- January 21, 2025
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There are organizations whose names immediately bestow their members with certain traits — U.S. Navy SEALs, Phi Beta Kappa and the Peace Corps are examples that come to mind.
Teach for America is another one of those groups, and Art Center Sarasota’s new executive director, Katherine Ceaser, is an alumni. To participate in the leadership development program, college graduates commit to teach for at least two years in a public or private charter K-12 school in a low-income community.
So what assumptions can we make about Ceaser based on her Teach for America experience? That she has managerial ability and that education and accessibility are important to her. Those are good qualifications for the head of Sarasota’s oldest visual arts organization, which will turn 100 next year.
Founded in 1926 as the Sarasota Arts Association by Marcia Rader, the art superintendent of the Sarasota school system, the inception of Art Center Sarasota predates that of the venerable John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art.
Formerly director of education at ACS, Ceaser got the top job in December, not long after Kinsey Robb resigned after three years in the position. Robb left Sarasota to become executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America in New York City, the leading nonprofit membership organization of the nation’s fine art galleries.
Before joining ACS in 2023, Ceaser served as an adjunct faculty member and education adviser at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. The Sarasota native also worked as a teacher in Sarasota County Schools after she, her husband and her three children moved here in 2015 to be closer to family.
Whether it’s the result of her teaching background or just part of her personality, one of the first things you notice about Ceaser is what a good listener she is. Listening involves patience while you wait for the other person to finish what she’s going to say.
Even if you don’t know that Ceaser has worked for a “do-good” organization, you immediately get the sense that she cares about people and truly wants to make the world a better place.
But she’s no pushover. Her mettle was tested on her first Tuesday on the job for Teach for America in 2001, when a plane hit the Pentagon, not far from where she was teaching third grade in the Anacostia neighborhood of D.C.
Ceaser’s two-year stint with Teach for America coincided with the rollout of the federal No Child Left Behind program, which piqued her interest in harnessing data and public policy. After completing her teaching commitment, she earned a joint master’s degree in public policy and education at Harvard University. “I thought I wanted to go into policy, but I realized I missed teaching and went back to it,” she says.
In her education work, Ceaser focused on training teachers how to use limited resources. That kind of experience can come in handy for the leader of an arts nonprofit, even if it happens to be based in a community filled with philanthropic arts patrons.
There is no admission fee at Art Center Sarasota to view its juried exhibitions and solo shows, but it charges tuition for its classes for children and adults and its kids summer camps.
“People wander in here and they’re surprised to learn we don’t charge for admission. We have groups that come and sketch (on the tables in the middle of the back gallery). There aren’t a lot of barriers to access here. That’s why I like it,” Ceaser said in a December interview, shortly after she was promoted.
Donors, Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues and until recently, state arts grants help keep the lights on at ACS. In addition, the nonprofit generates revenue through commissions on art sold in its galleries, and from fees for classes. “We don’t want to be dependent on one source of funding because we’ve seen how capricious that can be,” Ceaser says.
When an interviewer points out that there are dozens of cultural organizations in Sarasota, Ceaser gently interjects, “But we’re the first.” OK, then. Even though she wants to create opportunity for folks who might not otherwise have access to it, Ceaser understands the importance of a legacy.
Being first is a good thing, especially when you’re a year away from your 100th anniversary. Anyone who works in marketing knows holidays and birthdays get people to open up their wallets.
Art Center Sarasota is nicely situated within the confines of The Bay, Sarasota’s new 52-acre park, and holds a long-term lease with the city of Sarasota. Despite its proximity to the water, it escaped damage from hurricanes in 2024.
Its galleries and classroom space were upgraded during Robb’s tenure, so it’s not about to embark on a major capital campaign for a new building anytime soon. Right now, ACS is building out its digital lab thanks to a grant from Impact 100 SRQ. Founded in 2018, the group of diverse women annually funds award grants to local nonprofits.
“We’re still benefiting from all that hard work that Kinsey did,” says Ceaser. “My focus going forward is letting people know all the things we’re doing. We have free youth art education every Saturday from September to March. We don’t charge for admission. Many of our special programs cost just $5.”
Ceaser continues, “My job is not to change the programming, but to expand it and let people know it exists. We have to work on getting the message out.”
Every day, Ceaser hears moving stories from visitors and students at ACS. “This morning, a woman told me it was the first time she had been back to take an art class since her husband died,” she said. “After she had done her watercolor, she came up to me teary-eyed and told me how much she had needed to get back to her art and how she couldn’t wait until next week.”
Many newcomers to Sarasota aren’t aware of the changing exhibitions at Art Center Sarasota. But the opening receptions for its exhibitions attract a Who’s Who of cultural movers and shakers in Sarasota. The next one is Jan. 30, to celebrate the opening of four new exhibits that will run through March 1. They are:
