Tom Hall

The FGCU Jazz Combo will perform original student compositions inspired by multidisciplinary Miami artist Onajide Shabaka on Feb. 3. His exhibition, “Becoming Tomorrow’s Dream,” is on view in the Wasmer Gallery in the Arts Complex at Florida Gulf Coast University.

This week, 3 shows open, 3 close and 16 continue their runs and there are 2 limited engagements at Southwest Florida equity and community theaters.

Over the holidays, the Fort Myers Mural Society installed murals on the obelisks flanking Edwards Avenue outside the Luminary Hotel. One recognizes Manuel A. Gonzalez; the other, Harvie Heitman.

Opera Naples has added a concert to its current season. Naples resident Samantha Hankey will do a recital on April 7th at Moorings Presbyterian Church. Opera Naples Artistic and Music Director Ramón Tebar will accompany Hankey on the piano.

Sarasota Ballet brings three very different performances to the FSU Center for the Performing Arts with "Notes Unspoken." Performances are January 30 through February 2.

“Million Dollar Quartet” comes to the Music & Arts Community Center January 28th. It depicts a day in the life of four of country music’s most iconic performers: Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.

Naples Art in the Park, Bonita Springs Art Walk and the Sarasota Fine Art Show take place the weekend of January 31-February 1.

This past weekend, Elevate Studios partnered with Lee County Parks & Recreation to take William Golding’s 1954 novel “Lord of the Flies” outdoors. Two separate casts reenacted the action, danger, and theatrical excitement of the iconic novel in an immersive walk-through production. One cast was all male; the other all-female.

Playwrights devote considerable thought to the names they give their plays, but sometimes a spark of inspiration just happens. Playwright Michael Tucker says that’s how “A Tailor Near Me” got its name.

People in Sarasota know it as the place with the five big pink flamingos standing guard along Tamiami Trail. Still, few are prepared for the uplifting art they find inside the Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy. While Disney World may be the happiest place on earth, the Marietta Museum of Art & Whimsy is without question the happiest place in Sarasota.