Ringling College Transfers Ownership Of Englewood Art Center To The Hermitage Artist Retreat

Ringling College of Art and Design (Dr. Larry Thompson, President) and The Hermitage Artist Retreat (Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO) announced that Ringling College has transferred ownership of the former Englewood Art Center to the Hermitage, a fellow nonprofit organization and a leading national arts incubator based in Englewood. The center is located directly across Lemon Bay and just a ten-minute drive from the Hermitage's existing home on Manasota Key.

For more than 50 years, the nonprofit organization that became the Englewood Art Center (EAC) served as a creative hub for artists and art enthusiasts in south Sarasota County, Charlotte County, and coastal Lee County. Ringling College assumed ownership of the EAC in 2008 from the original Englewood Art Center organization. Following a strategic decision made by Ringling College to consolidate its community-facing arts programming at the College's Museum Campus, the EAC permanently closed its doors on May 3, 2025.

The board and leadership of Ringling College will transition the EAC facility to a fellow cultural nonprofit. The Hermitage and Ringling College notably collaborated on two Hermitage alumni artist exhibitions at Sarasota Art Museum: Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat and The Truth of the Night Sky.

“Ringling College has maintained a close relationship with the Hermitage over the years and thus was a natural and deserving successor of the space,” said Dr. Larry R. Thompson, President of Ringling College of Art and Design. “The Englewood Art Center played a pivotal role in the local arts offerings, and it was a difficult decision for the College to close its doors. We are pleased the Hermitage can now step in and continue enriching the community with programming for the foreseeable future.”

“We are deeply grateful to Dr. Thompson and the Board of Ringling College for entrusting the Hermitage with this vital cultural asset,” said Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat. “The college has maintained the property with the highest standard of care for seventeen years, and we look forward to preserving and activating this unique facility for many decades to come. This acquisition allows us to dream bigger and to expand our impact in both the local and global arts ecosystems.”

The Hermitage Englewood Art Center property spans two acres of land and includes two primary buildings totaling 10,000 square feet. The Hermitage intends to make use of this facility as a multidisciplinary arts center in furtherance of its mission: to inspire and foster the most influential and culturally consequential art and artists of our time. To that end, the Hermitage plans to activate the EAC as extended space for visual art installation and its celebrated public programming, spanning music, theater, visual art, literature, dance, and more.

The Hermitage anticipates that there will be some changes to the use and operations of the facility, and the long-term strategic planning for the future of the facility is still in process. Over the coming months, the Hermitage intends to engage in further dialogue with constituents in the Englewood community as plans take shape.

“We want to ensure that we are taking the time needed to thoughtfully activate this invaluable space in the way that best meets the needs of our community while also advancing our mission,” added Sandberg. “Englewood is our home, and our sincere hope is that the Hermitage's stewardship of this unique cultural facility will allow us to more deeply engage members of the Englewood community and beyond.”

“This is incredible news for Englewood,” added Leslie Dignam, who served as President of the former Englewood Art Center for many years and is now a member of the Hermitage Board of Trustees, where she also previously served as President. The Dignam family spans four generations in Englewood and has played a meaningful role in the growth of both the Hermitage and the EAC. “When Ringling College announced its plans to discontinue operations, the Hermitage became the clear option to take the helm. Knowing that Hermitage will be stewarding this community asset under Andy Sandberg's visionary leadership is truly a cause for celebration.”

Beyond the public-facing programs intended to enrich the community, this facility will provide meaningful studio and gallery space for the Hermitage's renowned artist-in-residence program. Each year, generative artists, writers, and performers are invited by nomination to enjoy multi-week residencies on Englewood's Manasota Key, where they receive the gift of time and space in an inspirational setting to develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, and more. These artists are invited to share their work and their talents with the public, offering a rare glimpse into the creative process.

This news comes on the heels of the Hermitage receiving a $12,000,000 gift of land and property on Manasota Key, one of the largest land gifts of its kind to a nonprofit arts organization. Located less than half a mile from the Hermitage's existing home on Manasota Key, this generous gift from the Morrison and Steans families more than doubles the Hermitage's capacity for its celebrated artist residency program. The Gulf-to-Bay property spans 6.5 acres of land and is comprised of five main structures. These buildings provide additional accommodations for the nonprofit's renowned artist-in-residence program. The Hermitage emphasizes that the recent acquisitions of both the South Residences on Manasota Key and the Englewood Art Center are expansions, not replacements. The 501(c)(3) organization has no intention of abandoning its original Manasota Key home, where the Hermitage has a lease with Sarasota County that currently allows for extensions up through 2055. These new property acquisitions are intended to broaden the reach and impact of the nonprofit's mission and programming.

The 850 artists the Hermitage has served includes 18 Pulitzer Prize winners, Poets Laureate, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellows, and multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar winners and nominees.

“As an artist forever grateful to and fully committed to the mission of the Hermitage, I am very excited about the Englewood Art Center coming under its auspices,” notes acclaimed visual and installation artist Anne Patterson. Patterson's work developed at the Hermitage has been exhibited in Sarasota at The Ringling Museum of Art and most recently in a Hermitage collaboration at Ringling College's Sarasota Art Museum with The Truth of the Night Sky. “It is thrilling to imagine all the engaging and exquisite artistry and inspired creativity that will fill this center. While this will obviously enhance the artistic impact for the local community in Englewood and Sarasota, the works of art and performance created here will also influence the wider artistic world.”

“The Hermitage is a visionary leader in the arts world and an invaluable player in our cultural landscape,” added internationally acclaimed artist and Hermitage Curatorial Council member Sanford Biggers, an early recipient of the Hermitage Greenfield Prize whose work was recently exhibited in Sarasota Art Museum's Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat. “This generous gift from Ringling College will allow the Hermitage and its cohort of extraordinary artists to achieve their greatest potential while giving back to the community in a deeply meaningful way.”