Featured Events in Sarasota in March 2025 (May Updated)

You and a guest are invited to join President Bruce Jarrell for an All-Star afternoon of baseball, food, drinks, and fun as we cheer on our Baltimore Orioles in an exciting pre-season showdown against the Pittsburgh Pirates! Enjoy unmatched hospitality with UMB friends and peers in our private suite. Information Source: University of Maryland, Baltimore | eventbrite

Excuse me, we have an announcement! “Wicked” will fly into our next Movies Under the Stars on The Green – because pink goes good with green. Join us Friday, March 28 starting at 7 pm for face painting, character meet & greets and onsite concessions before the movie begins after sunset around 8 pm. Movies Under the Stars is held the fourth Friday of every month on The Green at UTC, directly in front of The Paper Store. Families and friends of all ages are invited to bring lawn chairs and blankets. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Information Source: University Town Center | eventbrite

Join Dan Latham, former Director of Converse's multimillion-dollar Innovation Center, and Executive Director Virginia Shearer for an engaging conversation inspired by Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks. Learn about Latham's first-hand experience developing footwear for leading brands, including Nike, Timberland, and Converse, and how exciting innovations transform fashion and shoe design on a global scale. As this talk will be exploring works in the galleries, there will be limited capacity and standing room only. Meet in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby. About Dan Latham Dan Latham is a recently retired engineer and product developer for some of the world’s most recognized shoe brands, having worked with Stride Rite, LL Bean, Timberland, Rockport, Nike and Converse over an extensive 45-year career. After entering the footwear industry as a leather cutter and pattern maker, he went on to plan and oversee production in Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Throughout this work, the need to incorporate sustainable models remained a constant priority. Latham witnessed the growth of Nike’s Material Sustainability Index and, less than 10 years later, was part of the team that created Timberland’s Green Index: the first environmental scale for footwear made visible to the public. Information Source: Sarasota Art Museum | eventbrite

Join us for UTC FIT. Every Saturday morning, we’re bringing you a FREE outdoor group workout class, led by instructors from our local fitness community. We’ll mix it up with different styles and intensities, so there’s sure to be something for everyone. This week’s UTC FIT powered by Nathan Benderson Park is with Camp Gladiator Sarasota offering a fun, full-body workout featuring all bodyweight exercises in a combination of cardio and strength movements. Come enjoy a free workout with beats by DJ Vibez. No registration is required; participants should bring a mat and water. All UTC FIT sessions take place on the Green at UTC, across from The Vitamin Shoppe. Information Source: University Town Center | eventbrite

Finish registering to buy your copies of Jonathan Eig's book and attend our signing on Wednesday, March 5 to have them personalized by the author himself. You won't want to miss another event that is presented by The Boxser Diversity Initiative the following evening, Thursday, March 6 from 6-7:30 p.m. with Jonathan Eig at the Historic Asolo Theater! Just click here to reserve a space: https://secure.qgiv.com/for/boxserdiversityinitiative/event/kingwilliams/ ABOUT KING: A LIFE Winner of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Biography Vividly written and exhaustively researched, Jonathan Eig's KING: A LIFE is the first major biography in decades of the civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. - and the first to include recently declassified FBI files. In this revelatory new portrait of the preacher and activist who shook the world, the bestselling biographer gives us an intimate view of the courageous and often emotionally troubled human being who demanded peaceful protest for his movement but was rarely at peace with himself. He casts fresh light on the King family's origins as well as MLK's complex relationships with his wife, father, and fellow activists. KING reveals a minister wrestling with his own human frailties and dark moods, a citizen hunted by his own government, and a man determined to fight for justice even if it proved to be a fight to the death. As he follows MLK from the classroom to the pulpit to the streets of Birmingham, Selma, and Memphis, Eig dramatically re-creates the journey of a man who recast American race relations and became our only modern-day founding father - as well as the nation's most mourned martyr. In this landmark biography, Eig gives us an MLK for our times: a deep thinker, a brilliant strategist, and a committed radical who led one of history's greatest movements, and whose demands for racial and economic justice remain as urgent today as they were in his lifetime. ABOUT JONATHAN EIG Jonathan Eig is a former senior writer for The Wall Street Journal. He is the New York Times bestselling author of several books, including ALI: A LIFE; LUCKIEST MAN: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF LOU GEHRIG; and OPENING DAY: THE STORY OF JACKIE ROBINSON'S FIRST SEASON. Ken Burns calls him a master storyteller, and Eig's books have been listed among the best of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Sports Illustrated, and Slate. He lives in Chicago with his wife and children. ABOUT ANOTHER EVENT PRESENTED BY BOXSER DIVERSITY INITIATIVE The event is free and open to the public. Space is limited; reservations are required at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/boxserdiversityinitiative/event/eig/. Information Source: Bookstore1Sarasota | eventbrite

Come celebrate the release of the novel Six Weeks in Reno alongside its author, Lucy H. Hedrick. In this powerful historical fiction novel about heartbreak, hope, and the allure of the unknown, a woman at a divorce ranch in 1930s Reno strives to live on her own terms. Join us as we hear from the author, and then buy the book and get it signed!About Six Weeks in Reno: September 27, 1931. Today, my new life begins. After twenty years in a loveless marriage, Evelyn Henderson will do anything to escape her stifling suburban life. She boards a train for Reno, Nevada, a former frontier town that's booming thanks to six-weekers : women from all walks of life who take up residence there just long enough to secure an uncontested divorce - a right they don't yet have in their home states. Evelyn settles into the Flying N Ranch and soon bonds with her housemates, who have never ventured this far from home - or societal conventions. The Biggest Little City in the World offers the six-weekers a heady taste of freedom: horseback riding in denim and fringe by day and being courted by dance-hall cowboys by night. But underneath the glamour are the grim realities of Depression-era America, as well as the devastating consequences of escape. As Evelyn is drawn out of her shell by a Hollywood-handsome wrangler and challenged by her new friends to reengage with the world in all its heartbreaking complexity, one thing becomes clear: six weeks will change her life forever. About the Author Lucy Hedrick lives in Sarasota, Florida, where she devotes herself to writing Women's Fiction. She is a National League of American PEN Women, Sisters in Crime-Gulf Coast branch, and Sarasota Fiction Writers member. Lucy is also the author of five books in the how-to genre. ................................................................................ Registration will end 1 hour before the event's scheduled time.Tickets may be purchased that include a copy ofSix Weeks in Reno,or you may register to attend free of charge.All signed up and unable to go? Please let us know! Seating is limited and there may be people on our waitlist who would like to to take your place. Please send an email to bryn@sarasotabooks.com ASAP and hopefully we'll see you next time.Clickhereto go to the Bookstore1Sarasota website:https://www.sarasotabooks.com/. Information Source: Georgia Court | eventbrite

Join us for an inspiring exhibition featuring artists Anthony Mancuso and Bobby Aiosa as they delve into the complexities of our built environments and the interplay between public and private spaces. Through bold paintings and sculptural fragments, the artists explore how designed spaces shape our daily lives and reveal hidden stories. Anthony Mancuso visualizes the psychology of domestic life with dynamic compositions, askew perspectives, and saturated colors, while Bobby Aiosa’s architectural sculptures unearth histories embedded in urban spaces. Together, their works reveal the deeper narratives behind the facades of our everyday environments. Discover how these two visionary artists use structural form, color, and organic shapes to challenge perceptions and provoke thought about the spaces we inhabit. Information Source: SPAACES | eventbrite

Look closely and learn more about this season's exhibitions with Sarasota Art Museum’s Senior Curator Rangsook Yoon. Our tour will feature a walkthrough of our current exhibitions. As this talk will be exploring works in the galleries, there will be standing room only. Information Source: Sarasota Art Museum | eventbrite

In moments of upheaval and uncertainty, poetry offers a way to process, persevere, and find joy amid darkness. Join award-winning poet Rick Hilles for an inspiring workshop that explores how writing can be an act of resilience and resistance. Together, you will read, write, and share poems that celebrate the enduring power of art to heal and illuminate.The workshop will meet from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. on Monday, March 17, through Friday, March 21 in the Loft at Bookstore1Sarasota. Registration is required. The workshop cost is $150 and includes all five sessions. Registration deadline is March 10. About the workshop: In the dark times, will there be singing? Yes, there will be singing - of the dark times. - Bertolt Brecht When poet-playwright Bertolt Brecht wrote these words in exile during the rise of Nazi Germany, he recognized the power of art to persist, even in the face of despair. In our own era of upheaval - marked by relentless challenges and biblical weather that tests our resilience - poetry remains a vital force. Join award-winning poet Rick Hilles for a transformative workshop exploring how joy and resilience can emerge through poetic expression. Guided by the belief that, as Toi Derricotte said, Joy is a form of resistance, we will read, write, and share poems that bear witness to these truths. Together, we'll embrace the call to, as Samuel Beckett put it, put our stains upon the silence. Whether you are a seasoned poet or new to writing, this workshop is a space to explore creativity as a balm and a beacon in challenging times. About the facilitator: Rick Hilles, a recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship, Whiting Award, Camargo Fellowship, and the Amy Lowell Poetry Travelling Scholarship, is the author of Brother Salvage (winner of the 2005 Agnres Lynch Starrett Prize) and A Map of the Lost World (2012), both with the Pitt Poetry Series. His poems, essays, and translations have appeared or are forthcoming in Harper's, Kenyon Review, Literary Imagination, Narrative Magazine, The Nation, The New Republic, Poetry, Ploughshares, Salmagundi, and The Southern Review. He's currently a fellow at the Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, NM. He teaches in the English Department and MFA Program at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, TN. .................................................................................................. All signed up and unable to go? Please let us know! Seating is limited and there may be people on our waitlist who would like to to take your place. Please send an email to bryn@sarasotabooks.com ASAP and hopefully we'll see you next time. Click to go to the Bookstore1Sarasota website: https://www.sarasotabooks.com/ Information Source: Georgia Court | eventbrite

Look closely and learn more about this season's exhibitions with Sarasota Art Museum’s Executive Director, Virginia Shearer. Our tour will feature a walkthrough of our current exhibitions. As this talk will be exploring works in the galleries, there will be standing room only. Information Source: Sarasota Art Museum | eventbrite

Join Dan Latham, former Director of Converse's multimillion-dollar Innovation Center, and Executive Director Virginia Shearer for an engaging conversation inspired by Future Now: Virtual Sneakers to Cutting-Edge Kicks. Learn about Latham's first-hand experience developing footwear for leading brands, including Nike, Timberland, and Converse, and how exciting innovations transform fashion and shoe design on a global scale. As this talk will be exploring works in the galleries, there will be limited capacity and standing room only. Meet in the Wendy G. Surkis & Peppi Elona Lobby. About Dan Latham Dan Latham is a recently retired engineer and product developer for some of the world’s most recognized shoe brands, having worked with Stride Rite, LL Bean, Timberland, Rockport, Nike and Converse over an extensive 45-year career. After entering the footwear industry as a leather cutter and pattern maker, he went on to plan and oversee production in Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Throughout this work, the need to incorporate sustainable models remained a constant priority. Latham witnessed the growth of Nike’s Material Sustainability Index and, less than 10 years later, was part of the team that created Timberland’s Green Index: the first environmental scale for footwear made visible to the public. Information Source: Sarasota Art Museum | eventbrite