Art After Dark, the Treasure Coast's first outdoor digital art exhibition, representing more than eight global artists from five different countries, is free to visitors and on view during the evenings of December 17^th and 18^th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm.

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The Music & Arts Department at First Presbyterian Church is home to quality music programs for all ages. Jacob Craig has directed the evolution of the program at First Pres for almost ten years, initiating art installations at The Galleries at First Pres, presenting concert series, developing several award-winning youth orchestras and ensembles, and, in recent years, hosting the Mike Block String Camp and International Music Festival. The Galleries at First Pres features local artists on a quarterly rotation throughout the year.

Next weekend, the church is featuring a community collaboration performance of Mass in A Major by César Franck in a Christmas Celebration. It will include the chancel choir, Vero Beach Choral Society, and the new Youth Symphonic Orchestra featuring the Youth Orchestra along with members of the newly formed Winds and Percussion Ensemble. Two performances are scheduled - Friday, December 17th at 7pm and Sunday December 19th at 4pm, in the church sanctuary at 520 Royal Palm Boulevard in Vero Beach. Admission is free, a $10 donation is suggested. 

1958 - The Vero Beach Theatre Guild was formed after earlier forays into the theatre by the Business and Professional Women and other groups.

1959 and onward - Plays were presented at the old naval base, junior high school and high school. Props and costumes were kept, and sets built, in people’s garages.

1964 - Following the City of Vero Beach plan for cultural activities in Riverside Park, the Guild signed a 99-year lease with the city and built its own first small building in the park. There sets were built, props and costumes stored, rehearsals held; but the high school stage was still used.

1965 - The Vero Beach Community Theatre Trust was founded to raise money to build a new, 600-seat theatre for Indian River County. Funds were raised and construction started.

1973 - The new Vero Beach Community Theatre opened with the comedy Tom Jones. The name was later changed to Riverside Theatre. For the next 12 years, the Guild was the resident acting company there.

2013 - Having outgrown our space, as well as rented storage units off campus, a capital campaign was begun to raise funds for the East Wing Expansion, a three-story complex designed to house new dressing rooms, rehearsal space and costume storage.

2015 - Construction on the addition began and the summer of 2016 was spent preparing the interior of the new building and moving in.

2017 - The main stage season introduced some challenging, large scale musicals on our modest stage.

2018 - Many physical changes took place around the Guild. Off-campus storage was vacated and costumes, props, and furnishings were all moved to the campus. 

2019 - The theatre became a year-round operation presenting 7 main stage productions and 3 staged readings in the Apron Series.

2020 - The coronavirus caused the Guild's season to be suspended indefinitely one week after the fourth production had opened.

2021-2022 -

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Gardenfest!, collectable ornaments, flower shows and public programs including the seasonal boxwood holiday tree workshop are community activities of the Garden Club of Indian River County Inc. The club’s purposes include educating members and the public in fields of gardening, floral design, horticulture, botany, landscape design, protection of native plant and bird life, county beautification, and conservation of our natural resources. 

Information on membership, activities, and businesses selling the ornament is available on the club’s web site: www.gardenclubofirc.org. 

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GardenClubofIRC

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The Vero Beach Art Club was founded in 1936 by Janette Beach and five other dedicated artists who called their group the Vero Beach Sketch Club, incorporating as the Vero Beach Art Club in 1954. From its inception until it helped to found the present day Vero Beach Museum of Art facility, originally named the Center for the Arts, the Art Club had maintained its own facility, where it ran a Gallery and hosted meetings and classes.

From 1986, when the Center for the Arts opened, until 2019, the Art Club was housed in the Center for the Arts and then the Museum building, from where it ran its activities. However, in late 2019, the Art Club opened an Annex to better serve its members’ needs by again opening a Gallery to display members’ works, as well as hold classes, meetings and workshops. Despite the Pandemic, the Annex became so successful, that the Club outgrew it in one year, and moved to the larger space it now occupies at 1903 14^th Avenue in Vero Beach’s Historic Downtown Arts District in 2021. The Club currently boasts close to 500 members and is one of the largest art clubs in the country.

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Music and the fine arts are at the core of The Community Church of Vero Beach's celebration of God and its spiritual life.

Community Church Chancel Choir sings a wide variety of traditional and contemporary religious music and performs major choral works with the orchestra several times a year.

Tapestry Brass is a five-piece chamber music ensemble dedicated to performing brass chamber music at the highest level of excellence.

We are community collaborators in music and the arts with community organizations such as Indian River Symphonic Association, the Center for Spiritual Care, The Atlantic Classical Orchestra, The Laura (Riding) Jackson Foundation, and The Space Coast Symphony.

Our Organ and Poetry Series during the Advent and Lenten seasons is a collaborative concert between nationally recognized poets and our Director of Music and Fine Arts Andrew R. Galuska, combining the spoken word with organ improvisation on our Lively-Fulcher organ in the Sanctuary. 

The Viner Series for the Visual Arts showcases the work of area artists. For more information about The Music and Fine Arts Ministry, contact Andrew R. Galuska

The annual Christmas Celebration titled "Merry and Bright" is Sunday, December 12 at 7:00 p.m. There is no ticket to attend. All are welcome. 

For nine years, Rusty and Stacey Young of MusicWorks, Inc. along with Bev and Marty Paris of Paris Productions have produced the popular Live! From Vero Beach concert series. It connects classic rock and folk artists with audiences that appreciate the music of the 60s and 70s performed by the original artists or nationally recognized tribute bands.

Many of the shows partner with a local non-profit that benefits from the performance. This new series will launch on Thursday, December 30 with Classic Albums Live Performing- The Stones-“Let it Bleed”! Some additional highlights of the series include Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone, a melodic double header starring Jonathan Edwards and Livingston Taylor, an original performance by Space Coast Symphony of classic hits by famous rock bands, and The Rocket Man Show, a tribute to Elton John!  

All concerts are at 7 p.m. at The Emerson Center, 1590 27^th Avenue in Vero Beach. Tickets are $30-$135; visit www.Musicworksconcerts.com or call 1-800-595-4849.  Plentiful free parking…Entertaining music… all Close to home!

South Florida has long been enriched by seasonal residents. Harmon Elliott (1887 – 1969), son of prolific inventor Sterling Elliott, was among those who have made a mark on the Stuart area. To celebrate his father’s work and bring an educational and cultural resource to the region, Harmon provided the principal funds for the original Elliott Museum, which opened in 1961. The Soroptimist Club of Stuart had prevented the last House of Refuge from being demolished, and Harmon was impressed with the way they had taken care of it. He tasked them with running the Elliott Museum in addition to the House of Refuge, and the Historical Society of Martin County was established to oversee both facilities.

Sterling Elliott (1852–1922) produced a series of successful inventions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He held more than 125 patents, receiving his first at age 22. ... His inventive mind and creative genius developed the first Knot Tying Machine (No.237,966 ), the Low-Wheeled Trotting Sulky (No.494,113), the Elliott Addressing Machine (No.707,961), the sulky wheel with a pneumatic tire (No.487,874), the Ball Bearing (No. 483,836) and most importantly, he worked out the issues of the unequal turning of the front wheels of a vehicle and invented the steering knuckle, or “kingpin”, that would become a critical element in the success of the automobile.

More than 10 years ago, a monthly tradition in Vero Beach, First Friday Gallery Stroll, was created to draw attention to the many art galleries featuring local artists. The Historic Downtown Arts District is centered on 14th Avenue, with galleries and restaurants welcoming Gallery Strollers between 17th Place and 23rd Street and 16th Avenue to Old Dixie Highway.

First Friday Gallery Strolls are every month from 5-8 p.m., free and open to the public. Opening receptions mark new exhibitions in many of the galleries each month.

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Dec 18 - 4:30 and 7 PM Christmas Cantata, a full musical production with a mixed choir, a 38-piece orchestra, liturgical dancers, a living children’s manger, dramatic scenes, and uplifting narration!

Feb 20 - 3 PM Caio Pagano Piano Concert

Apr 16 - 4:30 and 7 PM Easter Cantata

Since its founding in 1960 and the first day the doors opened in 1961, the A.E. Backus Museum & Galleryhas been a center and catalyst for creativity and culture in our region. The Museum houses the nation’s largest public presentation of artwork by Florida’s preeminent painter, A.E. “Bean” Backus (1906-1990), and is home to the state’s only permanent multimedia exhibition on the Florida Highwaymen. In addition to preserving and perpetuating the artistic and humanitarian legacy of Backus, the Museum organizes and hosts changing exhibitions from artists of regional, national, and international acclaim. The Backus Museum was recognized as the 2018 Best Museum and 2021 Best Tourist Attraction / Best of the Treasure Coast by the readers of Indian River Magazine. The Museum is located on the shores of the Indian River in Veterans Memorial Park, in Historic Downtown Fort Pierce. For more information: www.BackusMuseum.org

The 2021 holiday ornament has arrived! This year's ceramic disk presents a detail of the beloved Backus painting Florida Landscape from 1970. This is the perfect gift of Florida, at the holiday price of $12. And the Backus Museum Store Holiday Sale is here - December 1-24, with most items 20% off!

The Center's holiday exhibition, "Viva FOCA!" is up through December 30 and includes small and medium-sized paintings by some of the area's most popular artists, including Tim Sanchez, Gus and Jan Miller, Xaque Gruber and Rita Barone -- 14 in all. Definitely worth seeing. Call 772-567-1233 for an appointment.