23-04-2025
‘That will destroy it': Town hall addresses potential leadership change at Ringling Museum
SARASOTA, Fla. (WFLA) — Dozens gathered at a town hall Tuesday, opposing the possible transfer of power at Sarasota's Ringling Museum.
Art, history and architecture dating back a century are just few reasons tourists and locals across the region attend the Ringling Museum.
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For the last 25 years, Florida State University has managed the museum, but Gov. Ron DeSantis is laying out different plans in this year's budget proposal.
He is suggesting that leadership transfers from FSU to Sarasota's New College of Florida.
'It's a beautiful institution and what's happening I don't think is the will of the people,' Lakewood Ranch resident Gretchen Fry explained.
Fry and dozens of others gathered Tuesday at a town hall event, opposing the possibility of a transition
'To see this taken over in just such a cruel way, that will destroy it,' said Sarasota resident Jan Dorsett.
Nancy Parrish is the former chair of the Ringling Museum Foundation, and the current president of a new group called 'Citizens to Protect the Ringling.'
She said the state's smallest public college doesn't have the staff, expertise or infrastructure to take over the 66-acre property.
'Our grounds should be kept as is. Our 66 acres should not be trounced on, and our collections should be preserved, should not be sold off for funds, those are the things we are concerned about,' she said.
News Channel 8 On Your Side previously asked New College of Florida for a comment on the proposal. We were directed to an op-ed written by President Richard Corcoran, where he described the transition as a win for Sarasota, the Ringling, New College and the state.
He wrote, in part, 'It ensures the museum's legacy remains deeply intertwined with Sarasota's cultural and educational future.'
Parrish's message to New College?
'What I would say to President Corcoran is, it's important for you to get your own house in order and take care of the transition in which you have undertaken, and you need to leave your neighbors alone,' she said.
News Channel 8 On Your Side is still waiting to hear back from the governor's office.
If this proposal moves forward, the change in leadership would take place by the start of August.
You can read it in full below.
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