Ringling College of Art and Design history

On April 2, 1933, Verman Kimbrough received a long distance telephone call from John Ringling's nurse asking him to come to New York City immediately.

In the year 1934-35, only five months of and in the faculty salaries were paid out of eight, following year seven months out of eight.

On November 15, 1935, the first Student Council was formed under the leadership of Tommy Wrede, Chairman, and Janet Whetlock, Treasurer.

The 1936 catalogue carried the following statement:

April 17, 1937, was an important occasion for Dora G. McCollister of Clarksburg, Ohio, who was the first Ringling School of Art Student to be granted a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

Verman Kimbrough, who was to become extremely active in community affairs, was elected Mayor of Sarasota in 1938, an office which he held for two years.

In 1942 Hilton Leech taught the first etching and wood block printing course which was later reintroduced into the curriculum by Fiore Custode.

Ringling School of Art student, Candy Tilton, was named Miss Sarasota in 1948.

On October 2, 1949, the first building to be constructed by the -school was put into use.

In 1950 Austin oversaw the purchase of all the decorative elements of a theater originally built in 1798 by architect Antonio Locateli.

The academic calendar for the school year had three terms until 1953 when the present two semester system was established.

Plans were finally made in 1954 for a separate building to be constructed for the theater off the west end of the Museum’s north wing.

Again hoping to prove a point, some students in the class of 1956 created a "hoax" that fooled a jury in an exhibition at the Sarasota Art Association. "Number Nine," one of the seventy-seven works on view, was frankly invented as a joke by Ringling students hoping to fool the jurors.

Another grand social occasion took place on March 8, 1959, when Ringling School of Art sponsored an Opera Ball which was held at the Ringling Mansion.

At the April 27, 1964 meeting of the above mentioned board, seven additional persons were elected to the Trustee list and Edith Kimbrough submitted her resignation.

1966 - Large supermarket and adjoining buildings to the east now used as

In the Fall of 1970 he was appointed Vice President with the understanding that he would be assigned the presidency the following year.

The Alumni Association was officially formed in May of 1971 with General Diller serving as the first President.

WHEREAS, life's Chapter on this planet ended for our Founder and First President, HONORABLE VERMAN KIMBROUGH on August 12,1972, at Waynesville, North Carolina near his summer home, and

January, 1973 - The Board of Trustees reviewed this recommendation and directed the President to begin the process.

In September of 1977 the students produced the first RINGLING MAGAZINE which has subsequently been hailed as one of the finest and most professional student magazines produced by any College, University, or Art School student group in the country.

Though it is normally taken for granted, in 1978 the Board adopted a statement which assured the faculty appropriate freedom in teaching and research.

Bernard Soep, president of a large Boston design firm bearing his name, was brought to Sarasota to head the department in the Fall of 1979.

The first building to be constructed was a Library-studio complex in June of 1980 at a total cost of $1,250,000.

At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees in May of 1981 Doctor Robert Perkins tendered his resignation.

Upon joining as a member, accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art was granted in 1984.

AICAD colleges educate more than 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students each year, plus many thousands more in summer and continuing education programs. It was founded in 1991 by a group of 25 presidents who felt a need for the similarly structured art schools to come together so as to mutually develop their schools and programs.

As importantly, a new Director, John Wetenhall, was appointed in 2001 and under his care The Ringling experienced an extraordinary rebirth.