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THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 2017
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Jewish Film Festival Contemporary directors explore the Jewish experience. PAGE 4
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Ringling College President Larry Thompson’s vision for the school goes beyond lists and rankings. He wants to be first in mind.
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‘Older Than Dirt’ Florida Studio Theatre explores the lighter side of aging. PAGE 10
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PROGRESS Ringling College of Art and Design is having a growth spurt. What do its ambitious expansions mean for the future of the local institution? NICK FRIEDMAN A+E MANAGING EDITOR
‘Dialogues of the Carmelites’ Strong voices and acting shine in this Sarasota Opera production. PAGE 12
There are many ways to measure success. Awards, rankings and recognition are the go-to symbols of validation. They go a long way, but they’re not everything. For Ringling College of Art and Design President Larry Thompson, it’s the intangibles that are most important. His vision for Sarasota’s burgeoning art and design college lives in the abstract. He doesn’t want to be first on lists. He wants to be first in mind. “When a student, a parent, an art teacher or someone in the industry thinks of art and design, and who’s on the cutting edge, I want them to think Ringling College,” he says.
It’s not that the school is lacking in accolades. In the past two years, 36 Ringling graduates have worked on Oscar-winning films. Dozens more have worked on Academy Award-nominated projects. Its film school, only in its eighth year, regularly ranks in the Hollywood Reporter’s annual list of the top 25 film schools in the country. That kind of success is practically unheard of for a program that young. Through its partnership with Semkhor Productions, Ringling has hosted a string of celebrity visits. The more than 30 actors, directors and other industry professionals have praised — and often worked alongside — the school’s students. The local arts college, near
the intersection of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way and U.S. 41, is making a name for itself on a national — even global level. Now, this momentum is starting to take physical shape as the college expands its local footprint through several ongoing or recently completed construction projects: The Alfred R. Goldstein Library; the Richard and Barbara Basch Visual Arts Center; the Ringling College Soundstage and Post-Production Complex and the Sarasota Museum of Art community and cultural campus. Thompson says this growth is the culmination of years of work — a process that began, albeit quietly, in 2006. It was around this time that Thompson saw an opportunity. Deciding the curriculum was too narrow, he spent the next two years doubling the number of available majors from six to 12 — including the highly successful SEE PAGE 2