This winter, the O'Keeffe Speaker Series will run on Monday afternoons at 3 p.m., January through March, as it always has. The difference is the venue. It moves to Royal Poinciana Chapel at 60 Cocoanut Row, and the Gubelmann Auditorium it usually fills will be a construction site.
The Society of the Four Arts started work in May 2026 on what it calls the most significant enhancement of its buildings and grounds since it was founded in 1936. The work covers the Esther B. O'Keeffe Building and the John E. Rovensky Building on the west half of the campus. WLRN reported an 18-month schedule, with completion targeted for late fall 2027 so the buildings are ready for the 2027–28 season. That is a target, not a confirmed reopening date.
The Four Arts is staying open. For the 2026–27 season, though, it works less like one campus and more like a set of addresses. Once you know which kind of program goes where, the rest of the season is easy to plan.
The kind of program decides the door
According to the Four Arts' renovation page, programs usually held in the O'Keeffe and Rovensky buildings will move to two community partners for the season, Royal Poinciana Chapel and Palm Beach Day Academy. The east side of campus stays open as usual. That includes the King Library, the Dixon Education Building, the Demonstration Garden and the Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden.
Here is how the season's main series line up, using the dates published so far.
| Program | This season's venue | First listed date |
|---|---|---|
| Lambert Concert Series | Royal Poinciana Chapel, 60 Cocoanut Row, and Johnson Hall in the Dixon Education Building | Dec. 2 at Johnson Hall; Dec. 9 at the Chapel |
| O'Keeffe Speaker Series | Royal Poinciana Chapel | Mondays at 3 p.m., January to March; roster not yet announced |
| Friday Film Series | Palm Beach Day Academy, 241 Seaview Ave. | Nov. 6 |
| Met Opera HD screenings | Palm Beach Day Academy | Nov. 7, Così fan tutte |
| Campus on the Lake | Dixon Education Building, on campus | Nov. 2 |
| Season exhibition | Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden, outdoors | Dec. 5 through May 2, 2027 |
In short, live music and the Monday talks head to the Chapel on Cocoanut Row and the screenings to Seaview Avenue, while classes, the library and the art stay on campus.
Cocoanut Row gets the music and the Monday talks
Boca Magazine's season preview reports that most of the Four Arts' live music this season will take place at Royal Poinciana Chapel. The magazine points to the room's acoustics as a natural fit for chamber music. The Chapel calendar the magazine lists includes:
- Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Dec. 9 and Jan. 20
- Aaron Diehl Trio with soprano Mikaela Bennett, Jan. 27
- Pianist Gabriela Montero, Feb. 10
- A three-part Violin Festival, Feb. 17, 21 and 24
- Bluegrass duo Dailey and Vincent, April 4
- Organist Felix Hell, April 7
- The Viano String Quartet with pianist Sir Stephen Hough, April 21
Not every concert goes off campus. The Lambert series actually opens on Dec. 2 with a Seth Rudetsky cabaret in Johnson Hall, inside the Dixon Education Building. The Four Arts posts separate seating charts for Johnson Hall and the Chapel.
The new venues also bring new ticketing details. For the Dec. 9 Chapel concert, the Four Arts ticketing page says members get early booking, and sales open to the public on Oct. 22, 2026, at 9 a.m. After 5 p.m. on the day of a performance, reservations are online only, because there are no in-person sales at the venue. Those details come from a single concert's listing, so it makes sense to check each event page rather than assume one policy covers the whole season.
The O'Keeffe Speaker Series moves to the Chapel too, keeping its Monday 3 p.m. slot from January through March. The Four Arts' series page says the speaker schedule will be announced this fall, and as of mid-October no names have been published.
Seaview Avenue gets the screens
Friday nights and opera Saturdays move to Palm Beach Day Academy at 241 Seaview Ave. Per Boca Magazine, the Friday Film Series runs there from Nov. 6 to March 19. Highlights include Steven Soderbergh's The Christophers on Nov. 13, Train Dreams on Jan. 8, and The Red Violin, which ties into the season's focus on the violin.
The sources disagree about the last part of the film season. Boca Magazine reports that the final three screenings, April 2 through 16, move back to the Dixon Education Building. The Four Arts' own films page lists Palm Beach Day Academy for this season's screenings. Anyone planning an April movie night should confirm the venue on the event listing closer to the date.
The Metropolitan Opera HD screenings are also at Palm Beach Day Academy, starting with Così fan tutte on Saturday, Nov. 7.
The east side of campus carries everything else
The construction fencing stops at the west half of the property, and the open east side takes on extra roles this season.
The Children's Library has moved temporarily to the second floor of the Dixon building and still holds its regular programming in the Hulitar Garden. Dixon is also the home for Campus on the Lake, which opens Nov. 2. Boca Magazine lists three themes for this season's lectures and workshops:
- "Creating a Nation," with Eugene Robinson, Marie Arana and Dr. Justin Dyer
- "Creating Legacies," with Clive Aslet, Devin DeCiantis and Bénédicte Gady
- "The Art of the Violin," with Aaron Boyd, Samuel Zygmuntowicz and Carlos Tome
Kerry Kennedy is also scheduled for a standalone talk on Dec. 15 about her book "Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy."
With the galleries closed, the season's exhibition goes outdoors. The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds fills the Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden from Dec. 5 through May 2, 2027. Boca Magazine reports it features bird-themed work from more than 50 photographers, including artist-in-residence Kristin Schnell, Robert Clark, Robert Walker and Anastasia Samoylova. Because the show is outdoors, you can take it in during an ordinary walk across campus.
The island's other big stage is in its first full season
The Four Arts' main hall is going dark in the same winter that a different restored theater runs its first full season. Glazer Hall opened at Royal Poinciana Plaza on Jan. 22, 2026, in the former Royal Poinciana Playhouse. The Palm Beach Daily News reported the building had sat dark for more than 20 years before the restoration. Glazer Hall is a nonprofit, 400-seat performing arts venue. Jill Glazer is board president and co-founder, and Allison Stockel is executive director.
Its fall calendar overlaps with the Four Arts' relocated season, and a few dates sit side by side. Coming up:
- Emanuel Ax, Oct. 23
- Cheyenne Jackson, Nov. 6, the same night Friday films start on Seaview Avenue
- Rufus Wainwright, Nov. 11
- Tony Danza, "Sinatra & Stories," Nov. 14
- Sabrina the Teenage Witch 30th anniversary cast reunion with Melissa Joan Hart, Nov. 15
- Rocky Live in Concert, 50th anniversary, Nov. 19
- Miami City Ballet, "American Odyssey," Nov. 21
- Jennifer Holliday, "A Dreamgirls Holiday," Nov. 28
- John Mulaney, Dec. 12
- New York Philharmonic, Dec. 15, the same evening as Kerry Kennedy's Four Arts talk
- American Ballet Theatre, Jan. 29–31
Glazer Hall says it will keep adding shows, and its spring 2027 lineup is not complete, according to Weekend Broward.
You can make a full evening of it at the plaza. Tutto Mare, a 200-seat Mediterranean restaurant from Gianpaolo de Felice and Gabby Karan de Felice, opened at 340 Royal Poinciana Way on Jan. 3, per the Palm Beach Daily News. Designer Mira Mikati is also planning her first U.S. boutique at the plaza, with an official celebration expected in November, the same paper reported on Oct. 2. An exact opening date has not been announced.
What returns in the 2027–28 season
This season is a detour because of what is being built. The Four Arts' published plans for the O'Keeffe and Rovensky buildings include:
- A reconfigured Gubelmann Auditorium with about 650 seats, a steeper floor rake, a new rear cross-aisle, and no columns blocking views from the parterre. WLRN reported the current hall holds about 700.
- A larger stage and, for the first time, a true backstage with dressing rooms, green rooms and a loading dock, plus a new acoustical shell.
- New covered arcades along the north side of the O'Keeffe Building, and an entrance hall with the campus's first dedicated box office.
- Galleries with 20-foot ceilings and exposed original beams once the 1940s drop ceilings come out, plus 300 more square feet of exhibition space.
- A purpose-built Children's Library in a new addition to the Rovensky Building. It will be nearly 50 percent larger than its old space and have its own entrance.
The design team is led by Beyer Blinder Belle, with Spina O'Rourke as local architect of record and Suffolk as general contractor. The project is funded through the Four Arts' $250 million Centennial Campaign. The plans keep the Rovensky Building's south and east façades as they are, so the view from Royal Palm Way should look much the same when the work is done.
Planning a season of evenings around the island usually means checking a street address before the program. If you're in Palm Beach or splitting time between the island and Birmingham and want to know how your home fits into what's changing nearby, Sold by the Bell is glad to talk it through. When you're ready, Get Your Instant Home Valuation.
