Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative Welcomes Four New Board Members

July 1, 2022 – Sarasota

The Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that uses the unifying power of the arts to nurture inclusion and diversity across the regional arts and cultural landscape, welcomes four new members to its board of directors: Dr. Denise Davis-Cotton, Kristofer Geddie, Tim Jaeger, and Gregory Rumph II.

“Working with this dream team is such an honor,” says Michele Des Verney Redwine, SBAC’s executive director and founder. “Our board is comprised of artists, authors, academic professionals, art advocates and community leaders. We have come together to promote diversity and inclusion in programming and leadership throughout our community. It’s an ambitious goal—but we will settle for nothing less.”

Dr. Denise Davis-Cotton is recognized as a leading authority in arts integrated-teaching, and an accomplished curriculum designer for cultural-inclusive education, arts integration, and new school/program development. She is the director of the Florida Center for Partnerships for Arts-Integrated Teaching (PAInT Center) at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. Davis-Cotton is a Milken Foundation internationally recognized educator, and a national past president and active board member of Arts Schools Network. She is the founder and was the first principal of the Detroit School of Arts, and the author of “Losing My Mind over Education (Finding My Way Back to Me).” Davis-Cotton is recognized as a community leader for comprehensive arts-integrated education. She received two keys to the city of Montgomery (Alabama), was recognized in the congressional record the 106th Congress, and is a distinguished alum of Alabama State University.

Kristofer Geddie, a North Carolina native, trekked to Florida from New York City in 2010 to play “Coalhouse Walker” in Ragtime at Venice Theatre, and never left.  He is currently the director of diversity and general manager at the theater.  Geddie holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Mars Hill University, is currently enrolled in the final semester of graduate school at Goucher College for a master’s in arts administration. Geddie also serves on the Ambassador Circle for Embracing our Differences, is the treasurer of the Florida Theatre Conference, and a board member for the Friends of the Venice Public Library and the American Association of Community Theatre. 

Raised in Paducah, Kentucky, Tim Jaeger earned his Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Fine Arts and a Minor in Modern Art History from Ringling College of Art and Design, where he was a Trustee Scholar. For more than 20 years, Jaeger has maintained a studio in Sarasota while participating in numerous solo and group exhibitions across the United States. He has received several awards and grants, including the Artist Residency and Fellowship Chateau L’Hesperit, Monaret, France, and the Arts Leadership Award issued by the Sarasota County Arts Council. Jaeger’s paintings can be found in numerous public and private collections across the United States. In addition to his studio practice, Jaeger is also the director and chief curator of the six galleries at Ringling College. He has curated more than 50 exhibitions, including retrospectives and group exhibitions by Richard Mayhew, Faith Ringgold, Aminah Robinson, and Chakaia Booker.

Gregory Rumph II was introduced to art by copying his father’s drawings as a youngster. He nurtured that curiosity and refined his skills and talents over the years. In 1998, he received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in Illustration from Ringling College of Art and Design. After several years of freelancing, Rumph was recruited to teach in the Visual and Performing Arts program at Booker Middle School in Sarasota where he taught for 15 years. He furthered his experiences in education to be eventually become an administrator and now serves as assistant principal at Booker High School overseeing the Visual and Performing Arts program. His work is in the collection of the National Civil Rights Museum and various private collections across the country. 

SBAC’s board of directors includes: Sharon Preston-Folta, interim president; Francine Brown, secretary; and Lisa Berger, Denise Davis-Cotton, Kristofer Geddie, Tim Jaeger, and Gregory Rumph II.

For more information about the Suncoast Black Arts Collaborative, visit www.suncoastblackartscollaborative.org.