The Artis-Naples 2026-27 season gives Pelican Bay residents a rare planning advantage: the performing-arts and museum calendars are designed to overlap. A Broadway ticket can include same-day museum admission. A Masterworks evening can begin with an exhibition, continue with light fare at Heidi’s Place and lead into a Prelude discussion before the orchestra takes the stage.
That makes the best strategy less about choosing isolated events and more about identifying a few well-timed cultural windows.
The currently announced season follows the theme To Light: The Art of Hope, moving from uncertainty and introspection toward renewal and possibility. It is Alexander Shelley’s third season as artistic and music director, and its centerpiece is a complete cycle of Beethoven’s nine symphonies.
For Pelican Bay neighbors, though, the season starts before the first major fall concert.
Start With the Exhibition Opening on July 11
The Baker Museum’s current exhibition calendar begins the new season with Linling Lu: Fugue in 3 Voices, open from July 11, 2026 through January 3, 2027 in the Springborn Gallery.
Lu is known for circular paintings shaped by musical ideas. The new installation responds to composers including Dvořák, Stravinsky and Beethoven, giving it a direct connection to the Naples Philharmonic programs that follow.
There are two easy ways to see it before the fall schedule fills:
- Free Summer Sundays continue through September 6, 2026.
- Art After Hours offers free museum admission from 6 to 9 p.m. on the last Wednesday of each month, beginning July 29.
Art After Hours also includes live music by local musicians, with food and beverages available for purchase at Heidi’s Place. Published dates continue monthly through June 30, 2027.
Standard museum admission is $10 for adults, while children age 17 and younger receive free admission. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. It is closed Monday. Review the current admission information before visiting because extended hours apply on selected performance dates.
Plan the Season in Four Overlapping Windows
The calendar becomes easier to use when viewed as a progression rather than a long list.
| Planning window | Museum anchor | Performance pairings |
|---|---|---|
| October and November | The Surrealist International opens October 17 | Miami City Ballet, Beethoven and Brahms, Mandy Gonzalez, Madama Butterfly and Hamilton |
| December and January | Baron Wolman: Capturing the Sound of an Era opens December 5 | Messiah, The Nutcracker, Holiday Pops, Death Becomes Her, Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, ODC/Dance and The Cleveland Orchestra |
| February and March | Louise Nevelson: Dawn to Dusk opens February 13, followed by The Long View on March 20 | Munich Philharmonic, John Williams Pops, Alvin Ailey, The Great Gatsby, The Sound of Music, the Beethoven cycle, London Symphony Orchestra and The Notebook |
| April and May | Nevelson, Wolman and The Long View remain open | Miami City Ballet, BOOP! The Musical, Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony, Broadway Pops and Holst’s The Planets |
This approach also clarifies where the season is most concentrated. March brings four Beethoven programs across five performance dates, the London Symphony Orchestra, The Notebook and the opening of The Long View. Residents who plan to attend several of those programs may want to avoid leaving every reservation until spring.
Beethoven Is the Season’s Musical Spine
Alexander Shelley and the Naples Philharmonic will present all nine Beethoven symphonies in March 2027:
- Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2: March 4
- Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4: March 6
- Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6: March 18
- Symphonies Nos. 7 and 8: March 19
- Symphony No. 9: March 20, with the Naples Philharmonic Chorus and guest vocalists
The cycle does not stand apart from the rest of the calendar. The season opens its Masterworks programming with Beethoven and Brahms on October 29 and 30, featuring pianist Yeol Eum Son. The Cleveland Orchestra will perform Beethoven’s Third Symphony on January 26. Chamber programs in March include Beethoven performances by the Jupiter String Quartet and Ehnes String Quartet.
Other Masterworks highlights include Leila Josefowicz performing John Adams’ Scheherazade.2 on November 20 and 21, Stravinsky’s The Firebird on December 10 and 11, and Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson performing excerpts from Nixon in China on January 7 and 9.
The series closes with Stephanie Childress, Time for Three and Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony on April 9 and 10. Clara-Jumi Kang then performs Britten’s Violin Concerto in a program featuring Holst’s The Planets on April 29 and May 1.
Every Masterworks ticket includes same-day admission to The Baker Museum. The museum is scheduled to remain open until 7:30 p.m. on those performance days, while the complimentary Prelude begins at 6:30 p.m. That pairing is one of the most useful benefits in the entire season.
The Museum Calendar Rewards Repeat Visits
The Baker Museum’s major exhibitions arrive in stages, so a visit in October will look substantially different from one in March.
The Surrealist International: Fifty Years of Dreams
Running October 17, 2026 through February 14, 2027, this exhibition draws from the Tate collection. It includes work associated with Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Man Ray, Leonora Carrington, Eileen Agar and Dorothea Tanning, among others.
The exhibition can be paired with an ongoing Magritte installation containing six works from the Van Parys family. Those paintings had never been shown in North America, and none had been publicly exhibited in more than 48 years when the loan was announced.
Baron Wolman: Capturing the Sound of an Era
Opening December 5 and continuing through June 13, 2027, this exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Wolman was the first chief photographer of Rolling Stone, and the exhibition includes images of Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones.
Its musical subject makes it an especially natural pairing with Holiday Pops, the Billy Joel program featuring Tony DeSare or the John Williams multimedia concert.
Louise Nevelson: Dawn to Dusk
This first-floor exhibition runs February 13 through July 11, 2027. It traces Nevelson’s development from her early studies to the assembled-wood sculptures that established her international reputation.
Nevelson’s monumental Dawn’s Forest is already one of The Baker Museum’s signature permanent works, so the exhibition provides context for an installation familiar to returning visitors.
The Long View: From Conservation to Sustainability
Featuring works from the Bank of America Collection, The Long View opens March 20 and continues through August 15, 2027. It examines the environmental movement through art from the mid-19th century to the present.
The museum’s ongoing offerings also include four large-scale Dale Chihuly installations, There & Here: New Perspectives of the Permanent Collection and the outdoor Sculpture Trail across the cultural campus and Pelican Bay Boulevard.
The Baker Museum received American Alliance of Museums accreditation in 2025. Artis-Naples identifies it as the first and only accredited museum in Collier County.
Broadway, Dance and Programs for Visiting Guests
The six-show Broadway season opens with Hamilton from November 24 through 29. It continues with:
- Death Becomes Her, December 29 through January 3
- The Great Gatsby, February 2 through 7
- The Sound of Music, February 23 through 28
- The Notebook, March 23 through 28
- BOOP! The Musical, April 13 through 18
Broadway tickets include same-day admission to The Baker Museum. Subscriptions are currently available, while single tickets are expected to go on sale in fall 2026.
Dance highlights include Miami City Ballet with the Naples Philharmonic on October 20 and April 6, Artis-Naples’ first ODC/Dance appearance on January 12 and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater on February 9. The ODC/Dance program is a world-premiere collaboration with composer Mason Bates.
For an evening suited to guests with varied musical interests, Maestro of the Movies: A Tribute to John Williams runs February 16 through 20. The program is planned with nearly an hour of projected film scenes and music from Jaws, Star Wars and Close Encounters.
The Visiting Orchestras series offers another concentrated set of choices: The Cleveland Orchestra on January 26 and 31, the Munich Philharmonic with Anne-Sophie Mutter on February 15, and the London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Antonio Pappano and Maxim Vengerov on March 9.
A Pelican Bay Neighbor’s Arrival Plan
The campus is located at 5833 Pelican Bay Boulevard. For evening and weekend events, patrons may park in campus lots, partner lots across Ridgewood Drive or levels 3 through 5 of the Waterside Shops parking garage.
A complimentary cart shuttle operates between the Waterside Shops garage and the east entrance to Hayes Hall. Valet service is available for most paid Hayes Hall performances. Patrons using rideshare services should request the East Gate off Ridgewood Drive rather than the Hayes Hall porte cochere.
Hayes Hall’s lobby generally opens one hour before a performance, and the hall doors open 30 minutes before events. When a Prelude is scheduled, the lobby opens 90 minutes early. Late seating is not guaranteed, so extra arrival time is a sensible choice for Broadway weeks and other dates with several campus activities.
Heidi’s Place in Norris Garden serves light fare and opens 90 minutes before performances. Check the current food and beverage schedule before planning around it because operating hours vary by season.
The campus accommodates wheelchairs and walkers. Hearing-loop systems are available in Hayes Hall, Daniels Pavilion, Rowe Center and the Ubben Signature Event Space. Wireless listening devices and KultureCity sensory bags are also available.
What to Reserve and What to Keep Flexible
Subscriptions offer priority seating, the lowest published subscription pricing, designated exchanges without a fee, early access to later add-on performances and priority upgrade requests. Artis-Naples also advises that prices may rise with demand.
A practical approach is to reserve the programs that matter most, then leave room for free museum evenings and later announcements:
- Commit early if a specific Broadway series, Beethoven program or visiting orchestra is central to your season.
- Use Art After Hours for flexible museum visits with no admission cost.
- Pair Masterworks and Broadway dates with the exhibitions included in the ticket.
- Consult the official online schedule before every visit. Artis-Naples says the live calendar should take precedence over its downloadable brochure because programs and dates can change.
As of July 11, 2026, the anticipated full July announcement of added performances and exhibitions had not appeared on the organization’s media page. The programs covered here are the currently announced season, not necessarily the final calendar. Current official information for Florida Contemporary 2026-27 also remains inconsistent, so dates and participating artists should be confirmed once the museum updates that listing.
Pelican Bay’s cultural calendar is strongest when it is treated as a series of connected afternoons and evenings. The exhibition schedule gives residents a reason to return, while the performance calendar changes what can be experienced on each visit.
If proximity to Artis-Naples and the broader Pelican Bay lifestyle has you wondering how today’s buyers may view your property, Kevin L. Fuller can prepare a private, property-specific assessment supported by local market knowledge and a tailored presentation strategy.
