEO Joe McKenna said at press time that the project was just about ready to enter the design development phase, with public updates expected in the fall.

Included in that design: an 1,800-seat concert hall, 700-seat flexible-use performance space (which will also host other performing arts organizations’ events), native landscaping to create a park-like setting, and multiple rehearsal and practice rooms, along with a music library. McKenna says, “The orchestra is grounded both in performance and education—our two pillars—and the design embraces both.”

The orchestra has long craved its own concert hall, with both climate change concerns and limited available performance dates complicating its use of the bayfront Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall as a rental space. “We need to solve that for the betterment of the orchestra,” McKenna says. “And we always approach this as a music center for the community and region, a way to support others, too. As Sarasota has grown and changed and will continue to, the orchestra’s facilities need to be commensurate.” The goal is to break ground in the first quarter of 2027.

What’s New

Construction of an 1,800-seat concert hall and music center on 32 acres at 5701 Fruitville Road

Fundraising goal: Between $375 million and $425 million; $70 million raised in 2025

Groundbreaking: Beginning of 2027

Sarasota Performing Arts Center

Replacement for the aging Van Wezel 

Also driven by concerns over the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall’s endangered waterfront location, as well as by growth, change and the economic realities of competing with larger regional theaters for big Broadway touring productions, the Sarasota Performing Arts Center is a work still in its early stages, more than a decade after first being discussed.

Conceived as part of the Bay Park Master Plan transforming the 53-acre property along U.S. 41 between Sixth and 10th streets, the proposed center is designed as a planned public-private partnership through an implementation agreement using a TIF (Tax Increment Funding) mechanism as well as philanthropy. Both Sarasota County leaders and the City of Sarasota would share control of the monies received through the TIF, and county leaders have indicated less confirmed support of a performing arts center than the city, which could pose big financial problems. The project also hit something of a pause button while awaiting a committee report on the future of the existing Van Wezel.

Dubbed the Purple Ribbon Committee, the members spent months receiving community input and discussing possible uses for the Van Wezel, along with options to protect it from weather damage like it received last year from hurricanes Helene and Milton. Their report, suggesting the 55-year-old hall be maintained to continue operations until a new center can be built, was accepted by the city commission in August. But the report also noted that, moving forward, the current Van Wezel is outdated, endangered and inadequate. Further action by the city regarding plans or approval for the new center awaits.

The performing arts center foundation has not yet publicly launched a capital campaign, awaiting that final implementation agreement. Director of communications Laura Ansel says that the foundation has been doing “’quiet-phase work, focused on building our infrastructure and getting our team ready for long-term success as we prepare to engage transformational philanthropic partners,” adding Kelly Addington to its staff as chief development officer last spring. The foundation also selected the Renzo Piano Building Workshop as project architect, in collaboration with Sweet Sparkman Architecture & Interiors.

The overall design (pictured at top) has changed from its original concept (going from four buildings to two, including a 2,700-seat main theater), and you can expect more changes to come as this complex, multi-million-dollar project (the figure could hit $407 million) develops. At press time, just over $23 million in donations had been announced.

What’s New

Approval in August 2025 that the 55-year-old Van Wezel be maintained to continue operations until a new center can be built

Goal: a new performing arts center with two buildings, including a 2,700-seat theater

Estimated cost: $407 million as a public/private partnership using TIF funds and philanthropy

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Master Plan Phase Two

Selby Gardens’ supporters and visitors were thrilled when Phase One of its master plan opened in 2024 with the LEAF (Living Energy Access Facility) housing a garden-to-plate restaurant, a new gift shop, and a more than 50,000-square-foot solar array on the roof, along with a new welcome center, new landscaping and a plant research center. Now it’s ready for ground-breaking on Phase Two before the end of the year after approval by the city’s planning commission last summer.

According to president and CEO Jennifer Rominiecki, the next part of the overall plan will focus on “creating a new, hurricane-resilient glass house complex to house all our living research collections. That consists of more than 20,000 plants, including the best scientifically documented collection of orchids and bromeliads in the world.” Right now, the public can see less than 5 percent of that collection, she says.

Adjacent to that complex will be an indoor-outdoor learning pavilion for the gardens’ education programs, new landscape features and more gardens, “filling the footprint of the old glass house structures, which are past their useful life and will come down,” Rominiecki explains. The Phase Two goal is $60.9 million, of which $50.4 million has already been raised. (Counting Phases One and Two together, Selby has raised $115 million in all, with 99 percent of that figure coming from the private sector.)

Rominiecki says the new conservatory complex “will showcase innovation with both resilience and sustainability, using 100 percent renewable energy. It’s never been done before; most glass houses at other gardens are from the Victorian era. No one has seen all of our treasures; to be able to share nearly 100 percent is just so exciting.”

BTW, there is a Phase Three to the master plan, which includes unifying all the pathways and making them fully accessible, fixing dockage and seawalls, and doing a full historic restoration of the Payne Mansion (the gardens’ Museum of Botany and the Arts) on the property. Stay tuned for more on that after completion of Phase Two, which is expected by the end of 2027.

What’s New

Phase Two: Building a hurricane-resilient glass house complex for living research collections of more than 20,000 plants; learning pavilion; landscaping

Phase Two total cost:  $60.9 million, of which $50.4 million has already been raised

Phase Two completion: End of 2027

Florida Studio Theatre McGillicuddy Arts Plaza

By the time you read this, ground may have already been broken for this FST project on downtown Sarasota’s First Street. Eventually, expansion will grow the company from its current five theaters to a total of eight (adding a 237-seat second mainstage and two cabaret spaces with 100 seats each). But before that takes place, what comes first in the $57 million plan is housing.

FST’s managing director Rebecca Hopkins says that’s the driving need for the more than 150 guest artists per year, plus staff, that make the year-round theater season possible. “We have 18 different properties throughout downtown,” she says, “but they’re older, and we knew we either needed to renovate or build new. The opportunity to consolidate into one location downtown started driving the ball. And along with that, we needed parking.”

But as discussions continued, theater management realized they also needed more performing space. When the company opened the
Hegner Wing, the new Gompertz Theatre and the Court Theatre more than a decade ago, leaders thought they had 10 years before capping out with subscription ticket sales. But the cabarets capped out early, with performances already running 52 weeks a year.

Hopkins says, “The question became: How do we make sure we have enough room for all our programs and audiences? Our philosophy has been if the community wants it, the community will pay for it. And they are,” she adds, with generous support from longtime donors like Dennis and Graci McGillicuddy, Patrick and Mary Mulva, Jack and Priscilla Schlegel, Ed and Susan Maier and a raft of others, along with two appropriations from the state and a $150,000 gift from the Community Foundation’s Muriel O’Neil Fund for the Performing Arts.

That outpouring of support means that the project’s Phase One goal of $46 million had been met as of September. The eight-story building at 1265 First St. (which will include 135 parking spaces) is “the biggest thing we’ve ever built,” Hopkins says. “We can’t open the whole building all at once, operationally. The first phase is housing and parking—we needed those yesterday—and then a year later we’ll open the two cabarets, and about a year after that the mainstage.” As far as the design, she says, it will feel like FST, but newer. Planned opening date for Phase One: January of 2027.

What’s New

Expanding to eight theaters from five and adding housing and parking for 150 visiting artists a year,  plus staff.

Total Cost: $57 million

Phase One fundraising goal: $46 million (reached in September); opening date:
January 2027

Phase Two fundraising goal: $5 million, for two cabaret theaters and restaurant; opening date early 2028

Phase Three fundraising goal: $6 million, for new mainstage theater; opening date early 2029

Venice Theatre Jervey Theatre Rebuild

Unlike the other projects mentioned here, Venice Theatre’s construction process has not necessarily been spurred by growth, whether present or future. Rather, it stems from the destruction Hurricane Ian wreaked on its mainstage theater back in 2022.

“I value all the projects going on right now,” says executive director Kristofer Geddie. “But we are not just any capital campaign. We are doing this to rebuild and to strengthen our community’s connection to Venice Theatre.” Without the storm, “I don’t know if we would have decided to rebuild the Jervey. In fact, we were looking at another capital campaign, to restore and rebuild our Raymond Center for educational purposes, but because of Hurricane Ian we had to pivot.”

While VT has been able to continue its performance and education programs at the Raymond and the smaller Pinkerton Theatre, Geddie and his team have been working hard to raise the $25 million needed for restoration of the Jervey. This past summer, they had attained a little over $20 million of that goal, thanks to significant gifts like $250,000 from the Pinkerton family, longtime VT supporters who called on the community to match their donation. The new funding follows both a $350,000 grant from the State of Florida and a $125,000 Venice City Match that took place over the summer.

To raise the remainder of the funding needed, Geddie says they are not leaving any stone unturned. “We’re looking for grants, a name-a-seat campaign, everything,” he says. “We’ve been awarded some Resilient SRQ funds but are waiting for details on that.”

In the meantime, VT patrons’ spirits have been raised at the same time as the new steel beams for the Jervey. “We need to close in the building and then fill the theater—seating, floors, signage, audiovisual equipment,” says Geddie. While he would love to see the Jervey hosting the June 2026 aactWorldFestival, a community theater festival presenting shows from around the globe, he says that will take place at Venice Theatre no matter in what spaces. But, “We do definitely plan on being back in the Jervey in our 77th season,” which will start in 2027.

What’s New

Restoring the hurricane-damaged Jervey Theatre

Fundraising goal: $25 million; $20 million raised by August 2025

Reopening date: 2027

WORK IN PROGRESS

The Players’ Payne Park Auditorium Renovation

hen venerable community theater organization The Players secured a 30-year lease on this Payne Park property from the city, it announced that a $2.5 million renovation of the 1960s-era auditorium would adapt the building for use as a 200-seat theater venue, with a new lobby, expanded restrooms, and about 250 parking spaces available. A design by Fleischman Garcia Maslowski Architects was presented, along with the possibility of other small arts groups sometimes using the space, timed around the Players season of productions.

The Players website says the project is “coming in late 2026,” and that may hold true. But at press time, Players CEO William Skaggs said that “some puzzle pieces” in the project were still moving around, and the Players weren’t yet ready to comment more for this story.