2025 Artful Lobster: An Outdoor Celebration! |

Saturday, November 8, 2025
11:30 am – 2:00 pm

Cellist and Hermitage Fellow Dorothy Lawson performing at our 2021 Artful Lobster; Composer, performer, and Hermitage Fellow Daniel Bernard Roumain performing at our 2019 Artful Lobster; and our special guest Artsy the Artful Lobster.

The highly popular Artful Lobster is our signature fundraising event. This year, the event is expected to take place at the Hermitage’s historic beachfront campus – 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood, FL 34223. With a lobster feast catered by Michael’s On East and live entertainment featuring Hermitage Fellows, the Artful Lobster is anticipated as the season kick-off for many across our community!

To purchase Sponsorships/Tickets, please contact:
Development@HermitageArtistRetreat.org
(941) 475-2098, Ext. 2

$10,000 Premiere Sponsor
– Podium recognition.
– VIP table of ten.
– Champagne for your table.
– Table photo with Hermitage Fellow(s).
– Acknowledgment on program and website.

$5,500 Platinum Sponsor
– VIP table of eight.
– Champagne for your table.
– Acknowledgment on program and website.

$4,000 Gold Sponsor
– Premiere table of six.
– Acknowledgment on program and website.

$3,000 Silver Sponsor
– Seating for four.
– Acknowledgement on program and website.

$1,500 Benefactor
– Seating for two.
– Acknowledgement on program and website.

*Anticipated non-tax-deductible value is $100 per person

2025 Artful Lobster Co-Chairs

Sondra & Gerald Biller
Michael & Carol Clark

Event Partners

Coming Up Next…

Nov

Sat

Artful Lobster @ Hermitage Artist Retreat

Tickets

Nov 8 @ 11:30 am – 2:00 pm

The highly popular Artful Lobster is our signature fundraising event. This year, the event is expected to take place at the Hermitage’s historic beachfront campus. With a luscious lobster feast catered by Michael’s On East and live entertainment featuring Hermitage Fellows, the Artful Lobster is anticipated as the season kick-off for many across our community.

To purchase sponsorships/tickets, please contact:
Development@HermitageArtistRetreat.org
(941) 475-2098, Ext. 2.

The Artful Lobster raises valuable funds for the Hermitage’s nationally renowned artist residency program, supporting the creative process of artists from around the world in the fields of music, theater, visual art, literature, dance, and more.

Nov

Thu

Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: “An Evening of Scenes & Songs” @ Historic Spanish Point

Tickets

Nov 20 @ 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm

Hermitage Sunsets @ Selby Gardens: “An Evening of Scenes & Songs,” featuring Hermitage-Roundabout Fellow Migdalia Cruz and Hermitage Fellow Lauren Marcus, Thursday, November 20 @ 5:30pm: Two stand-out theater dynamos – one hailed as a “legacy” (DGF Legacy Playwrights Initiative) and one as a “rock star” (BroadwayWorld) – share excerpts from their original work in this memorable sunset performance. Migdalia Cruz has earned her claim to “legacy” through a prolific playwriting career that spans over 40 years and 60 works that embody her expansive imagination and explorations of love, grief, and liminal space. Her plays have been produced across 150 venues in 40 cities in 12 countries. Lauren Marcus is a beloved “rock star” of the New York theater scene – actor, writer, and singer-songwriter are all hats she comfortably and regularly shifts between. She is known for her Broadway run in the original cast of Be More Chill and recently brought the house down in the Off-Broadway run of The Jonathan Larson Project. In addition to her acting credits, Lauren is developing several musical projects and working on her first full-length album. Lauren Marcus’ Hermitage Residency generously sponsored by Carol White Bold & Larry Bold. Presented in partnership with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Estimated running time: 60-70 minutes. Selby Gardens Historic Spanish Point Campus (Osprey), 401 North Tamiami Trail, Osprey, FL 34229.

Dec

Wed

Hermitage Sunsets @ Benderson Park: “Cross Arts Collaborative” @ Nathan Benderson Park

Tickets

Dec 3 @ 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm

Hermitage Sunsets @ Benderson Park: “The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative,” featuring Shawn Allison and Tom Lubben, Wednesday, December 3 @ 5pm: The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative is an annual residency program focused on supporting the incredible talent of artists frequently featured on Sarasota stages. Now in its fourth year, we celebrate two singular artists who are injecting life into every note on the page. This year’s recipients are performers and musicians Shawn Allison (ensembleNew SRQ) and Tom Lubben (Key Chorale). From very different angles, each of these artists makes music with a unique creative force. Hear selections from these two talented musical artists as they share excerpts of work created while in residence at the Hermitage. The Hermitage Cross Arts Collaborative initiative is made possible with generous support from the Koski Family Foundation. Presented in partnership with Nathan Benderson Park Conservancy, ensembleNewSRQ, and Key Chorale. Estimated running time: 60-70 minutes; Nathan Benderson Park (Sarasota/Bradenton), 5851 Nathan Benderson Circle, Sarasota, FL 34235.

Dec

Thu

The Fantasy of Reality @ Bookstore1 Sarasota

Tickets

Dec 18 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Hermitage Fellow Joseph Earl Thomas is a writer who straddles form, from memoir and nonfiction to fiction and poetry. He is celebrated for his distinctive style that often pushes expectations, and his work often plays with the boundaries between fantasy and reality. His memoir Sink was hailed as “extraordinary” by The New York Times. Past Hermitage Fellow and National Book Award winner Justin Torres said Thomas’ novel God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer “reads like direct communication from the soul.” Join us as this acclaimed author discusses and shares excerpts from new and published work. Joseph Earl Thomas’ Hermitage Residency generously sponsored by Georgia Court. Presented in partnership with Bookstore1.

Joseph Earl Thomas is the author of Sink, a memoir, longlisted for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award and shortlisted for the Patrick Saroyan International Writing Prize; the novel God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Literary Excellence, finalist for the LA Times Art Seidenbaum Award, winner of the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize; and the forthcoming story collection Leviathan Beach. His prose and poetry has been published or is forthcoming in The Kenyon Review, The Paris Review, The Verge, Harper’s, Virginia Quarterly Review, Vanity Fair, The Yale Review, The Massachusetts Review, and Dilettante Army. His honors include the Chautauqua Janus Prize, The Anisfield-Wolf Fellowship in Writing and Publishing, and fellowships from Kimbilio, VONA, Tin House, and Bread Loaf. A graduate of Notre Dame’s MFA program in prose, he earned his PhD in English from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the writing faculty at Sarah Lawrence College as well as low residency MFA programs at Holy Family and Randolph Colleges, and teaches courses in Black Studies, Poetics, Video Games, Queer Theory and more at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.

November – December 2025 Nov – Dec 2025

2025 Artful Lobster: An Outdoor Celebration!

Saturday, November 8, 2025
11:30 am – 2:00 pm

2025 Artful Lobster Co-Chairs

Event Partners

Hermitage Artists Respond to COVID-19.

Engage Creativity

Saturday, November 8, 202511:30 am – 2:00 pm

2025 Artful Lobster Co-Chairs

Event Partners

Hermitage Artists Respond to COVID-19.

Engage Creativity

Saturday, November 8, 2025
11:30 am – 2:00 pm