Exhibitions and special programs planned
“As Sarasota’s first visual arts organization, Art Center Sarasota is celebrating 100 years of creativity, connection, and community with a Centennial Season packed with powerful exhibitions, vibrant events, and expanded programs for all ages,” Art Center announced this week. Launching this fall and continuing through the fall of 2026, a news release says, “Art Center Sarasota’s Centennial Season honors the organization’s first century of impact while looking ahead to the next 100 years of creativity and potential. Special Centennial Season Funds will help ensure support is directed where it can make the greatest impact,” the release adds.
“Our Centennial Season is an invitation for the entire community to celebrate Sarasota’s remarkable arts legacy at Art Center Sarasota,” said Executive Director Katherine Ceaser in the release. “This milestone honors a century of powerful art history, creativity, and community — and it also marks the beginning of our next 100 years,” Ceaser continued in the release. “The exhibitions are specifically designed to highlight our role as a community hub,” continued Ceaser. “This season, every exhibition cycle will showcase a dynamic group show highlighting the incredible talent within our community.”
The Art Center’s Centennial Season Events feature the inaugural Authors & Illustrators Book Fair (Saturday, Dec. 6, from noon to 4 p.m.), “inspiring exhibitions, engaging classes, youth and family programs, and recurring, innovative art events,” such as Art Actually, Second Fridays: Creative Happy Hour, and Saturday Night Sketch Club, the release continues.
Moreover, the release notes, “The legendary Beaux Arts Ball” — first held in the 1940s — “will be the crown jewel of the Centennial Season, dazzling Sarasota once again on March 21, 2026. The revival, located at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium, will blend spectacle, costume, creativity, performance, and celebration–bringing a historic tradition roaring into the present.”
On Thursday, Oct. 9, from 5 to 7 p.m., Art Center Sarasota formally will launch its Centennial Season with an “Opening Reception celebrating four dynamic exhibitions,” the release says. The show will run through Nov. 15, the release continues, and all works on display will be available for purchase.
“The Small Works Show, selected by artist and juror Samo Davis, will honor the power of intimate scale across mediums,” the release notes. In Gallery 1, the SARTQ Artist Collective will present Legacy x Response, “a collaborative tribute marking 100 years of Art Center Sarasota by reimagining the legacy of the Sarasota Art Association through fresh, contemporary lenses,” the release says.
The solo exhibitions will be “Earthly Glyphs by Juan Alonso-Rodríguez, whose work explores abstract geologic forms with layered cultural meaning”; andReconstruction: Mwacha Mila NiSi Mtumwa by Njeri Kinuthia, “who reflects on heritage, identity, and the power of textile traditions through intricate, mixed-media portraiture,” the release points out.
For information, visit ArtSarasota.org or call 941-365-2032.