Twin sisters who spin a comedic circus act while examining defective objects rejected by customers moving along a conveyer belt. Dancers donning thrift store dresses, embodying the lives of their former owners. Hundreds of miniature figures manipulated to invoke the ominous atmosphere of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” A multimedia look at our pervasive consumerism, told with handcrafted props made from natural and reclaimed materials.
That’s but a taste of what The Ringling’s “Art of Performance” series will bring to Sarasota in the coming season. The lineup for the eclectic performing arts program epitomizes the vision of The Ringling’s first director, Everett “Chick” Austin, who believed a museum’s role was not to simply be a repository for gilt-framed Old Masters, but a living, dynamic space where all art forms intersect to stretch patrons’ palates, minds and imaginations.
“The people we’re bringing in are not household names and most people are taking a gamble,” admits Elizabeth Doud, the museum’s Currie-Kohlmann Curator of Performance, who selected the nine programs for the 2026-2027 season. “But I’m a big believer that your audience is ready for more than you think. If they like the vibe, they’re willing to take a gamble.”
Doud, a former dancer who spent 25 years in Miami creating, participating in and presenting edgy performance art, became The Ringling’s inaugural curator of performance in 2019. The position, endowed by the Shank Family Foundation, is named after Dwight Currie and Michael Kohlmann, curators who were instrumental in bringing avant-garde artists from around the world to the museum’s campus for the Ringling International Arts Festival (RIAF), a three-day even that ran from 2009 through 2017. The “Art of Performance” series is an outgrowth of RIAF…