About

ABOUT FLORIDA THEATRE

The historic Florida Theatre in downtown Jacksonville, Florida is one of the most attended theatres in America, consistently ranked in the Top 5 for theatres up to 2,000 seats by the concert industry magazine Pollstar and the venue management magazine VenuesNow. It is famous as the place where the municipal judge admonished a young Elvis Presley not to swivel his hips in 1956, and where an 11-year-old Derek Trucks first played with the Allman Brothers Band in 1991 (they played “One Way Out”).

The Florida Theatre has been seen and heard nationally on Showtime (Larry Wilmore, 2012); Sirius Satellite Radio (Gregg Allman, New Year’s Eve, 2013); AXS TV Network (Lynyrd Skynyrd, 2015); National Public Radio (Michael Feldman’s Whad’ya Know?, 2008, 2016); Netflix (Katt Williams, 2017); and Fox Nation (Brian Kilmeade, 2025).

Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the 1,865-seat theatre is managed and programmed by The Florida Theatre Performing Arts Center, Inc., a nonprofit corporation, in a public/private partnership with the City of Jacksonville, which owns the building. That public/private partnership has thrived since 1987, resulting in millions served, and a yearly economic impact of over $18 million for the city, supporting the full time equivalent of over 560 jobs, $14 million of household income, and $1.7 million of state and city taxes and fees.

The mission of the Florida Theatre, as a nonprofit organization, is to enhance the North Florida community's quality of life by providing diverse and memorable arts and entertainment experiences, and by preserving a unique historic Jacksonville landmark.

A thriving creative economy enhances the quality of life for us all. Supported in part by the Merit-Based Cultural Service Grant Program, administered by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville with funding from the City of Jacksonville and our elected officials, we extend our gratitude to all partners who make this possible.