Annual Review 2016-17

Anne Patterson, Pathless Woods, 2016. Inaugural exhibition in the Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art.

THANK YOU!

I am proud to present the accomplishments and activities of The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art to our valued supporters. Thank you for your continued commitment to one of the leading cultural organizations in our state. Our 9,500 member households and foundation partners contribute nearly all of the philanthropic dollars that enable us to bring award winning performances, engaging and enlightening exhibitions, and a continuum of educational programs to our community. You do this through your membership dues, but also through program sponsorships, gifts to the collections and capital projects, and establishing named endowments that provide program support in perpetuity. Thank you!

This Annual Review records the activities of The Ringling from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017. During this time period The Ringling added over 500 new objects to the collection, completed the Nancy L. Ellis Tea House adjacent to the Center for Asian Art, constructed the new Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion, and welcomed over 10,000 children from local schools to tour our grounds and exhibitions. Over 420,000 visitors passed through our John M. McKay Visitors Pavilion to explore the myriad of experiences of art, history, and nature that The Ringling provides. And our exhibitions and collections presented artwork from over 4,000 years of human history.

Thank you for making The Ringling your Museum. I hope you will enjoy reading the accomplishments you made possible and I look forward to seeing you at The Ringling this season.

High Executive Director

Left: Interior of the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion

FINANCES

The Ringling consistently demonstrates fiscal diligence by ending every year with a surplus.

ATTENDANCE

421,331 VISITORS IN TOTAL $20 M REVENUE $19.5 M EXPENSES $500 K SURPLUS $1.2 M DRAW FROM ENDOWMENTS

Between 2011 to 2016 our budgets grew from $12.75 million to $20 million. With the 2016-2017 fiscal year, our operating funds ended the year at $20 million in revenue, exceeding our budget by 3%, $19.5 million in expenses, 2% less than budgeted. With fund transfers for construction and other capital needs, we ended the fiscal year with a surplus of over $500,000.

TOTAL REVENUE $20,083,224

TOTAL EXPENSE $19,536,896

ENDOWMENTS

The Ringling’s combined endowments (The John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art Foundation and the Florida State University Foundation) at year-end totaled $40.8 million with the annual draw from the endowments this fiscal year of $1.268 million.

EXHIBITIONS

Phantom Bodies: The Human Aura in Art

JUN 17 – SEP 11, 2016

The exhibition considered the relationship between mind, body, and spirit through a selection of paintings, photography, videos, sculpture and installations that are designed to inspire compassion and commemoration. The four thematically distinct sections —”Objects and Absences,” “Violence, Empathy, and Erasure,” “Sublimation,” and “The Mind-Body Problem”— include provocative artworks that address themes of trauma, loss, and transformation, while considering the possibility of an animating spirit that can exist independently of the body. The exhibition included work by 22 compelling artists of our time including Anish Kapoor, Shirin Neshat, Doris Salcedo, and Bill Viola. Organized by the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tennessee, and curated by Mark Scala, chief curator of the Frist.

Graphicstudio: Collaborating Across Borders

JUL 8 – OCT 9, 2016

Founded in 1968 at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Graphicstudio is an acclaimed workshop dedicated to realizing collaborative projects with contemporary artists. Inspired by the tradition of the printmaker’s atelier, Graphicstudio works in partnership with artists to create art work in editions. What has made Graphicstudio exceptional in its nearly 50 years of operation is the fact that it has been an innovator in both the technical practices of art, and the concept of collaboration. The workshop has pushed the boundaries of the traditional forms of graphic arts, developed new processes, and extended the concept of the auditioned multiple into mixed-media and sculptural forms. Since the 1990s, Graphicstudio has expanded its scope of collaboration in an on-going series of invitations to contemporary artists from across Latin America to work at the studio. These projects have resulted in provocative new artworks while creating meaningful connections between artists and new audiences across cultures.

Asia Under the Big Top

OCT 14, 2016 – FEB 13, 2017

Fantasies of the exotic Far East have shaped the performing and visual arts of America from the beginning of the country. Traveling circuses, exotic travelers in their own right, embraced the undeniable draw of the people and cultures of Asia, including exotic “Oriental” attractions and spectacles by the mid-nineteenth century.

Hindu snake charmers, Japanese strongmen, and Chinese strongmen were among the types of performers imported to entertain American audiences with both their skill and their foreignness. In addition to the performers, many circuses created productions around tales of the “Far East” like the Arabian Nights and Aladdin. The shows capitalized on every opportunity to promote the exotic quality of Asia. The exhibition explored how stereotypes and fantasies of Asia played to American audiences under the big top through lithographs printed to advertise American circuses from the last quarter of the 19th century through the first half of the 20th century.

Pathless Woods: An Installation by Anne Patterson

NOV 4, 2016 – APR 26, 2017

In November 2016, the new Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art opened with the site-specific installation by American artist Anne Patterson. Pathless Woods is an interactive, multi-media installation in which the visitor is invited to walk through a forest of ribbons—sometimes the path is very clear and at other times it is not. The title is taken from a line of Byron’s poetry, “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods” and references that the visitor can find his or her own path through the installation with each choice determining outcome. Pathless Woods continued Patterson’s exploration into creating synesthetic environments begun with the 2013 project Graced With Light installed to great acclaim at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco.

A Feast

for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe

FEB 4 – APR 30, 2017

Organized by The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, in partnership with The Ringling, this major exhibition featured more than 80 objects, many on loan from prestigious institutions across the US and Europe including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Louvre.

The exhibition focused on the late medieval and early Renaissance period in Europe (roughly 1300–1500), a time in which societal changes prompted a new interest in human experience, the enjoyment of nature and the pursuit of pleasure. As a result, the art of this period functioned in a rich sensory world that was integral to its appreciation. These works were not only seen, but also touched, smelled and heard. The exhibition brought together sacred and secular art—including paintings, tapestries, metalwork, and manuscripts—to reveal the role of the senses in courtly ritual and religious practice.

Territories: Photography, Space, and Power

FEB 10 – MAY 14, 2017

Territories: Photography, Space, and Power explored the myriad ways in which spaces are organized by cultural forces and political power. Visitors are able to study the ways in which the camera can reveal how humans organize and encode the space they inhabit but also how the camera itself organizes the space into its own logic. Several large format works from The Ringling’s collection, rarely on display, were on view, such as works by Thomas Struth and Lewis Baltz. Territories featured a wide assortment of approaches to and uses of photography in apprehending the spaces we inhabit, from military and aerial photography to contemporary fine art practice.

Photos, top to bottom: Adam Fuss (British, b. 1961). Medusa from the series Home and the World, 2010. Gelatin silver print photogram, edition 3 of 9. Courtesy of the artist and Cheim & Read, New York. © Adam Fuss

Ibrahim Miranda (Cuban, b. 1969) Isla laboratorio o 7 maravillas (Island Laboratory or 7 Wonders) (detail), 2012.

Screenprint and woodcut, Museum purchase with funds from The Ringling Museum of Art Investment Trust Fund, 2015. Published by Graphicstudio, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. Photo Credit: Will Lytch Strobridge Lithograph Co., Sells Floto: Princess Nyaski (detail), 1922. Tibbals Collection

Photos, top to bottom:

Anne Patterson, Pathless Woods 2016. Inaugural exhibition in the Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art.

Master of the Saint Lucy Legend (Netherlandish, active ca. 1480–ca. 1510), Mary, Queen of Heaven (detail), ca. 1485–1500. Oil on panel. On loan from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Samuel H. Kress Collection.

Thomas Struth (German, b. 1954), National Gallery 1, London (detail), 1989. Cibachrome print. Museum purchase with funds from The Ringling Museum of Art Investment Trust Fund, 1990.

PERFORMANCE

The Ringling International Arts Festival presented 21 performances of eight stage productions. We intensified our engagement with “New Circus” by presenting The Pianist by Circo Aereo of Finland and the Australian troupe, Gravity and Other Myths. Both were received with great enthusiasm, and many performances were sold out. The Israeli cellist, Matt Haimovitz provided a Baroque/ New Music conversation with performances in the Ca’ d’Zan, Museum of Art, and Historic Asolo Theater; and the Grammy-awardwinning ensemble Eighth Blackbird attracted large audiences for their compelling program entitled Hand Eye. Genre-bending performances drew cheers from audiences that included many “younger people;” both 17 Border Crossings by conceptual artist, Thaddeus Phillips, and the LMnO3 creation, B.A.N.G.S.: made in america added bursts of creative energies in unconventional ways. Finally, RIAF’s ENCORE engagement of doug elkins choreography, etc. did not fail to please as Ringling audiences embraced the performances of this winning ensemble.

At the end of the calendar year, the Historic Asolo Theater was closed in order to facilitate five months of renovation, conservation, and maintenance done in conjunction with the construction of the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion. The closure both necessitated and accommodated an innovative three-part exploration of performance in alternative spaces. Presented under the rubric New Stages: New Sincerity, the series marked the curatorial debut of Sonja Shea, who developed the project as a Fellow at the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University. The outdoor performance spectacle of SEESAW by Wise Fool New Mexico opened the series. It was followed with the idiosyncratic and intimate EXPERIMENT #42.000 (RINGLING) as conceived by the Institute for Psychogeographic Adventure. The series concluded with the powerful and wildly popular presentation of CAPTIVE by the British acrobatic ensemble, Motionhouse.

A final tabulation: more than 50 guest artists from seven nations were presented in eleven genre-defying productions. Additionally, a large number of performances and programs were staged in conjunction with Curators of the Circus Museum and Education, Volunteer Services, and Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota. In total, 126 performances of 32 productions were staged for 30,000+ ticket holders.

ART OF PERFORMANCE

50 GUEST ARTISTS

7 NATIONS

11 PRODUCTIONS IN TOTAL @ THE RINGLING

126 PERFORMANCES

32 PRODUCTIONS

30,000 TICKET HOLDERS

2016–2017 was a year of continued exploration, necessitated innovation, and looking ahead for the Art of Performance at The Ringling.

Left: Wise Fool New Mexico, SeeSaw photo courtesy of the artist

EDUCATION PROGRAMS

The Ringling’s docent program remains one of the most active in the country, serving 72,484 visitors this past year. Since many of the Ringling’s visitors rely on docent tours to access the estate, we continually strive to improve the program to offer the best possible visitor experience. To this end, twentyfive new docents were recruited to begin a year-long Museum of Art training. The curriculum and format for this training was completely redesigned to better reflect our goal of increased visitor engagement. Laura Steefel-Moore, Museum Training Specialist, and Maureen Zaremba, Curator of Education, co-presented a workshop on The Ringling’s innovative programs at the Florida Association of Museum conference in Pensacola in September 2016 and Laura Steefel-Moore co-presented in a docent training workshop at the American Alliance of Museums annual conference in St. Louis in May of 2017.

Accessibility for all visitors was a focus for Education in 2016–17. Education commissioned a museum-wide accessibility survey to determine priorities for staff training as well as facility upgrades that would create greater access for visitors. Using the results of the survey, The Ringling has begun identifying priorities. To this end, Education formed an Accessibility Task Force with staff and volunteers to assist with implementation of these recommendations. Staff and volunteer training sessions were initiated to provide the Ringling community with the opportunities to better understand the needs of our visitors with disabilities.

Education facilitated the second year of the FSU Museum Education and Visitor Centered FSU graduate program. While in residence and with the support of Education, their accomplishments included creating a video of Ca’ d’Zan tours to be used for docent and security training and for visitors with accessibility challenges; designing a sensory map and social narratives for visitors on the autism spectrum; conducting and preparing a visitor experience survey in the Center for Asian Art. Maureen Zaremba and Matthew McLendon co-authored an essay, Beyond the Gate: Collaborating with Living Artists to Bring Communities into the Museum and the Museum into Communities for the publication Visitor-Centered Exhibitions and Edu-Curation in Art Museums, Rowman & Littlefield, 2017.

Scholastic Programs continued to grow. In partnership with The Circus Arts Conservatory, Education created a second grade program that combined a classroom visit by CAC education staff with a field trip to The Ringling. Though the summer is normally a quiet time for scholastic programs, Education staff provided guided visits to The Ringling for pre-K students enrolled in school board sponsored Summer Learning Academies. The purpose of SLA is to prevent summer learning loss and help at-risk students transition to a formal school environment.

Youth and Family programs experienced unprecedented growth this past year, doubling participation from last year. Under the direction of Angelica Bradley, the popular early literacy project, ROAR (Ringling Order of Art Readers) moved from a monthly to a weekly program. Open art making during Art After 5 and on Saturdays drew an intergenerational audience and a new program Museum Mondays, delighted families visiting on Legacy Day. Family visits to The Ringling have been enhanced with the publication of new family guides for the Museum of Art, the Circus Museum, and the Center for Asian Art.

Docent-led Tour of Ca' d'Zan

Building on a strong foundation, Education programs for all audiences continued to grow and expand in 2016–17.

ROAR (Ringling Order of Art Readers)

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Community Engagement remained a top priority for The Ringling. Under the guidance of the Ringling Foundation Board’s Community Engagement Task Force, museum staff partnered with several non-profits and received generous support from donors to expand our programming and impact. Access was the focus.

Opening the museum’s grounds and galleries to the widest possible audience lead to creative and new models for welcoming all members of our community to experience the power of art.

With the support and guidance of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County, The Ringling initiated a pilot program, Artful Families. Utilizing non-profit partnerships, like Forty Carrots Partners in Play, as well as Title 1 schools, museum staff created opportunities for children and their adult care givers to engage with the museum. Educators met families off-site and then held hands-on art making programs for families at the museum. Following the museum program, families were provided complimentary museum memberships. More than 60 families were provided complimentary memberships throughout the pilot program. This pilot program and the lessons learned created the platform for the creation of a larger program, The Ringling WEB: Where Everyone Belongs.

Generous funding by the Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation and continued support by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County enabled the museum to hire a full-time Community Engagement Officer, Ana Juarez. She will direct The Ringling WEB, a new model for engaging at-risk families with the museum. We anticipate serving more than 200 at-risk families annually through this exciting new program.

In addition to the launch of The Ringling WEB and continued success with programs like Partners in Play, Education has also become a partner in Easter Seals Kids Night Out program which takes place once a month. This event provides a respite for care-givers as well as a fun, creative experience for Easter Seals clients who represent a broad spectrum of both physical and emotional disabilities. Southeastern Guide Dogs and Lighthouse for the Blind are other outreach partners. A visit to The Ringling represents an opportunity for individuals who have lost their sight or have lowvision to enjoy the visual arts. We have also become a welcoming destination for Southeastern students who are learning to work with their guide dogs.

FACILITIES & GROUNDS

The Ringling opened its first permanent gallery devoted to modern and contemporary art in November 2016. The Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art in the west wing of the Museum of Art is intended to provide The Ringling with an adaptable and experimental environment, particularly suited to innovative artistic expression. With a focus on living artists in single and small group exhibitions, the Monda Gallery opened to the public with the immersive, multisensory installation by American artist Anne Patterson, Pathless Woods

November 2016 marked the final phase of the Center for Asian Art with the completion of the Nancy L. Ellis Tea House made possible by a donation from George Ellis in honor of his late wife. The Tea House was designed to marry the tradition of the historical tea house with local heritage and this coupling is evident in its construction. Inspired by Sarasota’s School of Modernism, the Tea House’s clean lines and contemporary materials provide a lasting reflection of Ringling’s commitment to the region’s cultural history.

Major construction on the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion occurred late 2016 through early 2017 culminating with the receipt of certificate of occupancy in June 2017. A showcase for The Ringling’s growing studio glass collection, the Kotler-Coville Glass Pavilion will also provide for a new entrance for the Historic Asolo Theater, an accessible dressing room, and is home to the Charlotte and Charles Perret Performance Studio. The public launch of the Glass Pavilion is scheduled for January 2018.

Right: Southeastern Guide Dog students in the Museum of Art

Nancy L. Ellis Tea House

Left to right: Anne Patterson, Anna von Gehr, Paul Hudson, Keith and Linda Monda, Matthew McClendon, Veronica Brady, Steven High, and Peter Weishar at the opening of the Keith D. and Linda L. Monda Gallery for Contemporary Art

COLLECTIONS

PERMANENT COLLECTION

560 ITEMS ACCESSIONED 21 ITEMS PURCHASED

538 ITEMS DONATED

34 OBJECTS LOANED ART LIBRARY

1,215 ITEMS ENTERED

779 ITEMS PURCHASED

436 ITEMS DONATED

785 INTERLIBRARY LOAN REQUESTS

5,434 USERS 28 PROGRAMS

ART & HISTORY

A total of 560 items were accessioned into the permanent collection of The Ringling during the fiscal year. Of these, 21 items were purchased and 538 items were donated. Gifts of contemporary art included work by Doug and Mike Starn, Yasumasa Morimura, Richard Artschwager, and Ed Ruscha from the collection of Ina Schnell. A large selection of work from the photographer Mike Disfarmer from Michael W. Sonnenfeldt and Katja B. Goldman, and a video by Aaron Pexa purchased with funds provided by Dr. Michael A. Kalman. In Asian art we received gifts of Japanese prints from Charles and Robyn Citrin, and Ming dynasty porcelain and Qing dynasty paintings from Mabel Hobart Cabot in memory of her father Richard Bryant Hobart. In modern glass, Nancy and Philip Kotler and Warren and Margot Coville made additional gifts to their already substantial collection, and in the Circus arts, Howard Tibbals added 49 posters featuring Buffalo Bill and the stars of the Wild West Show.

The Ringling loaned 34 objects this year. Florida loans were made to the Governor’s Mansion and the FSU President’s House in Tallahassee. We also had loans to FSU (a sculpture in the College of Medicine), as well as the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College.

ART LIBRARY

A total of 1,215 books and publications were entered into the Library’s collection this fiscal year. Of these, 779 items were purchased and 436 items were donated. Noteworthy new donations included significant new collections of research material including Studio Glass books from the collection of Nancy and Phillip Kotler, and a collection of books on photography contributed by Warren and Margot Coville. Robyn and Charles Citrin gifted books on Japanese prints, including a rare set of 17 volumes about Japanese woodblock prints, and Mabel Hobart Cabot contributed two collections of out-of-print books on China and Tibet that add to our growing Asian art and history collection.

The Library was visited by 5,434 users over the year and also processed 785 interlibrary loan requests. Twenty eight library education programs were presented during the year, including the very popular Literati Book Club.

This spring we relaunched eMuseum, our online collections portal, at eMuseum.ringling.org. People from around the world can now access the entire accessioned collection, as well as thousands of research materials from our archival holdings.

eMuseum

EXPANDING THE RINGLING EXPERIENCE 7,286

6,173 UNITED STATES (84.72%)

132 FRANCE (1.81%)

131 CANADA (1.80%)

116 ITALY (1.59%)

103 NETHERLANDS (1.41%)

75 GERMANY (1.03%)

41 SPAIN (0.56%)

37 RUSSIA (0.51%)

29 JAPAN (0.40%)

MOST VIEWED OBJECT (A TIE!)

MOST FREQUENTLY SEARCHED TERM AL G. BARNES

MOST USED FILTER DEPARTMENT ARCHIVES

MOST VISITED COLLECTION

EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN ART

ADVANCEMENT

Thanks to you, our dedicated supporters, more than $6.6 million was generously gifted to The Ringling in support of top priorities in fiscal year 2017.

We were proud to receive major support from major funders including The Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues. In addition, significant support was received from Hudson C. and Anne R. Smith, David W. and Mary S. Benfer, Charles M. and Charlotte I. Perret, David A Schuler and Dennis Pierce, Charles & Margery Barancik Foundation, Domenica T. and Cippone and Henry Warren, Willis Smith Construction, Suzi Barbee and Vic Hotto, J. Richard and Cornelia Matson, Gulf Coast Community Foundation and The Community Foundation of Sarasota County.

Our Legacy Society and planned giving continue to grow with significant gifts in 2017. In March over 130 members and guests of The John and Mable Ringling Legacy Society were honored at a special annual luncheon held at Ca’ d’Zan.

Membership and Circle continue to thrive at The Ringling, resulting in over $1,700,000 in revenue! Membership reached a record high of over 9,500 membership households during the height of season, a 10 percent increase from the same time last year. As a result of this growth, updates have been made to better accommodate high levels of attendance at popular events such as Ringling by the Bay and Member Exhibition Previews. We strive to maximize the member’s experience in keeping with the true philanthropic support that our donors desire.

MEMBERSHIP

9,554 MEMBERSHIP HOUSEHOLDS $1.7 M IN REVENUE IN TOTAL @ THE RINGLING $6.6 M RAISED

TOTAL RAISED FY 17 – $6,631,531

(Includes Membership)

Major Gifts $2,089,556

Membership & Circle $1,713,181

Planned Gifts $1,333,954

Gifts of Artwork $704,835

Grants $603,011

Sponsorships $90,049

Annual Fund $62,670

Giving Challenge $34,165

The John and Mable Ringling Legacy Society Annual Luncheon