Ringling College sells Englewood Art Center

Following nearly 20 years of ownership, Ringling College has sold the Englewood Art Center in south Sarasota County.  

The new owner is the Hermitage Artist Retreat, which purchased the property at 350 S. McCall Road at the end of November 2025 for $100, according to Sarasota County property records. The two entities announced the transfer of ownership in a joint statement March 9.

On 2 acres, the Englewood Art Center includes two buildings that total 10,000 square feet. 

Ringling College had used the facility as a community hub with gallery, studio and classroom space before closing it last spring.

The Hermitage Artist Retreat, an arts incubator and multidisciplinary artist retreat based about 5.5 miles away on Manasota Key, anticipates making some changes to the use and operation of the facility, according to a statement. It plans for the property to function as a multidisciplinary arts center. In addition to providing space for visual art installation, it will serve as a venue for public programming that spans dance, music, theater, visual art and literature, among other art forms; as part of their residencies, Hermitage fellows participate in community programming that gives local audiences a taste of their works before they go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters and museums around the world, according to the statement.

“This acquisition allows us to dream bigger and to expand our impact in both the local and global arts ecosystems,” Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage Artist Retreat Andy Sandberg says in the statement. 

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Currently, the Hermitage is involved in long-term strategic planning for the Englewood facility, and in the months ahead, it expects to engage the Englewood community in the dialogue around its future use.

“We want to ensure that we are taking the time needed to thoughtfully activate this invaluable space in the way that best meets the needs of our community while also advancing our mission,” Sandberg says.

While the Englewood Art Center will house public-facing programs, it will also provide studio and gallery space for the Hermitage’s artist-in-residence program, which has served 850 artists over the course of more than 20 years. The artists have included 18 Pulitzer Prize winners; Poets Laureate; Guggenheim and MacArthur fellows; and multiple Grammy, Tony, Emmy and Oscar winners and nominees, according to the statement. 

Ringling College President Larry Thompson calls the Hermitage Artist Retreat a “natural and deserving successor of the space” in Englewood, which for almost a year has been inactive.

In May 2025, Ringling College closed the Englewood Art Center as part of a “strategic decision” to consolidate its community-facing arts programming on Ringling College’s Sarasota Art Museum campus. “The Englewood Art Center played a pivotal role in the local arts offerings, and it was a difficult decision for the college to close its doors,” Thompson says in the statement. 

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For decades, the nonprofit that became the Englewood Art Center has functioned as a “creative hub” for artists and art enthusiasts in south Sarasota County as well as Lee and Charlotte counties, the organization says. Ringling College purchased the property in 2008 for $100 from the Englewood Art Center Inc., property records show.

“We are pleased the Hermitage can now step in,” Thompson says, “and continue enriching the community with programming for the foreseeable future.”

The acquisition follows the recent expansion of the Hermitage on Manasota Key thanks to a $12 million gift. At the end of 2025, the Morrison and Steans families gave the organization 6.5 acres of gulf-to-bay property less than a half-mile from the Hermitage’s Manasota Key campus that more than doubles its footprint. According to the Hermitage, that land and the Englewood Art Center are expansions, not replacements.