Each year, the organization’s esteemed Curatorial Council selects artists of extraordinary ability across multiple disciplines for Hermitage Fellowships. The Hermitage Curatorial Council is comprised of visionary leaders from some of the most renowned cultural institutions in the world.
(July 3, 2020) The Hermitage Artist Retreat recently announced its 2020-2021 Curatorial Council, comprised of distinguished arts leaders spanning the fields of theater, visual art, music, literature, and arts education. This esteemed group of fourteen includes:
- ● Eric Booth (arts education), considered one of the most influential leaders in American arts education; author, keynote speaker, and an international art learning consultant at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, LA Philharmonic, Juilliard, and more
- Daniel Byers (visual art), Director at Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University
- ● Valerie Cassel Oliver (visual art), Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
- Jennifer Clement (literature), President, PEN International
- ● Claire Chase (music), Flutist, Avery Fisher Award Winner, MacArthur Fellow
- ● Christopher Burney (theater and film), Artistic Director of New York Stage and Film, Vassar
- ● Mandy Greenfield (theater and film), Artistic Director of Williamstown Theater Festival
- ● Kimberly Drew (visual art), a Writer, Activist, and Curator of black experiences
- Emily Mann (theater and film), longtime Artistic Director of The McCarter Theater, Princeton University
- Christopher Merrill (international), Director of Creative Writing Program, University of Iowa
- Emily Nemens (literature), Editor of The Paris Review
- Kiki Petrosino (literature), Director of Creative Writing Program, University of Louisville
- Robert Spano (music), Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Limor Tomer (music), General Manager, Live Arts, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
[See more detailed bios and descriptions of each artistic field below.]
“We are honored to welcome these visionary leaders to the Hermitage Curatorial Council,” says Andy Sandberg, the Artistic Director and CEO of the Hermitage. “These fourteen individuals share a collective passion for the development and creation of new work from bold and diverse voices, and we are incredibly fortunate to have them in the Hermitage family. With their breadth of experience, their vast networks, and their insightful ability to identify extraordinary talent, we know that the selection of our Fellows could not be in better hands.”
Members of the Curatorial Council are experts in their disciplines and connected to some of the world’s most renowned cultural institutions. Each year, the Council selects artists of extraordinary ability who are already making an impact in their field—artists who are eager to continue developing bold and impactful new works, and who may benefit creatively from a distinguished Hermitage Fellowship. Since national and international Hermitage residencies are curated, there is no application; neither the Hermitage staff nor members of the Curatorial Council can accept applications or solicitations. However, Sarasota County artists and Florida public school teaching artists can find information on how to apply through the Hermitage website.
The Hermitage hosts artists on its Gulf Coast Manasota Key campus for multi-week residencies, where artists across multiple disciplines come to create and develop new works of art, literature, music, theater, and more. Past Hermitage Fellows have included nine Pulitzer Prize winners, MacArthur “Genius” Fellows, U.S. Poet Laureates, National Book Award recipients, and multiple Tony, Grammy, Oscar, and Emmy Award nominees and winners.,
As part of their residences, artists are asked to participate in community programs, affording audiences in our region the unique opportunity to engage with some of the world’s leading artists and to get a “sneak peak” into extraordinary projects and artistic minds before their works go on to major galleries, concert halls, theaters, and museums around the world. These free programs include performances, lectures, interactive experiences, open studios, school programs, teacher workshops, and more, serving thousands in our regional community each year.
Invitations for the 2020-2021 Hermitage Fellows have recently been sent, and Hermitage artist programs will be announced throughout the season.
For more information about the Hermitage, visit www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
Interviews available upon request with Andy Sandberg (Artistic Director and CEO), Patricia Caswell (Program Director), or members of the Hermitage Curatorial Council.
About the Hermitage Artist Retreat:
The Hermitage is a nonprofit artist retreat located in Manasota Key, Florida, inviting accomplished artists across multiple disciplines for residencies on its beachfront campus, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Hermitage artists are invited to interact with the local community, serving thousands of Gulf Coast residents and visitors each year with unique and inspiring programs. Hermitage Fellows have included nine Pulitzer Prize winners, along with multiple Tony, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and MacArthur Fellowship award winners. Works created at this beachside retreat by a diverse group of Hermitage alumni have gone on to renowned theatres, concert halls, and galleries throughout the world. Each year, the organization awards the $30,000 Hermitage Greenfield Prize for a new work of art, and the Aspen Music Festival awards the annual Hermitage Prize in Composition. For more information about The Hermitage Artist Retreat, visit www.HermitageArtistRetreat.org.
The Hermitage is supported by:
Hermitage programs are supported, in part, by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts; by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax Revenues; and by the Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Council of Arts and Culture and the State of Florida (Section 286.25 Florida Statutes).
2020-2021 Hermitage Curatorial Council
This year’s prestigious Council includes leaders from the highly respected Paris Review, Metropolitan Museum, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center; professors from Harvard, Princeton, Columbia, and Julliard; and a social media art influencer. Among the awards earned and works championed by this august group are multiple Tonys, the MacArthur Genius Award, Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Award, multiple Grammys, New York Times Book Awards, two Pulitzer Prizes, and more. These curators recommend artists in all genres for Fellowships at the Hermitage. All resident artists present free community programs throughout our region.
LITERATURE
Writers from the international literary world are brought to the Hermitage by these esteemed curators.
Emily Nemens is editor of The Paris Review, the nation’s preeminent literary quarterly. As a writer and illustrator her work has appeared in The New Yorker and her most recent book is a New York Times Book Review Editor’s pick.
Writer Jennifer Clement is President of PEN International, which has writers in 100 countries. Her books have garnered the New York Times Editor’s Choice, Opera Book Club Selection, National Book Award Finalist, PEN/Faulkner Prize, Time Magazine “Top 10 Books,” and have been published in over 30 languages.
Kiki Petrosino is a writer, editor and professor. Her work was cited by the New York Times as one of the best works of poetry of 2017. She currently teaches poetry at the University of Virginia.
VISUAL ART
Visual artists, photographers, and museum-grade multimedia artists are brought to the Hermitage by three respected curators.
Kimberly Drew is a writer, curator, and activist in the arena of contemporary black artists. A digital cultural social influencer, her work has also appeared in such publications as Vanity Fair and Vogue.
Currently the Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Valerie Cassell-Oliver has served at the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Whitney Museum.
Daniel Byers is Director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts and Lecturer in the Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University. He has curated at ICA/Boston, Carnegie Museum, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
MUSIC
Music of all genres created and heard at the Hermitage is brought forth by three history-making impresarios.
A world leader in museum-based performance, Limor Tomer curates, commissions, produces, and presents groundbreaking performances for the Met Museum for over 100,000 visitors annually, over 500,000 online.
Composer and Maestro Robert Spano, Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Aspen Music Festival, has six Grammy awards. His dedication to contemporary music is what led him to the Hermitage.
Flutist Claire Chase, also a past Hermitage Fellow, is winner of the MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship and the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize from Lincoln Center. Chase founded the respected International Contemporary Ensemble, which has commissioned hundreds of living composers. She is also Professor of Music at Harvard University.
THEATER & FILM
The dramatic arts created at the Hermitage result from the writers brought to this Gulf Coast retreat by three highly respected veteran thespians.
Mandy Greenfield, commissions, develops, and produces plays that have brought her every major theatrical award, many that go to Broadway. She played a pivotal role for many years at Manhattan Theatre Club and is currently the Artistic Director of the Williamstown Theater Festival.
Theater and film are both represented on our Curatorial Council with the addition of Christopher Burney, currently the Artistic Directorof New York Stage and Film and previously a vital force at Second Stage Theater. His productions have earned Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize, while he has worked with luminaries in the film and theater world. He teaches at Columbia and has lectured at Julliard, Bard, Barnard, and more.
Playwright and director Emily Mann earned a place in the American Theater Hall of Fame with seven Obies, a Peabody, a Tony, and many more honors. For thirty years, she was Artistic Director of Princeton’s acclaimed McCarter Theater, for which she won the Theater Communications Group’s Visionary Award.
ARTS EDUCATION
In addition to bringing high caliber artists and writers to the Gulf Coast, the Hermitage is dedicated to bringing teaching artists to share their skills with our school community.
Eric Booth is a world leader in arts education. Author of seven books. He has been on the faculty of Juilliard, Tanglewood, The Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center Education. He serves as a consultant for many arts organizations (including seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras), cities, states and businesses around the U.S.
INTERNATIONAL
Each year, the Hermitage works to include the voices and talents of artists from around the globe, and we look to internationally minded arts leaders to guide us in this process.
Christopher Merrill directs the International Writing Program for the University of Iowa. As well as being a French Knight of Arts and Letters, he serves on the National Commission for UNESSCO and has conducted cultural diplomacy missions in over 30 countries.
The Curatorial Council is committed to representing and championing the nation’s demographics in cultural, gender, and ethnic diversity. This group identifies and sends the Hermitage leading-edge artists in the U.S. What we see in museums and theaters in five years will be created at the Hermitage this year by the artists and writers they nominate for Fellowships. That new wave of art in America includes a surge in interest in African-American culture, social change, and world issues.