Sarasota is a city located in
Sarasota County
on the central west coast of Florida. Its official limits include Sarasota Bay and several barrier islands
between the bay and the Gulf of Mexico. These islands (known as keys) include Siesta Key, Lido Key, and
Longboat Key and are famous worldwide for the quality of their beaches. Sarasota is a Principal City of the
Sarasota-Bradenton-Venice, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is the county seat for
Sarasota County.
Sarasota is the home of
Florida West Coast Symphony
, founded by Ruth Cotton Butler in 1949, and its three
week
Sarasota Music Festival;
Sarasota Ballet;
Sarasota Opera;
Florida Studio Theater,
The Sarasota Players;
and other musical, dance, artistic, and theatrical venues. The city has annually hosted the
Sarasota Music Festival
since 1998. The festival attracts independent films from around the world, and has become one of
Florida's largest film festivals.
The community also is the home of the
Sarasota School of Architecture,
a variant of mid-century modernist architecture incorporating elements of both the Bauhaus and Wright's
"organic" architecture. The style developed as an adaptation to the area's sub-tropical climate, using
newly emerging materials manufactured or implemented following World War II. Philip Hiss was the driving
force of this movement.
Sarasota is home to
Mote Marine Laboratory,
a marine rescue, research, and aquarium;
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens;
G-Wiz Museum,
a science museum;
Sarasota Jungle Gardens,
which carries on early tourist attraction traditions; as well as many historic sites and neighborhoods.
