The Royal Theater has served members and visitors of the community for over 60 years. The Royal Theater has been visited by icons like Duke Ellington, Sarah Vaughn and James Brown and has been an important part of art, culture and entertainment in St. Petersburg since its opening. It was one of only two movie theaters serving solely African-Americans during the segregation era. Now after a $1.2 million renovation in 2004, The Royal Theater has re-emerged as a state-of-the-art performing and cultural arts center for an underserved community, especially for disadvantaged youth.
 
The Royal Theater Afterschool Arts Academy and Sweetbay Conservatory arts education programs consists of dance, drama & stage productions, music, recording art production, visual, digital media, academic tutoring, and movies in their 150 seat auditorium. In addition to youth programs, the Royal Theater serves as a cultural arts center hosting acclaimed visiting artists, various special events and concerts. In the heart of the Royal Theater lies a beautiful art gallery where local and national artists display their artworks.

Royal Theater provides a creative platform on which every student can learn and grow from their first ballet step to quarterly recitals. Students are trained by professional instructors to help them demonstrate their new found and enhanced abilities in theater and arts education.

A major component to our arts education is to expose our students to professional theaters, museums, galleries, and cultural activities throughout the Tampa Bay area and abroad. Exposure to these diverse activities enhances and deepens our students’ artistic awareness.

We pride ourselves in providing students with a strong arts education and academic support system. Many of our student participants are academically successful and go on to pursue higher education. Tutoring, homework assistance, writing, reading and high-yield learning activities are components of our Project Learn program. According to a study by Columbia University, Project Learn has been proven to boost the academic performance of our student participants.

For advance students, Sweetbay Conservatory provides students with professional instructors as well as experiences from other genres of art education. This program enhances students’ abilities and gives them motivation and resources to further develop their creative skills; our Conservatory students work together to put on professional