4 Best Performing Arts Venues in The Panhandle, Florida

Steps from the beach and adjacent to Pier Park, this outdoor amphitheater hosts everything from world-famous musicians to local community performances, as well as special events and festivals. The 70-acre park also features a veterans memorial and three trails.

If you're too shy to crash a frat party, FSU might just offer a more civilized evening out. It hosts more than 500 concerts and recitals annually (many of them free) in year-round performances by its College of Music, as well as many productions by its School of Theatre, including operas.

You can expect an exceptional symphony experience because this orchestra includes music faculty from Florida State University as well as talented local artists. Concerts are held in FSU’s beautiful and acoustically superb Ruby Diamond Concert Hall. Look up to see the owl sculpture winging along above the audience. A special treat are free, pre-performance, open rehearsals, during which you can watch masetro Darko Butorac interact with the musicians.

This theater featuring local talent has an eight-production season that runs from August through June. Offerings include everything from musicals in its Mainstage theater to more adult-themed shows in the intimate, black-box-style Studio theater.