At the corner of Royal Palm Way and Four Arts Plaza, the Rovensky Building is behind a fence wrapped in a printed image of itself. The west and south sides of the campus are screened by a 20-foot green wall printed with palm tree silhouettes. Behind it, the Esther B. O'Keeffe and John E. Rovensky buildings are being taken apart and put back together.
The Society of the Four Arts season starts anyway, about two weeks from now. Most of it has moved a few blocks. The Lake Trail detour sends walkers along Seaview Avenue, Cocoanut Row and Royal Palm Way, and those same streets now hold the season's film screen and its main concert stage. For one winter, the Four Arts runs as a loop around a construction site.
Why the Auditorium Is Dark Until Late 2027
The project is the largest change to the buildings and grounds since the Four Arts was founded in 1936, according to Palmer PB's season preview. It covers the west half of the 10-acre campus and includes a full renovation of the Gubelmann Auditorium. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners leads the design, with Spina O'Rourke as local architect of record and Suffolk as general contractor. The plan keeps the character of Addison Mizner's 1928 designs, even though neither building was originally built for the Four Arts.
WLRN reported that work began in May 2026 on an 18-month schedule. When the project went to the Town Council in March, Keith Spina of Spina O'Rourke and Partners gave November 1, 2027 as the estimated completion date and said the Four Arts should be ready to fully reopen for the 2027–28 season. That is how the Palm Beach Civic Association reported it. The work is paid for by the Four Arts Centennial Campaign, a $250 million effort covering both construction and endowment. Palmer PB reported $216 million committed as of late September.
So the auditorium and galleries are out for this whole season. The programs that used them now run at partner venues.
The Season, Mapped by Address
The Four Arts is working with the Royal Poinciana Chapel, Palm Beach Day Academy, the Flagler Museum, the Norton Museum of Art and The Bunker Artspace this season. Three of those are on the island, and two are on the Lake Trail detour route.
| Program | Where it is this season | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Friday Film Series, The Met: Live in HD, National Theatre Live | Palm Beach Day Academy, through March | 241 Seaview Avenue |
| Sanda & Jeremiah Lambert Concert Series | Royal Poinciana Chapel or Johnson Hall in the Dixon Education Building | 60 Cocoanut Row, or the Four Arts east campus |
| Esther B. O'Keeffe Speaker Series | Royal Poinciana Chapel, with select dates at the Flagler Museum | 60 Cocoanut Row, and 1 Whitehall Way |
| The High Life outdoor exhibition | Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden | Four Arts east campus |
| Four Arts Contemporaries | The Bunker Artspace | West Palm Beach |
| Selected symposium programs | Norton Museum of Art | West Palm Beach |
Films and broadcasts stay at Palm Beach Day Academy until April, then move back to the Dixon Education Building on the Four Arts campus.
The Detour Passes the New Venues
The trail reroute was described to the Town Council in March. Heading south toward the Four Arts, the Lake Trail goes along Seaview Avenue to Cocoanut Row, then back along Royal Palm Way to the usual trail entrance. That route takes you past Palm Beach Day Academy on Seaview and down the street from the Royal Poinciana Chapel on Cocoanut Row. A walk on the trail now covers most of this season's Four Arts venues.
The construction schedule shapes the walk too. During the peak months of April through December, the town allows construction from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, with no work on weekends or holidays. The plan presented to the council also called for construction workers to park outside town and ride a bus to the site. That makes Saturday and Sunday mornings the quietest time to walk the detour.
The First Six Weeks, in Order
The fall calendar starts the first weekend in November.
- Friday, November 6, 5:30 p.m. The Cycle of Love opens the Friday Film Series at Palm Beach Day Academy. Tickets are $10, and members get in free.
- Saturday, November 7, 1 p.m. The first Met screening of the season, Così fan Tutte, also at Palm Beach Day Academy. Tickets are $30, $25 for members and $15 for students with ID.
- Wednesday, December 2. Cabaret: Seth Rudetsky and Friends Broadway opens the Lambert Concert Series. Palmer PB reports that the new Broadway cabaret series, hosted by Tony Award nominee Alan Campbell, will be in Johnson Hall in the Dixon Education Building.
- Saturday, December 5. The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds opens in the Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden. It runs through May 2, 2027.
- Wednesday, December 9, 7 p.m. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center plays Baroque concertos at the Royal Poinciana Chapel, 60 Cocoanut Row. Admission is $40, members attend free, and parking is complimentary valet only.
- Sunday, December 13, 4 p.m. Carols on the Lawn with the Palm Beach Atlantic University choir in the Sculpture Garden. It is free, no reservation is needed, and the Four Arts suggests bringing lawn chairs or blankets.
The prices show how membership works this season. Members see the film series and the Lincoln Center concert for free, but they still pay $25 for a Met screening.
The Chapel Is the Main Stage This Year
With the Gubelmann dark, the Royal Poinciana Chapel takes over as the main concert hall, and the programming makes use of its pipe organ. Grammy Award-winning organist Paul Jacobs will play a program of organ chamber music. German concert organist Felix Hell will give a solo recital with a pre-concert lecture. The rest of the series includes pianist Gabriela Montero, the Aaron Diehl Trio with soprano Mikaela Bennett, Les Violons du Roy with mandolinist Avi Avital, bluegrass duo Dailey & Vincent, and the Viano String Quartet with pianist Sir Stephen Hough.
Artistic Advisor Wu Han returns in February to curate a Violin Festival on February 17, 21 and 24. A companion lecture series, "The Art of the Violin," runs at the Dixon Education Building. Metropolitan Opera stars Aleksandra Kurzak and Matthew Polenzani will give a recital, and Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana will perform.
The Esther B. O'Keeffe Speaker Series is also moving to the Chapel, with a few dates at the Flagler Museum. As of mid-October, the series page still says the speakers will be announced in the fall. A livestream simulcast in the Dixon Education Building will give the lectures a bigger audience, and members can stream and replay the O'Keeffe lectures and other programs.
The Garden Becomes the Gallery
The O'Keeffe Building's galleries are closed, so this season's major exhibition is outdoors. The High Life shows work by more than 50 international photographers in the Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden. German photographer Kristin Schnell, one of the featured artists, comes in March as the Beyer Artist-in-Residence to give a lecture and lead a five-part workshop.
The east campus stays open: the Gioconda and Joseph King Library, the Dixon Education Building, the Demonstration Garden and the Sculpture Garden. The Four Arts program page lists the current hours and a few changes:
- King Library: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
- Children's Library: Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., now on the second floor of the Dixon Building.
- Sculpture and Demonstration Gardens: daily, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting. Work on the Sculpture Garden is still underway, and the public restrooms in the Pannill Pavilion are closed.
Campus on the Lake keeps its lectures, master classes and workshops at the Dixon Education Building. The Tomorrow's Breakthroughs Today Scientific Symposium Series with the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation adds some programs at the Norton Museum of Art this year. The King Library continues Florida Voices, Page Turners, Talk of Kings, the Biography Book Group and the Short Story Book Group.
Across the Bridge, and Next Door at Whitehall
The Four Arts Contemporaries series, an evening of cocktails and conversation, meets at The Bunker Artspace, the art collection of Beth Rudin DeWoody. Speakers include Edmund Clark and Ebony G. Patterson, plus a conversation between DeWoody and Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak marking The Bunker's 10th anniversary.
On the island, the Flagler Museum hosts some of the O'Keeffe lectures and opens its own new exhibition. America Takes the Stage: From the White City to Whitehall runs November 10, 2026 through May 30, 2027 at Whitehall, 1 Whitehall Way. The Palm Beach Daily News covered the museum's season announcement on October 14. A November weekday could include the Flagler show and the Four Arts gardens, with a film at Palm Beach Day Academy that Friday evening.
The renovated O'Keeffe galleries, the restored Rovensky Building and the rebuilt Gubelmann Auditorium are due in late 2027. Full schedules, ticketing and visitor updates are at fourarts.org.
If you're thinking about where you want to be on the island when the Four Arts fully reopens, or how a change this size affects the streets around it, Debbie Gross knows these blocks well and is happy to talk it through. Schedule a Free Consultation.
