Arts Center discusses future plans

The current programming at the Longboat Key Center for the Arts, a Division of Ringling College of Art and Design may be popular with local residents, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

“It’s important that we reach sustainability,” Arts Center Executive Director Jane Buckman told approximately 25 residents at a community meeting yesterday. “Ringling has been our main support up until now, but that can’t be sustained.”

To achieve sustainability, the Arts Center needs programming that will generate that support, Buckman said, while allowing it to be a good neighbor.

Buckman and officials from the Ringling College discussed the long-term future of the Arts Center and explained how it fits in with the latest plans for the site.

The plan would likely move forward in four phases, beginning with the demolition of the facility’s ceramics wing and removal of its outdoor kiln later this year. The final phase proposes construction of a new, two-story building that could be used as flexible retreat space, attracting people from outside the area, while also maintaining the programs that Key residents attend.

The Arts Center is seeking an amendment and extension of its existing site plan, which was approved in 2003, four years before the Ringling College and the Arts Center merged and plans to file plans with the Longboat Key Planning Zoning & Building Department in March.

But many residents of the Longbeach Village said that they want a greater say in the Arts Center’s future at yesterday’s meeting. They also expressed disappointment that the Art Center’s new Advisory Council doesn’t include Village residents.

Representatives of the Ringling College agreed that they would try to attend the Longbeach Village Association’s March meeting to discuss plans further with residents.

For more information, pick up a Feb. 23 copy of the Longboat Observer.

Contact Robin Hartill at [email protected].