Numerous apartments and condominiums are available within five minutes of the Florida State University for the Performing Arts, either in Sarasota or Bradenton. A two bedroom apartment averages $700-$800 per month and the Conservatory office assists students in locating housing.

Sarasota is a beautiful city on the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles south of Tampa/St. Petersburg. Known as the cultural center of Florida it is home to its own opera, symphony, ballet and several Equity theatres.

Sports fans will find plenty to do in our area. The Ed Smith Stadium, one of the country's finest baseball training facilities, is home to the Sarasota Red Sox – a minor-league team that plays a full schedule of games in the Florida State League – and is also the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds. Sarasota is also very close to the home fields of a number of professional sports teams: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team, Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, Tampa Bay Devil Rays baseball team, and Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football team. The Sarasota area even has a couple of ice skating rinks. And naturally, there are plenty of golf and tennis facilities.

Much of Sarasota County's recreation is found in, on, or around the Gulf of Mexico or Sarasota Bay. Sarasota County boasts 35 miles of coastline, which includes 13 public beaches. A full range of activities and facilities are offered, including ample parking, rest rooms, showers, concessions, lifeguards, shelling, fishing, surfing, parasailing, and volleyball. Siesta Key's Public Beach is one of Sarasota County's largest and most popular beaches. Recently, an expert from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts named Siesta's Key's sand the world's finest and whitest, preferring it over samples from the most spectacular domestic and foreign beaches.

Nature lovers will enjoy the Myakka River State Park, which is Florida's largest state park. Its 45 square miles of old Florida–including a pair of lakes and 12 miles of river–offer picnic areas; camping; cabins; boat ramps; tram tours; a snack and gift shop; an interpretive center; fishing; bird-watching from a boardwalk; hiking and backpacking on more than 37 miles of nature trails; horseback riding; and bike, boat, and canoe rentals. The Myakka Maiden, one of the world's largest airboats, tours the lake. The Myakka's lower lake and the surrounding preserve, accessible only by trail or boat, are open to a limited number of visitors per day. The park's marshlands and forests are among the finest places to observe southwest Florida wildlife, including bald eagles, alligators, deer, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, egrets, ibis, wild turkeys, foxes, and wild hogs. Also on the "must see" list is The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, which is an internationally recognized garden featuring, among other things, thousands of orchids.

If you're a fanatic about film, you'll want to check out the Cine-World Film Festival held each November and the Sarasota Film Festival in the spring. Burns Court Cinema is home to foreign and independent films and is located in the beautiful and historic part of downtown Sarasota. First run films can be caught in theaters throughout Sarasota, including the 20-screen Hollywood 20 downtown.

There is so much going on in Sarasota that you're sure to find something you enjoy. If you like museums, you'll be spending many hours at the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which is just across the street from the FSU Center. The Bishop Planetarium is in nearby Bradenton and Mote Marine Aquarium here Sarasota.

In addition to the opera and symphony, every kind of music imaginable can be found in Sarasota, from barbershop to bluegrass and from ska to pops. There are several music festivals throughout the year – September brings the Sarasota Blues Festival, the Jazz Club of Sarasota presents the Jazz Festival each March and the Sarasota Music Festival of chamber music is held for three weeks every June. The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall is a presenting house for Broadway touring companies as well as a vast array of musicians, comedians and other performers.

And once you've seen all there is to see in Sarasota, Florida has enough to keep you busy for the rest of the time. The Orlando area is just over two hours away; Cape Canaveral, Daytona Beach and Miami/Ft. Lauderdale are all just over three hours away and Key West is another four hours from Miami.