Arts & Culture

The Clearwater area's best kept secret is the Pinewood Cultural Park. Over 180 acres, the park incorporates pleasure with education relating to local history, nature and the environment and the visual arts. Heritage Village, a 21-acre open-air living history museum amid tall pines and palmettos, offers 23 of the county's oldest structures, with two dating back to the Civil War era. The Florida Botanical Gardens features all Florida plants, both native and non-native with wildlife nesting habitat, restored wetlands and natural bridges interacting with the more formal gardens. The Gulf Coast Museum Of Art features a permanent collection of contemporary Florida art in all its manifestations with a special focus on fine contemporary craft media objects from the 12 southeastern states.

The Clearwater area is enriched by and enlightened through our world-class museums such as the Salvador Dali, home of the largest collection of his work outside Spain, the Florida Holocaust Memorial Museum and Educational Center bringing the depth of emotion from that era, and the Museum of Fine Arts with its elegant building showcasing world-renown artists. The Leepa-Rattner Museum of Arts features an extensive expressionist collection by Allen Leepa and Abraham Rattner, including their friends Picasso, Rouault, Hofmann and Ernst. The Florida International Museum will host a very special exhibition this year featuring 250 superlative pieces from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg spanning over 800 years of Russian history.

Our museums are not just for adults. Children and their parents will find the exhibits within Great Explorations-The Hands On Museum stimulating and intriguing, designed to be touched, moved and explored. The David L. Mason Children’s Art Museum with its playful themes makes fine arts fun through intelligent, interactive experiences including cartoon-making, acting and stop-motion animation. Kid City is a highly interactive “small town” where children can participate in activities common to our daily lives. Click here for a complete list of museums.

Outstanding theaters characterize the Clearwater area. Constructed in 1983 by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Ruth Eckerd Hall at the Richard B. Baumgardner Center for the Performing Arts, is well known and respected for its acoustics and state-of-the-art equipment and offers a wide range of performances for every age. Clearwater’s "community" Royalty Theater, located in historic downtown Clearwater, showcases an extremely wide variety of performance types. Click here for a complete list of performing arts and dinner theaters.

With our weather, it is natural the arts come outside. For example, Shakespeare in the Park brings the bard to life in a way not experienced indoors. Art shows decorate the waterfront and our parks. Known for our outdoor concerts overlooking the water either at Coachman Park in downtown or on beautiful Clearwater Beach, all types of musical professionals visit during the year, especially on holiday weekends.

Theater

  • Royalty Theater
    405 Cleveland Street, Clearwater (727) 441-8868.
    Totally restored to its original 1920s glory, this community theater features all types of entertainment.
  • Ruth Eckerd Hall
    1111 McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater (727) 791-7400.
    Ruth Eckerd Hall is recognized as one of the best acoustic facilities in the state of Florida. The building is a Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation design and features international, world-class artists from Broadway to classical music, pop stars to comedy, and modern and classical dance.
  • Francis Wilson Playhouse
    302 Seminole Street, Clearwater (727) 446-1360.
    In its 69th season, this community theater offers musicals, comedies, dramas and mysteries at affordable prices from September through June. The Playhouse offers summer acting programs for children and adults.
  • Bill Irle Early Bird Dinner Theater
    1310 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater (727) 446-5898. Musicals and dramas are presented with earlier than customary show times throughout the year.
  • American Stage Company
    211 3rd Street South, St. Petersburg (727) 822-8814.
    Intimate setting for contemporary and classic productions. November through June. Produces Shakespeare in the Park.
  • Mahaffey Theater
    400 - 1st Street North, St. Petersburg (727) 893-7211.
    A multi-entertainment facility hosting concerts, broadway shows, the performing arts, circuses, and ice shows in both the arena and recently renovated theater.
  • Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
    1010 North McInnes Place, Tampa (813) 222-1045.
    Largest performing arts center in Southeastern United States, with three theaters providing the entire range of theatrical performances.

Museum

  • Dunedin Fine Art Center/ David L. Mason Children's Art Museum
    1143 Michigan Blvd., Dunedin (727) 298-3322.
    Only children's art museum on the West Coast of Florida and one of three in Florida with award-winning exhibitions featuring Floridian art.
  • Dunedin Historical Museum
    349 Main Street, Dunedin (727) 736-1176.
    The original station for the Orange Belt Railroad System dating to 1889, houses history of Dunedin and Pinellas County.
  • Florida Holocaust Memorial Museum and Educational Center 55 Fifth Street South, St. Petersburg (727) 820-0100.
    Third largest of its kind in U.S. featuring art, photography and documentary exhibits from around the world.
  • Florida International Museum
    100 Second Street North, St. Petersburg (800) 777-9882
    or (727) 822-3693.
    A Smithsonian Institute Affiliate with a permanent collection of early 1960s popular culture with a focus on the Cuban Missile Crisis and a Kennedy collection. New wing houses Smithsonian artifacts. Special exhibition slated from February to May will feature 250 superlative pieces from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg with artifacts spanning over 800 years of Russian history.
  • Gulf Coast Museum of Art
    12211 Walsingham Road, Largo (727) 518-6833.
    A diverse exhibition schedule representing all periods and styles, particularly contemporary Florida art and southeastern fine crafts, a student exhibition gallery, lectures, seminars, film programs and a comprehensive studio teaching program for adults and children.
  • Great Explorations - Hands On Children's Museum
    1927 Fourth Street North, St. Petersburg (727) 821-8992.
    Stretch mental muscles, test wits, fire up the imagination with exhibits in the arts, sciences, technology and health, all designed to be touched, moved, explored at the 'Children's Hands On' museum popular with all ages.
  • Heritage Village
    11909 125th Street North, Largo (727) 582-2123.
    A 21-acre, turn-of-the-century Pinellas County village. Attractions include restored houses of local pioneers, the Lowe Barn, an old railroad depot, and some 10 other historical structures. The Pinellas Historical Museum traces the county's history from the Spanish-Indian period to contemporary times.
  • Leppa-Rattner Museum of Art
    600 Klosterman Road (St. Petersburg College), Tarpon Springs (727) 712-5718
    Extensive collection of art mediums by Abraham Rattner, noted figurative expressionist artist, and Allen Leepa, renowned abstractionist, plus works by other expressionist artists of the period.
  • Museum of Fine Arts
    225 Beach Drive North, St. Petersburg (727) 896-2667.
    Only comprehensive art collection from antiquity to present day on Florida's West Coast. Collection of 4,000 objects includes works by Cezanne, Monet, Renoir and Rodin.
  • St. Petersburg Museum of History
    335 2nd Avenue N.E., St. Petersburg (727) 894-1052.
    With a rotating gallery, features the history of commercial aviation in Florida with a replica of the Benoit and a timeline exhibit depicting the development of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County.
  • Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History
    329 South Bayshore Blvd., Safety Harbor (727) 726-1668.
    Features artifacts of our regional area from prehistoric times to Aboriginal Indians and pioneers, with four educational exhibits a year.
  • Salvador Dali Museum
    1003 3rd Street, St. Petersburg (727) 823-3767.
    Features the world's most comprehensive collection of Dali's work. Collection includes 94 oils, 200 watercolors and drawings and 1000 graphics, sculptures and objets d'art.
  • Science Center of Pinellas County, Inc.
    7701 22nd Avenue N., St. Petersburg (727) 384-0027
    A hands-on teaching museum with interactive exhibits exploring physics, archaeology and inventions, the Carol Samuels Observatory and a 16th century Floridian Indian Village featuring the mounds and temples of both a Chief and a Shaman, a Village Cook's hut, an Indian garden and a realistic archaeological excavation of an Indian midden.
  • Tarpon Springs Cultural Center
    101 South Pinellas Avenue, Tarpon Springs (727) 942-5605.
    Promotes and preserves the city's Greek heritage, culture and natural resources.
  • Tarpon Springs Heritage Museum
    100 Beckman Lane, Tarpon Springs, (727) 937-0686.
    Contains history and ecology exhibits and information, particularly how the marine and natural environments shaped the city's development, the local people and the sponging industry.
  • Ybor City State Museum
    1818 9th Avenue, Tampa (813) 247-6323.
    Features exhibits detailing the founding of Ybor City and the development of the cigar trade.
  • Ybor City National Historic Landmark District
    Tampa's Latin Quarter (813) 248-3712.
    One of only three historical landmark districts in the state, a cultural and historical community offering shopping, art galleries, fine and casual dining, micro-brewery, a restored cigar factory, museums and walking tours.