Ringling College of Art and Design has officially handed over the Englewood Art Center to the Hermitage Artist Retreat, marking a big change for the arts community in the region. The Hermitage, a nationally recognized arts incubator right in Englewood, is picking up the torch just across Lemon Bay, about a ten-minute drive from its home base on Manasota Key.
For over fifty years, the Englewood Art Center served as a creative anchor for artists and art lovers throughout south Sarasota, Charlotte, and coastal Lee counties. Ringling College took over the center in 2008, but after a recent decision to focus its community arts programs on its Museum Campus, the EAC closed for good on May 3, 2025.
Ringling’s leadership feels good about passing the EAC to another nonprofit that shares its commitment to the arts. The two organizations aren’t strangers; they’ve teamed up before, putting on Hermitage alumni exhibitions like Impact: Contemporary Artists at the Hermitage Artist Retreat and The Truth of the Night Sky at Sarasota Art Museum.
“Ringling College and the Hermitage have always had a close relationship, so it made sense for them to take over the space,” said Dr. Larry R. Thompson, president of Ringling College. “The Englewood Art Center meant a lot to our local arts scene. Closing it was tough, but we’re glad the Hermitage can carry on and keep serving the community for years to come.”
Andy Sandberg, Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage, is excited about what’s ahead. “We’re deeply grateful to Dr. Thompson and Ringling’s board for trusting us with such an important cultural asset,” Sandberg said. “They’ve taken great care of this property for seventeen years, and we’re committed to honoring that legacy. This gives us a chance to dream bigger and make an even bigger impact—locally and beyond.”
(Photos courtesy of The Hermitage)
Spanning two acres, the property features two main buildings with a combined area of approximately 10,000 square feet. The Hermitage plans to use the space as a multidisciplinary arts center, expanding its mission to inspire influential artists and meaningful art. The idea is to open up the EAC for visual art installations and the Hermitage’s signature public programs, including music, theater, literature, dance, and more.
Of course, there will be changes ahead. The Hermitage is still working through the details and will talk with the Englewood community as plans come together.
“We want to get this right,” Sandberg added. “We’re taking the time to make sure the space truly serves the community and moves our mission forward. Englewood is our home, and we hope our stewardship helps us connect even more deeply with people here and beyond.”
Leslie Dignam, who once led the Englewood Art Center and now sits on the Hermitage’s board, summed it up perfectly: “This is incredible news for Englewood. When Ringling College decided to step back, the Hermitage was the obvious choice to lead the way. With Andy Sandberg guiding things, I’m genuinely excited for what comes next. This is worth celebrating.”
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, nominators invite generative artists, writers, and performers 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. The artists share their work and talents with the public, offering a rare glimpse into the creative process.
This news follows 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 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 comprises five primary structures. These buildings provide additional accommodation 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 should broaden the reach and impact of the nonprofit’s mission and programming.
The 850 artists the Hermitage has served include 18 Pulitzer Prize winners, Poets Laureate, Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellows, and multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, and 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. The Hermitage and Ringling College’s Sarasota Art Museum recently collaborated on The Truth of the Night Sky, exhibiting Patterson’s work developed at the Hermitage. They displayed this work in Sarasota at The Ringling Museum of Art and most recently through this collaboration. “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.”
Ringling College of Art and Design is a leading institution worldwide for teaching aspiring artists and designers in various subjects, including the business side of art and design, computer animation, creative writing, film, fine arts, graphic and motion design, virtual reality, and more. Alumni of Ringling College have worked with industry giants including Disney, DreamWorks, NASA, Pixar, Netflix, Nickelodeon, and the NFL. Students and graduates have been hugely successful, receiving multiple Student Academy Awards, Oscars, Emmys, Annies, ADDY and Telly Awards, and showing in exhibitions across the country. The College is also the home of the Sarasota Art Museum (SAM), the city’s only museum dedicated exclusively to modern and contemporary art. Ringling College’s Museum Campus features three state-of-the-art studios where SAM hosts classes in ceramics, drawing, painting, and mixed media.
A leading national arts incubator, the Hermitage is the only major arts organization in Florida exclusively committed to supporting the development and creation of new work across all artistic disciplines. The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key campus for multi-week residencies, where diverse and accomplished artists from around the world and across multiple disciplines create and develop new works of theater, music, visual art, literature, dance, film, and more. As part of their residencies, Hermitage Fellows take part in free year-round community programs, offering audiences in the region a unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get an authentic “sneak peek” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters, and museums around the world. These free and innovative programs include performances, conversations, readings, music concerts, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year.
