The west half of the Society of the Four Arts campus is behind construction fencing, and it will stay that way for the whole project. Behind the fence is the Esther B. O'Keeffe Building, home of the Walter S. Gubelmann Auditorium and the galleries. It is closed for renovation, so this is the first winter in a long while that the Four Arts season has no main stage of its own.
The programs are still running, but they now happen in different places. Films and Met Opera screenings are on one campus, talks and most concerts are in a chapel, and one cabaret night is in Johnson Hall. The only art exhibition the Four Arts has this season is outdoors, in a garden you can walk into free. If you have an old routine built around 100 Four Arts Plaza, the season now works better as a map than as a single destination.
Where each program went
The Four Arts laid out the relocations in its renovation FAQ. The O'Keeffe Speaker Series, which now runs on Mondays, and the Sanda and Jeremiah Lambert Concert Series move to the Royal Poinciana Chapel. Films and screenings, including the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, move to Palm Beach Day Academy. Everything else stays on the east side of campus. That means the King Library, the Dixon Education Building, the Demonstration Garden and the Hulitar Garden.
Program | Where it is this season | First date on the calendar |
|---|---|---|
Friday Films | Palm Beach Day Academy | Friday, Nov. 6, 5:30 p.m. |
Met Opera in HD | Palm Beach Day Academy | Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m. |
O'Keeffe Speaker Series | Royal Poinciana Chapel, Mondays | Lineup still to be announced |
S&J Lambert Concerts | Royal Poinciana Chapel or Johnson Hall | Wednesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m. |
Outdoor exhibition | Phillip Hulitar Sculpture Garden | Saturday, Dec. 5 |
King Library | 101 Four Arts Plaza | Open weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. |
Children's Library | Dixon Education Building, second floor | Open weekdays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
The speaker lineup was still listed as "to be announced this fall" in late September. The Monday slot and the chapel venue are confirmed, but the names aren't out yet. Concerts are split between two rooms. The series page names both the chapel and Johnson Hall in the Dixon Education Building at 240 Cocoanut Row, so look at the individual event listing before you head out.
The first nine days, by address
Screenings start first, so for the opening week the Four Arts season lives almost entirely at Palm Beach Day Academy. Before your first visit, check your ticket confirmation for the campus and parking details. The Flagler Museum opens two things in the same week, which puts a good part of the season's start on Cocoanut Row.
- Friday, Nov. 6, 5:30 p.m.The Cycle of Love opens Friday Films at Palm Beach Day Academy. Tickets are $10 and free for Four Arts members.
- Saturday, Nov. 7, 1 p.m. The Met's Così fan Tutte screens at the same campus. Tickets are $30, $25 for members and $15 for students with ID.
- Tuesday, Nov. 10. "America Takes the Stage: From the White City to Whitehall" opens at the Flagler Museum.
- Wednesday, Nov. 11, 5:30 p.m. The Israeli Chamber Project opens the Flagler's 2026-27 Music Series.
- Friday, Nov. 13, and Saturday, Nov. 14.The Christophers and the Met's Macbeth bring the Four Arts back to Palm Beach Day Academy.
The pattern continues through December. Friday Films run Nov. 20 with Mr. Burton, Dec. 4 with Sophie and the Rising Sun and Dec. 11 with The Incomer. The Met's Samson et Dalila screens Dec. 5, followed by The Magic Flute on Dec. 12.
The campus becomes a garden show
Since there is no gallery building this season, the Four Arts is using the newly updated Hulitar sculpture garden for an outdoor exhibition. In practice, the main thing to see at 100 Four Arts Plaza this winter is outdoors and free.
"The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds" runs Dec. 5, 2026, through May 2, 2027, in the Phillip Hulitar Sculpture Garden. It has work by more than 50 photographers, including Tim Flach, Nadav Kander, Karen Knorr, Vik Muniz and Anastasia Samoylova. William Ewing and Danaé Panchaud curated it. The show is organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography and co-organized with Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. It isn't sorted by species. Instead, it looks at how people and birds watch and respond to each other. The 272-page catalogue, Aviary: The Bird in Contemporary Photography, is sold at the Box Office in the Dixon Building.
The garden is open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting, and admission is free. It closes on holidays, in bad weather and for Four Arts special events. Since the show is outdoors, the weather affects your plans more than it would for a gallery show.
The garden also has two December events that come with the outdoor setup. Carols on the Lawn with the Palm Beach Atlantic University Concert Choir is set for Dec. 13. The Children's Library still holds its regular programs in the Hulitar Garden.
Getting around a half-fenced campus
A visit to the east side now comes with some practical changes. Most come straight from the Four Arts' own hours page and FAQ.
- Lake Trail. Walkers and cyclists can't use the Lake Trail where it crosses the Four Arts campus, because that stretch runs through the construction site. The closure was approved by the Town of Palm Beach, and signs on site show the route back to the trail.
- Garden entrances. You can enter beside the King Library, beside the Dixon Education Building, or at the corner of Royal Palm Way and Cocoanut Row.
- Restrooms. The public bathrooms in the Pannill Pavilion are unavailable while the sculpture garden work continues.
- Construction hours. Work is allowed Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. On Saturday, quiet work runs from 8 to 9 a.m., and full work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no construction on Sundays, so Sunday is the only day the garden is open without work going on next door.
- Parking. Parking on campus is free but limited. There's hourly street parking through the Town's Park Mobile app, and the Four Arts suggests carpooling, drop-off or rideshare. Crossing guards and flaggers are scheduled during busy periods.
What's going up behind the fence
The work is part of a major renovation and expansion that Palm Beach Daily News reported was underway in May. The Four Arts says it started construction in May, heavy demolition included, to use the island's off-season and keep disruption down.
According to the Four Arts' project description, the O'Keeffe Building is getting a west-end extension for backstage and support space, covered arcades on its north side, and a redesigned Gubelmann Auditorium with about 650 seats and a bigger stage. The galleries will reopen with 20-foot ceilings and 300 more square feet. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners leads the design, Spina O'Rourke is the architect of record and Suffolk is the general contractor. The work is part of a $250 million Centennial Campaign that pays for both construction and the endowment.
In March, Palm Beach Daily News reported an 18-month timeline counted from a May 1 start. No reopening date has been announced. Until there is one, plan on this season's venue map applying for at least the full winter.
The November gallery opening is at Whitehall
If your year usually includes a new indoor exhibition in November, this year it's at the Flagler Museum. "America Takes the Stage" runs Nov. 10, 2026, through May 30, 2027. Guest curator Mosette Broderick is an NYU architecture professor, and the show argues that the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago shaped Henry Flagler's Palm Beach and Whitehall. It's included in regular admission, which is $28 for adults, $14 for ages 6 to 12 and free for members. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.
Two evening lectures go with the exhibition. Geoffrey Baer gives "From Chicago to Palm Beach: The Legacy of the 1893 World's Fair" on Nov. 18. Gerald Larson follows with "The White City and the Making of Modern America: An Alternate History" on Dec. 9. Both start with cocktails at 5:30 p.m., and the lecture begins at 6. The Music Series ties into the show as well. On Dec. 16, flutist Emi Ferguson and pianist Peter Dugan play "Something Borrowed" in the Music Room on a restored Steinway first commissioned for the Hotel Royal Poinciana. Concert tickets are $95 with complimentary valet parking.
After that, the Flagler moves into its holiday schedule. Gilded Age tea service in the Flagler Café begins the day after Thanksgiving. Holiday Evening Tours run Dec. 18 to 23 and Dec. 26 and 27, priced at $65 for adults and $35 for children. Fleurs de Villes: The Gilded Age is on view Dec. 18 to 27.
Our Garcia Signature Properties Group advisors keep track of changes like this because they affect how a week on the island actually goes, from what's open on Cocoanut Row to which Lake Trail stretch is detoured. If you'd like a walk-through of how the Four Arts project and other changes on the island affect the parts of Palm Beach you know best, the team at Engel & Völkers Fort Lauderdale is glad to talk it through. Contact Us.
