Where Art Meets Business: Cultural Touchpoints for Group Experiences

With its rich artistic history and present-day arts scene, it's no surprise how the Sarasota area got its nickname: Florida’s Cultural Coast®. And when you hold your group's meeting or event here, it's seamless to incorporate this creativity and inspire your attendees to use their imagination. 

Several cultural venues, including the Sarasota Art Museum and the historic Sarasota Opera House, rent out space for events, give private tours or offer discounted theater tickets to groups. Read on to learn more about their offerings to enhance your group’s cultural experience.

Museum Venues

Not limited to school field trips, museums make a great location for company retreats, workshops and events. Bonus: The artwork can spark new ideas for your team to bring back to the office. Sarasota has two museums in historic venues that offer meeting and event spaces.

The Ringling, named for John and Mable Ringling who built and owned the estate, includes several buildings and museums, including a multi-gallery art collection, a circus museum and the couple’s 1926 Venetian-style mansion on Sarasota Bay. While not all areas are available for events, three unique spaces are available. Choose from two outdoor venues—the large Museum of Art Courtyard and a petite patio ideal for seated dinner parties. An indoor room inside the Museum of Art, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Foundation Lecture Hall, is perfect for daytime meetings. 

Treat your attendees to a visit to the museum grounds and collections before or after your event. The Ringling offers discounted admission for groups of 20 or more when you book in advance. For an additional fee, schedule a private tour of the Museum of Art. 

Located in the former Sarasota High School, Sarasota Art Museum has inspiring architecture along with its rotating modern art exhibitions. Eight rentable venues range from a colorful loggia that seats 20 to the 140-seat mid-century modern Thomas McGuire Hall adorned with a vibrant mural to the palm-tree strewn plaza that accommodates 300 reception-style.

Theater Venues 

Stage your next event at one of Sarasota County’s theatrical houses. Sarasota Opera House, Florida Studio Theatre and Westcoast Black Theatre are all conveniently located in the downtown Sarasota area and have multiple venues for rent. Some also offer additional perks for groups.

The iconic Sarasota Opera House, with its Mediterranean Revival exterior and ornate Art Deco interior, makes a dramatic and stimulating place to host a meeting or event. The complex contains the 1,119-seat theater, Lee and Bob Peterson Great Room, with seating for up to 339 people, and the Donna Wolf Steigerwaldt Courtyard, along with four additional spaces of varying sizes.

The Sarasota Opera House also gives private backstage tours to groups of 10 or more at a nominal cost.

 Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe has two theaters that can be rented: the 204-seat Donnelly Family Theatre and the more intimate 90-seat Black Box theater. Both spaces are connected to a lobby with a bar. The campus’ Binz Building is equipped with sliding walls to accommodate different size groups and create breakout rooms, and its third-floor rooftop terrace can host up to 250 guests reception-style. 

If you’d like to take in a performance as part of your experience, the theater provides discounted tickets to groups of 15 or more. 

 Situated in the heart of Sarasota, the Florida Studio Theatre presents five theater venues—three 100-seat dinner theaters and two traditional theaters. Two other spaces appropriate for meetings and events are The Green Room Café, which can hold up to 45 seated guests, and the slightly smaller Bea Friedman Room, with space for 30 attendees.

Let Sarasota’s artistic personality color your next meeting or event and inspire your attendees long after they’ve returned home.