The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is known for many things: world-class exhibitions, sprawling bayfront gardens punctuated with architectural "oohs" and "aahs," the iconic David statue towering above the courtyard, only a few inches shorter than Michelangelo’s original in Italy, and its Art of Performance Series, an annual curated lineup of live performances featuring acclaimed artists from our locality and beyond. Curated by Elizabeth Doud, this newly released 2026-2027 season’s programming continues the series’ reputation for bringing internationally recognized experimental and interdisciplinary work to Sarasota while also deepening its investment in artists and collaborations rooted closer to home.

The “Ringling Revealed—Where Wonder Begins” kickoff celebration on Oct. 16, 2026, coincides with The Ringling’s Wonder Symposium and will see Grammy-nominated Cuban vocalist José “Pepito” Gomez and his ensemble La Royal Orquesta bringing the golden-era mambo sound of 1950s Cuba to the Museum of Art Courtyard.  

The series pivots with French choreographer and dance artist Leïla Ka’s Maldonne, running Oct. 28–30, 2026. Her work has garnered international attention for its explorations of femininity, identity and autonomy, with one New York publication describing her work as a “punch in the gut,” and “powerfully theatrical and fearsomely precise.” In Maldonne, five dancers move through an ever-shifting landscape of 40 secondhand dresses—exchanging, layering and discarding the garments as “breath, impact and friction” become part of the score itself.

Jazz vocalist and composer Georgia Heers arrives Nov. 13, 2026, adding The Ringling to a repertoire of venues including The Kennedy Center, Mezzrow, Dizzy’s Club and Minton’s Playhouse along musicians described as some of the best of our time like trumpeter Terrell Stafford, pianist Cyrus Chestnut and guitarist and vocalist Camila Meza. Heers was featured in George Clooney’s Broadway adaptation of Goodnight, and Good Luck—the first Broadway play ever broadcast on national television—and her performance promises smoky vocals and modern jazz virtuosity. 

Bob Dylan called Valerie June one of his favorite contemporary artists, and perhaps she’ll become yours as well. The tree-time Grammy nominee comes to town Dec. 18, 2026, bringing her distinctive blend of Appalachian folk, blues, soul, gospel and indie rock. June has written for Mavis Staples and performs on the acoustic and electric guitar, five-string banjo and the eclectic banjolele. Expect an evening that feels equally rooted in front-porch Americana and cosmically minded, genre-defying ballads.

The spring’s foray into multimedia experimentation begins on Feb. 10 and 11, 2027, with the theater collective Agrupación Señor Serrano’s Birdie—inspired loosely by the ominous atmosphere of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds—delivering a haunting performance that combines live action, video projection, soundscapes, and more than 2,000 miniature figures. The result is an uncanny reflection on global inequality and resilience, “inviting audiences to question what they see and how meaning is constructed.”

Later the same month, puppeteer and multimedia artist Robin Frohardt stages The Shopping Center of the Universe at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium as part of a collaboration with the Science and Environment Council for EcoSummit 2027. The Feb. 24, 2027 production uses puppetry, film, text and music to dissect consumer culture, framing the big-box store as the literal and figurative center of the world, revealing its impact on identity, perception and humanity’s relationship with nature. 

The season also spotlights work being developed inside The Ringling itself. Current Historic Asolo Theater artist-in-residence and internationally recognized dance artist LaMichael Leonard, Jr. will debut Skin Noise March 16-18, 26 and 27, 2027, a choreographic research project investigating the body as a “living archive” shaped by the forces of culture, family, politics, and history which are “continuously reinscribed through movement”. 

Wrapping up the series April 16–18 are The Kif Kif Sisters—known for their funny and family-friendly circus shows combining clowning, dance, and physical theater—with Returns Department, a production blending robotics, puppetry, physical theater and clowning into an absurdist meditation on modern consumerism inspired by Charlie Chaplin and comic strips. Timed to coincide with World Circus Day, the performance continues The Ringling’s long-running relationship with circus arts while pushing the medium into contemporary territory as audiences take a playful behind-the-scenes look at a production line while making contact with the implications of what we return. 

The season concludes April 30, 2027, with MicroWIP, the Historic Asolo Theater’s annual showcase of ten-minutes-max of locally developed works-in-progress from Sarasota and Manatee County artists. Now entering its fifth year, the program has become one of the clearest reflections of The Ringling’s effort to cultivate experimental performance not just on its stages, but within the region’s own creative community.

For more information, go to ringling.org