Artis-Naples

The state has issued the second and final round of cultural and museum grants for the fiscal year. Four Southwest Florida arts organizations received financial support – South Florida State College in Highlands County, the Military Heritage Museum in Punta Gorda and the “Ding” Darling Wildlife Society and Shell Museum and Educational Foundation on Sanibel Island. No organizations in Sarasota, DeSoto, Glades, Hendry or Collier counties shared in this round of grants.

Themed “To Light: The Art of Hope,” Artis-Naples 2026-27 season brings together wide-ranging, multidisciplinary programs that explore resilience, renewal and the many ways artists respond to darkness with imagination and possibility. Highlights include Artistic and Music Director Alexander Shelley leading the Naples Philharmonic through all nine of Beethoven's symphonies in conjunction with the season-long commemoration of the composer 200 years after his death, plus major exhibitions in The Baker Museum and performances by Yo-Yo Ma, Audra McDonald, Itzhak Perlman, Sutton Foster and Kelli O'Hara.

Only 17 Southwest Florida arts organizations to share in $65.9 million in arts funding approved by Legislature for 2026-2027. Again this year, some major arts organizations in Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee and Collier counties have been left on the outside looking in.

Reginald O’Neal’s best-known body of work is his Jazz Figurines Series. Paintings and a sculpture from that series are on view in Hayes Hall at Artis-Naples. “The fact that it has a musical connection made it feel really appropriate for our unique institutional context here,” said Baker Museum Chief Curator Courtney McNeil. The series originated from a random stop at a souvenir shop on a visit to New Orleans in 2022.

The 2026 Naples International Film Festival is set to take place October 22nd through the 25th at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in the Mercato. Artis—Naples is inviting filmmakers to submit work in five categories: Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Short Films, Student Filmmaker Showcase K through 12 and its College/University Student Filmmaker Showcase.

The $115.5 billion budget signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis includes more than $18 million for 184 arts organizations. Most Southwest Florida arts and culture organizations remain on the outside looking in.

Naples Ballet performs the 'Sleeping Beauty' ballet in Hayes Hall at Artis Naples on Thursday, May 15 and Gulfshore Opera’s 'Journey Through the Americas'” tours three outdoor bandshells and a theater in Punta Gorda May 14-18.

An exhibition titled “Prison Nation,” is now at the Baker Museum at Artis-Naples. Through photography, the exhibition creates a visual record of the national crisis of mass incarceration. We talk with the exhibition’s co-curator Nicole Fleetwood, Ph.D., who will deliver a lecture about the exhibition Aug. 31 at the Baker Museum.

In July Artis-Naples announced full plans for the coming 2023-24 visual and performing arts season. The unifying theme this year is “Artistic Senses – See, Hear, Taste,” and seeks to transcend the boundaries between artistic disciples in a way that engages the senses on multiple levels.

Israel celebrates its 75th birthday this year. The grandson of David Ben Gurion, the country’s first prime minister, was in Naples today to mark it.