Your Top 9 Things to Do: April 11-17
Sarasota Film Festival
Thru April 14
The star-filled annual festival continues with the Cinema Tropicale party at The Overton Friday night and the closing night film, the dark comedy Phil, Saturday night at the Opera House with director and star Greg Kinnear—plus dozens of feature films and documentaries in between. Find the complete schedule here.
Inspire Sarasota Family Festival
April 13
Try out a musical instrument at the Sarasota Orchestra “petting zoo,” take a dance lesson from Sarasota Contemporary Dance, get a free book and participate in a family yoga session at Selby Public Library, plus enjoy performances by more than a dozen school ensembles—it’s all part of the free annual Inspire Family Festival presented by the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County at Five Points Park.
27th Annual Shark’s Tooth Festival
April 12-14
A springtime tradition in Venice, the Sharks Tooth Capital of the World. Thousands flock to the Venice Airport Festival Grounds for three days of live music, foods, arts and crafts, a kid-friendly game area, and the world’s most comprehensive offerings of shark’s teeth and other fossils for purchase. Proceeds directly benefit the athletes at Special Olympics Florida - Sarasota County.
Garden Music at Selby Gardens presents The Hydramatic
April 14
The soul, funk and R&B sounds of The Hydramatic will jazz up Selby Gardens’ monthly outdoor concert under the banyan trees. Included with your admission, and Michael’s On East will be grilling.
The Second City: It’s Not You, It’s Me
April 16
Chicago’s legendary comedy club brings its latest show—a laugh-filled look at “heartbreak, missed connections and the mire of human relationships”—to the Van Wezel.
“Fourth Quarter: Senior Athletes, Their Indomitable Spirit”
Opening April 13
An exhibit of striking photographs of amateur athletes in their 70s, 80s and even 90s, captured by award-winning photojournalist David Burnett, opens Saturday at The Ringling. Burnett will be on hand for a panel discussion on current trends in photography at 4 p.m. that day in the museum’s Chao Lecture Hall. It’s part of the Greenfield Prize Weekend presented by the Hermitage Artist Retreat; Burnett’s photo exhibit is the result of the $30,000 Greenfield Prize he was awarded in 2017. We talked with Burnett here.
La Musica International Chamber Music Festival
April 8-17
The 33rd annual fest promises to be “Truthful & Timeless” in concerts at the Sarasota Opera House. Expect to hear works by Beethoven, Dvorak, Mozart, Handel, Brahms, Debussy, Schumann and Schoenberg, among many others; there are also several social opportunities to meet with the artists. Details can be found here.
Ed Asner and Tovah Feldshuh in The Soap Myth
April 16
The theater and television greats present a concert reading of the 2012 off-Broadway play about the friendship that develops between a young Jewish journalist and Holocaust survivor and the evil of antisemitism masquerading as Holocaust denial. Presented by the Sarasota Opera House in conjunction with the Florida Holocaust Museum and the Tampa Jewish Community Centers & Federation.
Moving Ethos Dance Company: girlwoman
April 12-13
A world premiere work by the Sarasota-based contemporary dance troupe, the culmination of the Ringling Museum’s inaugural six-month Spotlight Florida residency presented at the Historic Asolo Theater.