Florida Arts: The Statewide Museum and Performing Arts Guides

The Florida arts section holds two statewide guides: the Florida museums overview, on the museums the state runs or funds, and the Florida performing arts overview, on the big concert halls, theaters and the public money behind them.

The Florida museums overview follows the state museum system, from the Tallahassee history museums run by the Department of State to The Ringling in Sarasota, with hours, admission and fall 2026 closures. The Florida performing arts overview covers the large venues such as the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami and the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, along with the arts economy and grant figures that state and federal agencies publish.

This hub answers the questions that cut across both guides: which Florida agency supports the arts and how to reach it, how state arts grants work and when the next cycle runs, where the State Art Museum of Florida is and what it costs, which halls anchor the performing arts, and how Florida honors its artists. Every date, fee and phone number here comes from the agency or the institution itself.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida Department of State Division of Arts and Culture website and the museum and venue websites cited below.

The Florida Division of Arts and Culture, within the Department of State, runs the state's arts grants and programs from 500 South Bronough Street in Tallahassee, phone 850-245-6470 (Division of Arts and Culture).

The division's Tallahassee mailing address is the R.A. Gray Building, 500 South Bronough Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399 (Division of Arts and Culture).

The Division of Arts and Culture states its purpose as promoting arts and culture as essential to quality of life for all Floridians (Division of Arts and Culture). Its work falls into three groups: grants (General Program Support, Specific Cultural Projects, Cultural Facilities, the Cultural Endowment and America 250 Florida grants), programs (the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, Art in State Buildings, Poetry Out Loud, Florida's Poet Laureate, the Department of State art collection, Creative Forces and the Florida Folklife Program) and resources such as the Florida arts license plate and a directory of local arts agencies. The division's pages also cover the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and Citizens for Florida Arts and Culture, Inc.

The Department of State sits under Secretary of State Cord Byrd, and the division lists a fax line of 850-245-6454 beside its main number (Division of Arts and Culture). The division's contact menu sorts help by program, grants and the office of the director.

Applications for Florida's General Program Support grants for fiscal year 2027-2028 are closed, and the next cycle's grant period runs July 1, 2028 through June 30, 2029 (General Program Support).

The next Florida application deadline is posted only as to be determined. General Program Support funds the general program activities, as opposed to a specific project, of Florida arts and cultural organizations, public and private. Discipline-based support covers dance, literature, media arts, museum, music, presenter, theatre, traditional arts and visual arts programming, and separate tracks serve designated Local Arts Agencies, State Service Organizations and arts in education groups (General Program Support).

The eligibility rules are concrete. An applicant must be a public entity or a Florida nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation as of the deadline, must have at least one year of completed arts and cultural programming, must be registered and active with the Florida Division of Corporations, must be registered as a vendor with the Department of Financial Services and must have a UEI number (General Program Support).

The State Art Museum of Florida is The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, which carries the Florida State University name alongside that title and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (The Ringling).

The standard Ringling ticket covers the Museum of Art, the Circus Museum and the Bayfront Gardens but not the Ca' d'Zan mansion; it costs $30 for adults and $5 for ages 6 to 17, and children under 6 enter free (The Ringling). On Mondays the Museum of Art, the Bayfront Gardens and the Glass Pavilion are free to the public, and on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. admission to the Museum of Art and gardens is discounted (The Ringling; The Ringling). The museum closes on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Fall 2026 brings a short change in Sarasota: the Historic Circus Galleries close for maintenance November 3 to 9, museum admission drops to $25 from November 3 to 8, and on Monday, November 9, 2026 admission is $15 (The Ringling). The Ringling also warns that local construction on US 41 near the museum may require alternative routes, with Bay Shore Road reached via College Drive from the north or via Myrtle Street, 47th Street or Mecca Drive from the south (The Ringling).

In Tallahassee, the Museum of Florida History is closed while the plaza level of the R.A. Gray Building is repaired, and during the temporary closure its visit page points to the Knott House Museum, the Union Bank Museum, Museum on the Move and classroom programs (Museum of Florida History). The Florida museums overview guide has hours and prices for the Tallahassee state museums and Mission San Luis.

The Adrienne Arsht Center at 1300 Biscayne Boulevard in Miami, which calls itself one of the largest performing arts centers anywhere, opened in 2006 with a 2,400-seat opera house and a 2,200-seat concert hall (Adrienne Arsht Center).

The Arsht Center covers 570,000 square feet along Biscayne Boulevard between N.E. 13th and 14th Streets. Its Ziff Ballet Opera House seats 2,400, the Knight Concert Hall seats 2,200 and the Carnival Studio Theater is a black-box space designed for up to 300 seats, and the total project expense was $472 million, built as Miami-Dade County's largest-ever public and private partnership after a design phase from 1996 to 1999 and construction from 2001 to 2006 (Adrienne Arsht Center). The Arsht box office phone is 305.949.6722.

The names on the two official pages do not match: the Arsht fact sheet credits the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council (Adrienne Arsht Center), while the Department of State's current pages name the Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture (Division of Arts and Culture).

The Florida performing arts overview guide covers the Arsht Center, the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale and other Florida halls, with the statewide arts economy figures.

Florida honors artists through the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, set up by the Florida Legislature in 1986, through the honorary position of Florida Poet Laureate and through the Florida Folklife Program's apprenticeships, all run by the Department of State (Florida Artists Hall of Fame).

The Florida Artists Hall of Fame recognizes people, living or deceased, who made significant contributions to the arts in Florida. Its 2025 inductees were John Anderson, Alvin Downing, Brian Kelley and Jim Morrison, and the next Florida nomination deadline is July 31, 2027 at 5:00 p.m. (Florida Artists Hall of Fame). Nominations must be completed through an online form, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture reviews them and makes recommendations to the Secretary of State.

The Florida Poet Laureate promotes reading, writing and the appreciation of poetry, and state poets laureate must serve a term of four years (Florida Poet Laureate). The page presents Peter Meinke, named by Governor Rick Scott in June 2015, and lists no later appointment.

The Florida Folklife Program documents, presents and preserves Florida folklife and traditional culture, and it has announced its 2025-26 Folklife Apprenticeship teams, with a link to the full list of awardees on the program page (Florida Folklife Program).

Two Florida arts guides sit under this hub: the Florida museums overview for state and university museums and the Florida performing arts overview for concert halls, theaters and arts funding.

Readers planning a Florida museum visit should start with the Florida museums overview; readers looking at Florida stages, venue sizes or the arts economy should go to the Florida performing arts overview.