Around Town | Steven High, Executive Director of the Ringling

By Tom Reese | Photos by Nancy Guth | September 2024

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is one of the largest and most respected art museums in the country. From its inception in the 1920s through today, The Ringling continues to adapt to a new age of technology and art while continuing to curate new exhibitions and expand its offerings. 

Its continued success and popularity shine a bright light on its Executive Director, Steven High, who, along with his dedicated staff, work tirelessly to bring our community, and visitors from around our country and the world, an exceptional experience. 

We wanted to learn more about the person at the helm, and what it takes to maintain and enhance such a highly prestigious institution, and Steve High graciously agreed to do just that.

As Executive Director of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, what are the most important aspects of your role? 

As Executive Director, I hold, cultivate and steward a long-term vision for The Ringling. My work is to secure the institution’s future through funding, programming and continued relevance. This view is made real through the creativity and brilliance of thought of our dedicated staff and board at The Ringling.  

With nearly 500,000 sq. ft of buildings, The Ringling is the 16th largest art museum in the U.S., right behind the Brooklyn Museum—not counting the 66 acres of our Arboretum. A Florida State University campus, The Ringling has 260 staff, 400 volunteers, a $26 million budget and attracts more than 400,000 visitors from throughout the U.S. and the world annually. I work closely with our chair Meg Hausberg and our 28-member board of directors to implement our strategic plan and raise the necessary funds for key projects.

Before joining The Ringling, you had decades of experience at other museums such as Telfair Museum of Art. What are your favorite memories from the past and some of your favorite exhibitions that you’ve curated?

I have been fortunate in my career to have worked in many interesting museums in beautiful cities. I started out working at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art as a research assistant for curators and collections staff and assisted in the first installation of Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party. I then moved to Boston to work at the MIT Museum, first as preparator and then assistant curator. I went on to work as the director at five different institutions throughout the U.S.   

Some of the exhibitions I curated in my early career include contemporary German expressionist painters, abstract photography, Irish contemporary art, contemporary art from Haifa, solo exhibitions by Antoni Tapies, Orshi Drozdic, Alfredo Jaar, Dorit Cypis, Terry Adkins, Lorna Simpson, Dennis Oppenheim and many others. My two favorite exhibitions that I curated were Nightmare Works documenting the deceased Hungarian performance artist Tibor Hajas, and Anonymity and Identity including work by Annette Messager, Gary Hill, and Thomas Florschuetz. For the past 27 years, I have overseen an amazing group of curators who have produced hundreds of exhibitions from across the country and the globe.

The Ringling is widely regarded as one of the best art museums in the country. What strategies do you use to maintain relevancy and keep it fresh for recurring visitors? 

We work collaboratively across departments to create an exceptional experience for both our local community and visitors to the area. Museums are places where visitors can engage with new ideas, reflect on trends as well as history and observe human expression across centuries and, here at The Ringling, experience our Bayfront Gardens along the Bay. 

With several new exhibitions year-round and a growing and historic permanent collection, our largest effort to engage with our community is through our robust education programs for both adults and youth. Our education team develops lectures and events that help visitors better understand the work on display. They work diligently to make this experience accessible and relevant for community groups, people with disabilities and their caregivers, healthcare workers and local hospitals. Also, the Art of Performance series brings cutting-edge performers from around the world to our 18th-century Historic Asolo Theater (The HAT). 

Beyond this programming, several large projects we’re working on that are exciting for The Ringling’s future are: 

The piece-by-piece restoration of the Museum of Art Courtyard. We’ve started with the fountain under David. 

Expanding our facilities to better reach underserved communities. 

Replacing the Historic Circus Museum. 

The restoration of the Rupp Pavilion, more recently known as the former Banyan Cafe. 

And bringing the restored Aeolian Organ back to be the heart of the Ca’ d’Zan.

What are your favorite current exhibitions at The Ringling? I get most excited about the great diversity of art and artists within our collection and our dedicated efforts to represent artists of color and gender throughout a collection that dates from 11-8th century BCE to today. We have a rich legacy of collecting art that began with John Ringling’s collecting in the late 1920s. With 200,000 square feet of exhibition space, our exhibits are constantly changing and evolving.  

Currently, we have the third iteration of SKYWAY, which celebrates contemporary art and artists in our region through a collaboration with Sarasota Art Museum; Museum of Fine Arts, St. Pete; USF Contemporary Art Museum; and Tampa Museum of Art. Also on view are, Radical Clay, an extraordinary exhibition of contemporary Japanese women ceramicists; Embodied, featuring highlights from our contemporary collection; and The Greatest Show on Earth© Gallery in the Tibbals Circus Museum. The exhibition Shinique Smith: Parade is a new project that brings this unique artist into dialogue with the European Collection. She engages with works from the 16th to 19th centuries through fabrics, personal relics and sound to create a different lens in which to view the “old masters” and has helped to create an engaging perspective on the art of the past for our visitors.

What is it like to have the museum governed by Florida State University, and what have they done to help the growth of The Ringling over the years you’ve been Executive Director?Immediately after the governance change to FSU in 2000, the university and museum were able to raise funds for a major restoration of the historic properties as well as a twenty-year building plan for the estate that resulted in new facilities. 

Our association with FSU remains strong and the university supports The Ringling in many ways including funding, staff and research, design and construction services, and the list goes on. Let me give you an example. Leading up to Hurricane Ian, FSU facility and police staff organized equipment, construction material, generators and staff to help The Ringling campus. After the storm, FSU’s Senior VP for Finance and Administration and his team worked with our staff over three days to remove fallen trees and clear pathways so that we could be ready to welcome visitors back to our campus safely and in record time. It is this huge commitment of support from FSU that makes The Ringling a very special institution.  

In return we coordinate academic internships with FSU graduate students in Art History, Education and Business where students can spend the academic year at The Ringling working with curators, educators, performance programming, management and customer service. We also work closely with the FSU Foundation to manage our endowment and support fundraising initiatives.   

Over the years, you have been the recipient of several awards including the Director’s Chair Award from the Western Museum Association. What are some of the awards you are most proud of and why? 

I’m most proud of receiving the National Award for Museum Service for The Nevada Museum of Art while I was director there for ten years. This award (now called the National Medal for the Arts) is considered the nation’s highest honor given to museums and libraries that demonstrate excellence in service to their communities. We were one of three museums in the country to receive the honor in 1999. My Board Chair and I accepted the award from Hillary Clinton in a White House ceremony. I am proud of this award as it highlighted the work we did in reaching out to all populations in our community and, in particular, the large Hispanic and Basque communities in Northern Nevada. It was an honor for our staff, our board, and our community to have our museum be recognized in DC, and I am still very proud of that accomplishment.

The Ringling benefits from the hard work of dedicated volunteers in the local community. Can you explain why your volunteers and members are so important in the overall growth and the future of the museum? How can our readers get involved? 

Our volunteers, members, and donors are key for The Ringling. We have a corps of more than 400 volunteers who give their time and energy to help The Ringling thrive. There are many opportunities for volunteers to get engaged, including welcoming visitors, driving our Courtesy Carts to assist anyone with a free lift around campus and helping in the administrative offices. One of our largest groups of volunteers is our Guides. Our education and curatorial staff work with our Guides to provide them with knowledge of the collections and Ca’ d’Zan and they, in turn, bring the collections to life for our visitors. 

Members help to make The Ringling vibrant and are vital not only because of their essential support, but membership is also a community. There are so many benefits for members, and especially for our Circle Members. I invite anyone reading this to explore what level of membership is the best fit for you or explore our volunteer program. Also, a gift of membership for a friend or family member can be a great introduction to The Ringling.

In a rapidly changing digital world full of AI art and new technology, why is it so important to continue to maintain museums of art and curate collections to preserve history? 

Museums like The Ringling are multi-dimensional institutions that bring the history of art, science, circus, and the natural world together in an environment that is welcoming, contemplative, beautiful and extraordinary. Where else can you see a painting from the 16th century contrasted with an artwork from the present, and be able to discover the synergies and connections between the two? Our exhibition by Shinique Smith does just that. Where can you explore the history of the circus through the stories of the artists, and experience these artists in an immersive environment with your family? Look to our Greatest Show on Earth® Gallery for this one-of-a-kind presentation.  

Museums are important for a numbers of reasons, but it is the experience of informally bringing people together to absorb the beauty and history of our cultures that makes us think about who we are today, and what lasting ideas and objects will survive from today to tell our story in the future. During the pandemic, our galleries and 66 acres of Arboretum became a respite for people to forget fears and isolation and immerse themselves in culture. One of our most sought-after artworks during the pandemic was Bernardino Scapi’s Virgin and Child with Saints Sebastian and Roch from 1530. Its symbolism conveyed a protection against plague and the Black Death and gave hope to a new future.  

New technology has always been embraced by the makers of culture and as history shows, the advent of AI will only enhance the tools that artists have to create. Museums also innovate with new technology regularly in the types of systems we use to maintain the temperature and humidity requirements in our galleries, to partnering with artists like James Turrell to create the Joseph’s Coat Skyspace experience, and in exhibiting work by artists utilizing the newest technology, like AI, such as Joy Buolamwini or Trevor Paglin who explore the social implications of artificial intelligence.  

When you aren’t working, what are your favorite things to do and places to visit around Sarasota?

Sarasota is a wonderful community filled with the arts and a beautiful environment in which to live. My wife and I like to be physically active and frequently swim, hike, bike, kayak and enjoy morning walks on Lido Beach. During the winter season we engage with the performing arts and other museums in the region and attend many of the social events that make up the calendar in Sarasota. Throughout the year (except prime hurricane season), we travel for business and pleasure. During the summer months we enjoy the heat and slower pace of our city. It is a great time to recharge and prepare for the year ahead. 

To learn more about The Ringling and ways to give, please call 941-360-7330 or visit ringling.org.