A new era at Ringling College of Art and Design.

It is FINALLY here!

After 16 years of effort by so many, the Ringling College Museum Campus, located at the site of the historic Sarasota High School and home to the Sarasota Art Museum and Ringling College Continuing Studies, is finally open. This Museum Campus allows us to engage more deeply with the greater Sarasota-Manatee community, offering opportunities for continuous learning and connection through both study of the liberal arts and engagement with art and art-making.

In this issue of CONTXT, you can learn more about the journey to creating our Museum Campus, from those earliest meetings of committed volunteers to our official opening in December 2019. If you have not yet been to see the Sarasota Art Museum, I encourage you to make the trip to experience the area’s only museum dedicated solely to contemporary art. I think you will join me in being awed by the stunning result of the adaptive reuse project that repurposed the historic Sarasota High School into a world-class facility for art engagement and learning.

As you move through this issue of CONTXT, you will also see that our Ringling College of Art and Design students, faculty, and staff have been busy making creative magic. You will read about our growing international student population and the culture of service we foster at Ringling College. You will meet a student whose artwork is not hanging in a gallery, but is painted on the side of a Boeing 757 jet. You will learn about new majors, exciting real-world projects our students have worked on, and the accomplishments of our alumni who are putting the skills they learned at Ringling College to work in their chosen careers.

For 20 years, I have had the privilege of leading this hub of creativity. The vitality and the energy of our creative community ignites my imagination and inspires me every single day. I hope that as you read this issue of CONTXT, you, too, will be inspired to join me on this incredible journey with our students. There are so many ways you can become involved, from volunteering in our Galleries to supporting scholarships—it all matters. I hope you join me at Ringling College of Art and Design—where our creativity makes anything possible.

Dr. Larry R. Thompson
PRESIDENT OF RINGLING COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN

*This issue of CONTXT was created prior to the COVID-19 crisis.