The Esther B. O'Keeffe Building is closed. So is the John E. Rovensky Building next to it. Both sit behind construction screening on the west side of the Society of the Four Arts campus, and the Palm Beach Civic Association reported in March that the work is estimated to finish by November 1, 2027. That puts the full reopening in time for the 2027-28 season. This whole winter runs without the auditorium and galleries most members think of as the Four Arts.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Gabriela Montero, Paul Jacobs, a three-part Violin Festival curated by Wu Han, a new Broadway cabaret series, and Metropolitan Opera stars Aleksandra Kurzak and Matthew Polenzani are all on the 2026-27 lineup the Boca Raton Observer reported in September. The programs are still here. Venues, parking and the walk along the lake are what changed, and those take more planning this year than choosing what to see.
Most of the stage moved a short distance
Talk of a season "on the road" makes it sound scattered. The concert series stayed closer than that. The Four Arts says this season's Sanda & Jeremiah Lambert Concert Series will be presented at either the Royal Poinciana Chapel or Johnson Hall, inside the Dixon Education Building. The Dixon building is on the east side of the Four Arts' own campus, which stays open through construction.
The Johnson Hall seating chart posted for the season is labeled as a table layout. That suits the cabaret nights. The broader season announcement also lists the Flagler Museum, the Norton Museum of Art and Bunker Artspace as partner venues, and it says the Four Arts Contemporaries series runs at Bunker Artspace.
Here is where the dated programs land through January, based on the Four Arts' own listings:
| Program | Date | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Cabaret: Seth Rudetsky and Friends Broadway, hosted by Alan Campbell | Wed., Dec. 2, 7 p.m. | Johnson Hall |
| Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Baroque Concertos | Wed., Dec. 9, 7 p.m. | Royal Poinciana Chapel |
| Cabaret: Faith Prince with Lawrence Yurman | Wed., Jan. 6, 7 p.m. | Johnson Hall |
| Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center with Paul Jacobs | Wed., Jan. 20, 7 p.m. | Chapel or Johnson Hall, check the listing |
| Aleksandra Kurzak and Matthew Polenzani recital | Sun., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. | Chapel or Johnson Hall, check the listing |
| Friday Film Series, Met: Live in HD, National Theatre Live | Nov. through Jan. | Palm Beach Day Academy |
Later in the season, Gabriela Montero's piano recital is set for Wednesday, February 10. The Violin Festival concerts fall on February 17, 21 and 24, and the Norbert Leo Butz cabaret is listed for Wednesday, March 17. The current listings don't yet say which of the two concert rooms those nights will use, so check the event page before you head out.
Screen nights are the one routine that moved off campus entirely
The Four Arts says every 2026-27 Friday film and HD screening will be at Palm Beach Day Academy. For anyone whose winter weekends center on those screenings, the address changes and the rhythm stays the same. The Met and National Theatre Live slate includes "Così fan tutte," "Macbeth," "Hamlet," "All My Sons," "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" and "The Misanthrope."
The first three months at Palm Beach Day Academy, per the Films & HD Screenings schedule:
- Friday, November 6: "The Cycle of Love," Friday Films
- Saturday, November 7: "Così fan tutte," Metropolitan Opera
- Friday, November 13: "The Christophers," Friday Films
- Saturday, November 14: "Macbeth," Metropolitan Opera
- Friday, November 20: "Mr. Burton," Friday Films
- Friday, December 4: "Sophie and the Rising Sun," Friday Films
- Saturday, December 5: "Samson et Dalila," Metropolitan Opera
- Friday, December 11: "The Incomer," Friday Films
- Saturday, December 12: "The Magic Flute," Metropolitan Opera
- Friday, January 8: "Train Dreams," Friday Films
- Saturday, January 9: "Twenty Years of the MET in Cinemas: An Anniversary Celebration," Metropolitan Opera
- Friday, January 15: "Give Me the Ball!," Friday Films
- Saturday, January 16: "Hamlet," National Theatre
- Friday, January 22: "The Thinking Game," Friday Films
- Saturday, January 23: "La Fanciulla del West," Metropolitan Opera
- Saturday, January 30: "All My Sons," National Theatre
For many members, December 4 through 12 will be the busiest stretch of the early season. It packs two Friday films, two Met screenings, the Dec. 9 Baroque Concertos at the Chapel, and a Four Arts Contemporaries evening with Edmund Clark on Tuesday, December 8, at 5:30 p.m. That's six evenings of programming inside nine days.
Getting there now takes more planning than the tickets
With part of the campus fenced, the parking math changes too. The Four Arts ticketing site states plainly that "parking at The Four Arts will be limited during our renovations," encourages carpooling and rideshare, and asks patrons to check program-specific parking restrictions when they reserve. The Civic Association's March report noted that the Rovensky addition will go on space that had been a staff parking lot. In normal times, the Four Arts offers limited free parking on campus plus hourly street parking nearby through the ParkMobile app.
The concert listings add a few details that are easy to miss:
- Valet only. Event pages for the Chamber Music Society concerts, including the Violin Festival nights, and for the Montero recital each read "Complimentary valet parking only."
- No last-minute box office at the Chapel. For Royal Poinciana Chapel performances, reservations after 5 p.m. on the evening of the show can only be bought online, with no in-person sales at the venue.
- Watching from home is an option. The Four Arts says programs will also be available to members by livestream and on-demand recording.
The east campus is still a weekday destination
The renovation page lists the King Library, the Dixon Education Building, the Demonstration Garden and the Philip Hulitar Sculpture Garden as open to members and patrons as usual. According to the Four Arts' hours page, the King Library is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., after a closure that ended Friday, October 16. The Children's Library has moved temporarily to the second floor of the Dixon building, keeps Monday through Friday hours of 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and continues its regular programming in the Hulitar Garden.
The gardens are open daily from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., weather permitting, with no admission charge. Entrances are next to the King Library, next to the Dixon building, and at the corner of Royal Palm Way and Cocoanut Row. Two current caveats apply. The Sculpture Garden is undergoing its own improvements, so the Four Arts asks visitors to take care, and the public restrooms in the Pannill Pavilion are unavailable. Pets other than leashed service dogs, bicycles and formal photography are not permitted.
Starting December 5, the outdoor setting carries the season's main exhibition. "The High Life: Contemporary Photography and the Birds" shows work by more than 50 photographers from around the world and runs through May 2, 2027. With the O'Keeffe galleries closed, an open-air show means the visual-arts season keeps its home on campus. German photographer Kristin Schnell arrives in March as the Beyer Artist-in-Residence with a lecture and workshop series, and the Esther B. O'Keeffe Speaker Series will announce its speakers later this fall.
The Lake Trail bends around the work
The renovation also changes one of the island's daily walking and running routes. Palm Beach Daily News reported in May that the Lake Trail section running through the west side of the Four Arts' 10-acre campus is closed and will stay closed for the length of construction. The detour the Palm Beach Civic Association described for southbound trail users follows Seaview Avenue to Cocoanut Row, then Royal Palm Way back to the traditional Lake Trail entrance.
On the detour you'll pass the construction screening. Keith Spina of Spina O'Rourke and Partners, the project's local architect, called the schedule "pretty aggressive" when he briefed the Town Council. As the Civic Association reported, the site has a standard six-foot fence with green screening, backed by a 20-foot-tall lighter green screen printed with palm tree silhouettes on the west and south sides. The Rovensky Building's east and south sides are wrapped in a printed image of the building itself.
The trail has a second storyline this fall. Palm Beach Daily News reported on October 5 that king tides and coastal flooding have town officials and residents looking at raising the Lake Trail. No scope or timeline has been set yet.
What reopens in 2027
Behind the screening, the design team led by Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners, with local architect of record Spina O'Rourke and general contractor Suffolk, is reworking Addison Mizner's 1928 designs for both buildings. The Four Arts renovation page describes the plans. In the O'Keeffe galleries, 1940s drop ceilings come out to open 20-foot ceilings with the original wood beams exposed. On the Rovensky Building's north side, a new three-story addition becomes the first purpose-built home for the Children's Library. It will be nearly 50 percent larger than the old second-floor space and have its own entrance. Until then, the books are upstairs in Dixon and story time happens in the Hulitar Garden.
If you're spending this winter with the Four Arts at the Chapel, Johnson Hall and Palm Beach Day Academy, and you're also weighing a home closer to the Lake Trail or the Royal Palm Way corner, The South Ocean Group knows how these island routines fit together. Browse homes near the places you already go, or get your free home value before the season fills in.
