FALL IN TAMPA BAY — A COLORFUL AND CULTURAL ARTS SCENE FLOURISHES

The Fall Arts Season in Tampa Bay

Fall in Tampa Bay brings in a season of reflection and cultural celebration at museums, theaters and venues throughout the Tampa Bay area. It’s a time when audiences are emerged and open to fresh, thought-provoking stories after a hot summer. METRO’s compiled some must-see exhibits, performances and fundraisers that benefit the arts scene.

Dalí Museum

The Dalí Museum invites audiences to experience a range of experiences from digital installations to world-class exhibitions. Outside In: New Murals inspired by Dali, a striking mural exhibition features custom painted works inspired by Salvador Dalí from global street artists. On view through Oct. 26, 2025. This exhibition tabs directly into Tampa Bay’s vibrant dialogue of the value and visibility of public art. It’s a powerful reflection of St. Petersburg’s identity as a city where bold expression thrives inside the gallery walls and beyond. Guest can also enjoy Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon in the Dali Dome with the band’s iconic music and 360-degree visuals through October. Opening Nov. 15, the special exhibit Alberto Giacometti and Salvador Dalí explores the works of Swiss sculptor Giacometti (1901-1966). The season’s theme centers on identity, perception and surreal responses to the modern world.

There are also a range of unique events designed to engage new audiences with Flavors of Spain dinner series that celebrate rich culinary traditions of Spain with top area chefs. Once again, the Museum’s annual fundraiser Suenos de Dali with a dreamlike evening will be held Oct. 25. Guests will enjoy a dreamlike evening with imaginative costumes, handcrafted cocktails and dancing inside the Museum’s surreal setting.

For more information, visit www.thedali.org
 
 

American Stage

The upcoming season for American Stage invites the season that brings you home – to your roots, your city, your people and your heart. Since the pandemic and more recently the back-to-back Hurricanes Helene and Milton, American Stage aims to bring in themes of reconnection and restoration and in addition to bringing us back to ourselves, they also echo our collective return, rebuilding our cultural home stronger than before. Through stories of transformation, resilience and rediscover, the 2025/26 offers a space to reconnect with what matters most. The Good Peaches opens Sept. 20 at Mahaffey Theatre and features a multi-artform collaboration between American Stage, The Florida Orchestra and project ALCHEMY Dance Company. The show blends theatre, dance and orchestral music to tell the powerful story of a girl who makes a wish that turns into a stormy reckoning with nature. It’s a great example of how creative partnerships can amplify our impact, coming together to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience to Tampa Bay audiences.

Weird in St. Pete (Oct. 2-19) will be held at The Duncan McClellan Gallery. This guided theatrical tour brings St. Pete’s oddball folklore to life. As part of the Beyond the Stage series, it promises to immerse audiences in the city’s unique history and eccentric spirit. Hundred Days (Oct. 22 – Nov. 16) explores the love story of playwrights Abigail and Shaun Bengson. Themes of love, resilience and finding hope in the face of mortality are woven throughout. The mix of ecological, emotional, and musical themes in American Stage’s programming mirrors community priorities in Tampa Bay—environmental awareness, emotional reconnection, and love for shared experiences.

For more information, visit www.americanstage.org.
 
 

The Florida Orchestra

The Florida Orchestra’s 58th season, Music Director Michael Francis is taking audiences on a journey that spans continents and cultures through the universal language of music. Each season, the orchestra performs more than 100 concerts in venues throughout Tampa Bay, including a wide range of classical, popular, film and family-friendly music, as well as performances with global stars such as Wicked star Cynthia Erivo.

Beyond the concert halls, TFO programs bring the transformative power of music to schools, youth and senior centers, to underserved areas and to those who would not have such opportunities otherwise. It begins with a “September to Remember:” four extraordinary concerts in a row, highlighted by an unprecedented collaboration with local arts organizations. Cynthia Erivo with The Florida Orchestra (Sept. 3, Ruth Eckerd Hall). Amadeus LIVE (Sept. 13 & 14, Mahaffey Theater). The Good Peaches (Two shows Sept. 20, Mahaffey Theater). Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience (Sept. 25, Mahaffey Theater).

In November, Maestro Michael Francis conducts a deeply moving night of music and storytelling with Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, “Kaddish” (Nov. 7 & 8, Straz Center and Mahaffey Theater). This work features text written by Samuel Pisar, who defied all odds to survive the Holocaust. In this rare performance, his widow, Judith, and daughter, Leah, will provide special narration.

A family-friendly performance in the Pops series makes the TFO is Troupe Vertigo (Nov. 1, Mahaffey Theater), in which the concert hall meets the big top, launching acrobats and high-flying aerialists over the musicians, all perfectly choreographed to classical favorites.

For more information, visit www.floridaorchestra.org.
 
 

Morean Arts Center

At the Morean, they embrace Fall as a time to open their doors even wider and remind people just how transformative art can be. Audiences can look forward to a vibrant lineup of exhibitions across all of the venues, each one celebrating community and creative exploration. At the Morean Arts Center, Influencers, the 2025 Members Show, highlights the incredible range of talent in our own backyard, while Caelan Jeffery: Appalachia—Latch-not-Lay offers a deeply personal lens into identity and memory.

At the Chihuly Collection, Dan Alexander: A Universe Within continues through September, and invites viewers into a transcendent world of form and emotion through glass.

In October, the Morean Arts Center is host to the SHINE Mural Festival Exhibition which connects the individual artist’s studio work to the larger mural movement happening across St. Petersburg. In November, the annual Holiday Show, Heaven and Nature Sing, will offer whimsical and meaningful ways to shop local and support local artists.

At the Morean Center for Clay, the annual members show Potter’s Field and Earth and Ocean by Charles Morrison and Nina Samuels offer compelling reflections on nature and the human experience. Holly Rose Moore: Diaries of Convergence and an exhibition by artist Karina Yanes will delve into powerful personal and cultural narratives.

In addition to exhibitions, the Fall I and II classes and workshops will offer hundreds of opportunities for the community to create, learn, and grow through different mediums including clay, glass, painting, printmaking, or photography. These programs are a core part of the mission, and they turn curiosity into creative practice. For the Morean Arts Center, Fall is shaped by themes of belonging and connection, both to place and to one another. The goal whether at the Chihuly Collection or one of the Contemporary Art Galleries or at the Center for Clay is to foster creativity, confidence, and a sense of belonging, empowering the next generation to see themselves as artists.

For more information, visit www.moreanartscenter.org.
 
 

Museum of Fine Arts

Autumn is particularly momentous time at the Museum of Fine Arts as they celebrate the 60th anniversary, and the galleries will be alive with fresh perspectives and extraordinary exhibitions.

The MFA invites audiences to explore a dynamic season that spans centuries and sensibilities. Nina Yankowitz | In the Out/Out the In, the first career-retrospective for this groundbreaking artist, closes September 21, with a lively line up of programs happening ahead of its close. Join a late-night conversation and sound lab with The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker at the ins and outs | Volume III on Friday, September 12. Baker, who collaborated with Yankowitz and the MFA on an original 6-track sonic interpretation of the exhibition, will guide workshop participants through her process of turning visual art into sound. Friday, September 19 is the return of the MFA’s new hit young adult party series AFTER HOURS (21+) in celebration of the Yankowitz exhibition. The evening will be filled with great food, fun drinks, live artmaking, and, of course, music! Closing day of the exhibition, the artist herself, Nina Yankowitz, will be In Conversation with the MFA’s Sr. Curator of Contemporary Art, Katherine Pill, discussing the artist’s decades-long career and how this retrospective came to be.

In October, the MFA will premier In Caravaggio’s Light: Baroque Masterpieces from the Fondazione Roberto Longhi. It features Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s celebrated, sensual, and startling Boy Bitten by a Lizard, and 40 other paintings by artists who responded to this revolutionary use of light, drama, color, and emotional engagement. Despite having been born over 500 years ago, Caravaggio is having a moment—and who doesn’t love a talented, tortured artist who was continually getting into street fights and midnight duels? Many of the artists in this exhibition—from the tempestuous Jusepe Ribera to the impulsive Valentin de Boulogne—were similarly troubled and immensely gifted. Their paintings are still fresh, gripping, and revelatory, showing humanity in all our weakness and glory. Accompanying this exhibition are a suite of programs for all ages, inspired by the drama, beauty, and excitement of the Baroque.

The MFA is thrilled to announce its first-ever Teen Arts Council, a cohort of high school students from across Tampa Bay who will help shape programming for their peers, offer fresh perspectives on exhibitions, and develop leadership skills through art. These students will develop engaging workshops and events for the new MFA Teens program series, culminating in a teen-planned party called “untitled” | an MFA Teen Night in November.

For more information, visit www.mfastpete.org.
 
 

The Palladium

At the Palladium, audiences can look forward to over 40 performances from September through November, spanning jazz, blues, classical, reggae, world music, and rock tributes — plus a full holiday season of shows still to come. Beyond the music, the season reflects what The Palladium is all about: bringing artists and community together for world-class performances — all in a welcoming, affordable setting. September highlights several performances by the Palladium Creative Fellows, a program that supports emerging artists in the community.

This fall, audiences can also enjoy concerts by St. Petersburg College students, the world premiere of a documentary on St. Pete’s own Albert Whitted Airport, WEDU PBS presenting America’s Test Kitchen live on stage, and the return of St. Pete Opera with their mainstage production of Susannah, kicking off the company’s 20th anniversary season.

It’s a season that celebrates both local stories and global sounds, all at the Palladium. On Sept. 18, the Temporal Taal Collective brings a unique, multi-sensory experience to Hough Hall, blending Indian classical music, jazz, global influences — and even cuisine — in an intimate event that invites audiences to explore connection through sound and storytelling. On Sept. 27, acclaimed jazz bassist Alejandro Arenas presents MIXTURA: A Multicultural Journey in Sound at the Side Door. Backed by an all-star band of immigrant musicians from around the world, Arenas shares his journey from Colombia to the U.S., reminding us that music has no borders.

Set inside the cherished historic venue, the Palladium remains a home for unforgettable arts experiences and a place where music, culture, and community come together in the heart of St. Petersburg.

For more information, visit mypalladium.org.
 
 

The Straz Center

This Fall at the Straz Center is all about what is new and exclusive in Tampa Bay. The Straz is focused on 21st and 20th century artists and their work.

Dracula—A Comedy of Tours is a new play produced by “Straz Produces” in the Jaeb Theatre. The show is currently in rehearsals in New York and ready for the cast to arrive in Tampa and begin working on stage. It’s a new piece that can only be seen in London and Tampa this Fall.

Straz’s Opera Tampa has a production of Turn of the Screw. Based on Henry James horror novella, Turn of the Screw is a 20th Century opera written by Benjamin Britten for contemporary audiences. This is the first time this opera is produced here in the Tampa Bay area.

The Broadway series has a whole host of hits including return engagements of Les Miserables, Stomp and A Christmas Story. There will also be the Tampa premiers of Kimberly Akimbo, Water for Elephants, the new revival of The Wiz and Broadway’s Tony Award Winning Best New Musical The Outsiders, a new musical based on the novel by S.E. Hinton and the Frances Ford Coppola-directed film.

The Straz Center is a leading performing arts center in the U.S. with a major focus on arts education. Straz’s Patel Conservatory will enroll more than 1,500 students this fall and will focus on performing arts classes that include top-notch instruction with interactions with working performing artists and technicians.

For more information, visit www.strazcenter.org.
 
 

The James Museum

The James Museum programming this fall will feature a selection of artist talks, music nights, films, and family-friendly programs inspired by themes found in the special exhibitions and collections. From the Oregon Trail to art movements that influenced the photographic work of Edward S. Curtis to Citrus Wizard Lue Gim Gong, visitors will be inspired and intrigued by how the past and the present, people and places near and far inspire artists’ creative practice. The James Museum continues build connections between our Tampa Bay community and the many artistic and cultural voices of the American West.

Guest can view Rare Air: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies and Bees through Sept. 14. The 70 illustrations of endangered North American species by artist Sarah Kaizer showcases the critical importance of conservation. On view through Sept. 28 is Perserverance: A Women’s Journey West. The exhibition presents 19th century farm life and the Oregon Trail journey inspired by a woman’s journal.

Works by Utah-based artist Ben Steele will be on view opening Oct. 11 with whimsical paintings that depict scenes from the American West. Photographs of Edward S. Curtis will be on view from Nov. 8, 2025 – March 29, 2026. The exhibition offers a unique window into the changing landscape of American art and culture.

For more information, visit www.thejamesmuseum.org.
 
 

The Tampa Museum of Art

Geared to enjoy younger members of the Tampa Bay art community, the Tampa Museum of Art will host Arts & Aces for the Tampa Museum of art featuring an unforgettable casino night of entertainment and games, this year inspired by the casinos in Macau. This important fundraiser will focus on art education programs for teens and the TMA Youth Council. The signature black-tie event of the Tampa Museum of Art is Pavilion XXXIX to be held on Nov. 1, 2025 with 2025 Co-Chairs Sandra and Walt Chancey and Christine and John Phillips honoring Marian and Hal Flowers.

On exhibition at the Tampa Museum of Art through Nov. 30, 2025, In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870–1940 Works from the Bank of America Collection.
The exhibition brings together over 100 works that showcase how American artists perceived their world during a time of profound change, spanning from the American Industrial Revolution to the start of World War II. It’s a rare opportunity to see these paintings that tell the country’s story through bold color, expressive brushwork, and familiar scenery, from coastlines to city streets.The exhibition showcases the diversity, beauty, and depth of regional art colonies across the country, from New Hope and Taos to Carmel and Cape Ann.

Currently on view include Focal Point: The David Hall Photography Collection on view through April 19, 2026 and The American Gaze: Paintings from Tampa Bay Collection on view through Feb. 1, 2026.

To engage in the making and understanding of art, The Tampa Museum of Art offers a variety of studio classes to engage youth, adults and 55+ in various forms of workshops.

For more information www.TampaMuseum.org.