After growth, Ringling College updates master plan

In the past three years, Ringling College of Art and Design has grown its student body by 20% and cut ribbons on new facilities that cost tens of millions of dollars.

In the wake of all that growth, the college’s leaders are regrouping to assess the school’s needs going forward — but they’re not necessarily planning on slowing down.

Ringling College is in the process of updating its campus master plan, originally adopted in April 2011. The update will reflect the changes associated with increased enrollment, a priority of the school’s since 2006. This academic year, nearly 1,600 students attend the college, whose campus is located near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Dr. Martin Luther King Way.

The plan will also reflect the changed facilities needs of the campus, shaped in part by a series of high-profile infrastructure projects that have opened since 2017. That includes the Alfred R. Goldstein Library, the Ringling Studios soundstage complex, the Richard and Barbara Basch Visual Arts Center and the Bridge Hall Apartments.

A draft of the revised master plan is expected to be complete by April. Because of the speed of the growth, however, some things can’t wait for the formal adoption of the master plan. That’s why, in January, Ringling College held a community workshop on construction plans for another new residence hall at 1160 Greensboro Lane. The school plans to demolish three existing residence halls and open a new 74,200-square-foot building that can house up to 269 students.

Even if the school can’t maintain that pace of growth it has seen in the past few years, the updated master plan will continue to highlight opportunities for expansion for the college to pursue as necessary, or as opportunities arise.

Tracy Wagner, Ringling’s vice president for finance and administration, said the school isn’t going to expand just for the sake of doing so.

Still, to remain competitive as a destination for arts education, the college wants to stay vigilant about pursuing opportunities that would make Ringling more attractive to prospective students.

“I think that’s always been the position of the institution, that we want to do moderate, careful, planned growth,” Wagner said. “But to be able to grow in this environment is important, too.”

Taking stock

It’s not surprising that things have changed since 2011.

Even when it was first adopted, the master plan was intended as a framework to help inform the school’s decision-making, not an immutable guide for how Ringling College would grow.

“It helps us understand: If you reach this sort of enrollment, what kind of things do we need to plan for?” Wagner said. “We don’t have to invent, at the time the need arises, a solution.”

Still, enough time has passed that some of the information in the master plan is no longer accurate. For example, the school planned on having about 57% of its students live on campus, but it has found today a higher percentage than anticipated wants to live in student housing.

There may be a variety of reasons for the change — different economic conditions, fewer off-campus housing options, a higher percentage of international students — but whatever the explanation, the school needs to be positioned to address it.

Likewise, nearly seven years of working with the master plan has made school officials aware of some shortcomings. Even before the master plan was in place, the city created a Ringling Overlay District with specific rules for building on the college’s campus.

More than a decade later, some well-intentioned regulations have proven irksome. The college thought it sounded good to have project design requirements that ensured natural light would be incorporated into new buildings, only to realize lots of natural light isn’t ideal for the galleries on campus.

There’s more that’s changed. Trees have grown. The college has acquired more properties, some of which are outside of the boundaries of the Ringling Overlay District. The revised master plan will reflect all of these changes and more.

For now, most of the analysis of the master plan is being done internally. That’s not to say officials are crafting changes without any input. The school will invite students and staff to share their thoughts on what the master plan should look like.

This spring, Ringling College will pivot to more public outreach. Wagner said outside input has shaped the school’s decisions related to growth. In January, Wagner gave a presentation about the college’s growth at the Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations.

Officials plan to meet with adjacent neighborhoods including Indian Beach-Sapphire Shores, Bayou Oaks and Central Cocoanut in the coming months to share updates and solicit feedback on the master plan.

“We want to be a good neighbor,” Wagner said. “Having their input helps us see from their perspective, so it’s invaluable to us to help understand — what would make Ringling College a good neighbor?”

Previously, those surrounding the north Sarasota campus have offered mixed reactions to Ringling’s growth. Residents in Newtown have expressed concern about gentrification and said the school’s expansion hasn’t benefited neighbors in the area. North Trail property owners have praised the college, saying any increased activity is beneficial for an area that has long sought revitalization.

“When people see development, they see good things happening on the trail after a long time,” said Jay Patel, chairman of the North Trail Redevelopment Partnership, in a previous interview with the Sarasota Observer. “Every bit helps.”

Wagner acknowledged there are some situations where the school’s goals didn’t align with those of some residents, but she said Ringling takes the feedback it hears seriously.

As the college continues to work on the details of the master plan, Wagner reiterated that Ringling isn’t going to be beholden to what seems like a good idea today if new opportunities arise in the future. Whether it’s a burgeoning academic discipline or a project that becomes possible thanks to an unexpected donation, Wagner wants Ringling to stay nimble as it navigates the challenges that arise in the wake of the most recent span of growth.

After the master plan is updated, she said that philosophy will continue to guide the school’s decision-making over the next three to five decades.

“That was something when we first started on this journey that I had to be really clear about,” Wagner said. “The plan was not going to constrict us. It was going to provide us a path that we could use — and that we would use as a guideline, not an absolute.”