Art Center Sarasota executive director departs for national nonprofit

While serving as executive director of Art Center Sarasota from 2021 to 2024, Kinsey Robb was known for helping revitalize the organization.

However, the impact of her work extended even further when it helped lead her into the role of Art Dealers Association of America in New York City, the leading nonprofit membership organization of the nation’s premiere fine art galleries.

"The Art Center really has such an important legacy in Sarasota, and I see parallels with that," she said, noting the ADAA has a "really unbelievable legacy" and a "high standard."

Now, among her responsibilities is planning one of the country's preeminent philanthropic art fairs, The Art Show, which is held for the benefit of Henry Street Settlement, a nonprofit providing social services in New York. 

The project is a "huge orchestration," she said, involving about 75 member galleries.

She noted on Oct. 22 that she was looking over posters with numerous post-it notes to plan out each day of the show. 

Founded in 1962, the ADAA represents more than 200 members across more than 40 U.S. cities, and deals with issues that include connoisseurship, scholarship, ethical practice and public policy.

Robb assumed the role in late September, succeeding Maureen Bray, who had served as Executive Director since 2018.

Prior to moving to Sarasota, the home of her parents, Eileen and Paul Robb, Robb had worked in a few contemporary galleries in New York City.

Thanks to her work at Art Center Sarasota, she had been able to explore the world of the nonprofit sector of the fine arts, bridging the two sides of the ADAA.

"I think that those experiences for me really helped position me in understanding the holistic ecosystem of a different sector of the fine arts, which would be the nonprofit area, and that was really motivating, and helped grow me as an individual and as a professional, and also as a member of the arts community," she said. 

During her time at Art Center Sarasota, she said, she had led a focus on a high level of professionalism and the fair treatment of art and artists.

Some other aspects of her new role include the grant-making side of the organization, which serves museums with smaller operating budgets, as well as its relief fund, which provides funds to nonprofits and galleries in natural disasters such as hurricanes.

Through the role, she hopes to bring diverse new voices to the arts, a goal she said the organization is behind and will involve the cultivation of internships, mentorships and efforts to open galleries to new artists. 

She said her past experience also brings a familiarity with many member galleries, at the same time she is exploring new territory. 

"It feels like every day I'm learning something new on the job, and I think that the responsibility of the role is something that I'm really excited to be a part of," she said. 

However, she also said, especially with the impacts of hurricanes Helene and Milton, that Sarasota and the relationships she formed there is still on her mind.

"I'm thinking about Sarasota all the time, and still keeping in touch with colleagues and friends and wishing everyone well," she said. "Even though I'm up here in New York, I still feel the sense of community and that connection to Sarasota, which is really such a cool thing."