For The Sake of Art -
Centennial Season Events

Why Arts Matter Now: Power, Politics, and the Business of Creativity

Register here

In today’s cultural landscape, the arts are more than entertainment—they are vessels of memory, resistance, and possibility. Yet behind every performance, exhibition, or program lies a complex reality: balancing vision with operations, creativity with sustainability, and passion with the politics that shape funding and public perception.

In this engaging talk, Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez, Founding Executive Artistic Director of Mosaic Movements, pulls back the curtain on the business of the arts. From wearing multiple hats to navigating shifting political climates, ze shares candid reflections on what it takes to build and sustain an arts organization today. Through stories rooted in Sarasota’s vibrant cultural identity and broader national currents, Yoleidy invites the community to consider why the arts matter now more than ever—and how artists, patrons, and cultural leaders together can spark resilience and change.

Art of the Spectacle: Wonder Under the Big Top

Resister Here

Spectacles, those experiences that bring together individuals into a collective audience and all of the senses, are opportunities to feel connected to something bigger than the self. The state of wonder evoked by such a feeling is invigorating, inspiring, and fleeting. Throughout history artists of every imaginable discipline have turned their talents to creating and communicating the power of the spectacular. The circus – a combination of extraordinary people, exotic animals and extravagant productions – has been a continual subject for artists engaging with the emotional and social power of the spectacle. This talk will explore how, for almost 100 years, Sarasota has been the place where the communities of circus and visual arts have come together. 

Jennifer Lemmer Posey, the Tibbals Curator of Circus, has worked with the circus collections at The Ringling for over twenty years. She oversees and interprets the museum’s collection of objects and ephemera related to the history of the circus, including the Howard Bros. Circus Model, the Wisconsin Pullman Car, bandwagons, posters, costumes and more. With research interests focused on the relationship of the circus arts, mass media, and popular culture, Lemmer Posey has published in The American Circus, The Amazing American Circus Poster, and Early Popular Visual Culture. From 2013 to 2017, she served as editor for Bandwagon, the Journal of the Circus Historical Society and was an Advisory Scholar for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival celebrating the Circus Arts in 2017. Lemmer Posey has curated a wide array of exhibitions at The Ringling, including the reinstallation of the Historic Circus Galleries, A Kaleidoscope of Color: The Costume Designs of Miles White, and the newly opened permanent display in The Greatest Show On Earth® Gallery and regular rotations of the poster galleries in the Tibbals Learning Center.