City Sarasota, Florida, USA
Sarasota, Florida, is known for being a cultural mecca for about a century. The well-known Edward Theatre built in 1925 hosted the concerts of Tommy Dorsey, Will Rodgers, and Elvis Presley. The theatre was restored and is now the part of the National Register of Historic Places. It is also sometimes used by the Sarasota Opera for its concerts.
Another historical destination of the city is John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art that was established back in 1927. The museum is considered the official state art museum for Florida and hosts European paintings as well as Cypriot antiquities, as well as American, Asian, and contemporary art. The museum has a collection of the pictures of the famous artists as Benjamin West, Marcel Duchamp, Diego Velázquez, Rosa Bonheur, Gianlorenzo Bernini, Paolo Veronese, Nicolas Poussin, Joseph Wright of Derby, Giuliano Finelli, Frans Hals, Thomas Gainsborough, Eugène Boudin, Lucas Cranach the Elder, and Benedetto Pagni.
The Van Wezel, Performing Arts Hall was built in the 1960s under the initiation of Van Wezels.
The Florida State University Center for the Performing Arts hosted the Asolo Theatre. That multi-theatre complex is located between Bay Shore Road and Tamiami Trail. The venue is also the home for Florida State University's MFA Acting program spectacles and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training sessions. Moreover, it was the home for the Sarasota French Film Festival for several years as well.
Another famous cultural spot of Sarasota is Florida Studio Theatre (FST) that was established in 1973 and is now still producing musicals, contemporary plays, and musical revues. Nowadays, four separate theatres are operating under the FST management: the Gompertz Mainstage, the Keating Mainstage, the Goldstein Cabaret, and the John C. Court Cabaret.
Moreover, Sarasota is famous for its musical venues as well. For instance, the Sarasota Ballet was founded back in 1990 by former ballerina Jean Allenby-Weidner. The company now has 56 dancers, the majority of which are mostly young Americans. Among the leader dancers, there are Victoria Hulland, Danielle Brown, Kate Honea, Logan Learned, Ricardo Graziano, and Ricardo Rhodes.
The Asolo Repertory Theatre , which is also known as Asolo Rep , is a professional theatre that was established in 1798 by Italian impresario Antonio Locatelli. That is now regarded as the largest Repertory theatre in the Southeastern United States.
The Sarasota Opera is the opera house that was established under the control of the Asolo Opera Guild in 1974.
Moreover, Sarasota has Mote Marine Laboratory located on the territory of the city. That is a non-for-profit marine research organization that has several campuses across the United States: Sarasota County, Boca Grande, Florida, and the Florida Keys. When it was first founded by Dr. Eugenie Clark, it was named as the Cape Haze Marine Laboratory up until 1967. All the research data gained by the laboratory is then translated for the public use.