HERMITAGE ADDS ARTS LEADERS TO
NATIONAL CURATORIAL COUNCIL
The Hermitage Artist Retreat is pleased to announce additions to its National Curatorial Council, the group inviting artists to work at the prestigious Gulf-front retreat. Those names include President and Director of the Art Institute of Chicago James Rondeau, Manager of Concerts and Lectures at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art Limor Tomer and retired Vice President for Education and Jazz at the Kennedy Center, Washington, DC and Sarasotan Darrell Ayers.
“We could not be more excited that these amazing arts leaders will now be a part of the group that extends invitations to the artists who come to work at the Hermitage,” remarked Executive Director Bruce E. Rodgers. “The National Curatorial Council is an integral part of the Hermitage’s prestige and success. It is because of them that our Fellows are some of the most exciting creators working in the arts today. We could not do what we do without the guidance and expertise of these high level professionals.”
James Rondeau is the President and Eloise W. Martin Director of the Art Institute of Chicago. Rondeau joined the Art Institute of Chicago in 1998, as an Associate Curator of Contemporary Art and rose to become department chair in 2004. From 2004-2015, he defined the museum’s internationally respected contemporary art program as the Dittmer Chair and Curator in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, taking on the additional interim role of Chair and Curator of Photography from 2008-2009. Over the course of his tenure, he secured numerous major gifts, most notably in 2015, when he ushered in the largest gift of art in the museum’s history—the Edlis/ Neeson Collection.
Limor Tomer joined the Metropolitan Museum of Art as General Manager of Concerts and Lectures in July 2011 and has been transforming the notion of performance in a museum context ever since. Under her auspices, the Met “has radically re-envisioned its concert program…offering more daring fare in more unusual settings.” (The New York Times). She has initiated both a thriving artist residency program and a commissioning series through which the Met now presents new works of dance, music, opera, and theater, all designed for and staged in specific galleries at the Museum. She has also launched an ambitious program of in-gallery performances, including the annual multi-gallery experience called The Grand Tour, which The New Yorker, in praising Tomer’s “imaginative leadership,” has called “a vital new ritual.”
Darrell Ayers was at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. for 30+ years. During his tenure at the Kennedy Center, he served as Vice President for Education and Jazz Programming (2004-2015). In this role, Ayers was responsible for the overall planning, management, and supervision of the Center’s Education Division including educational programs of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and the Washington National Opera as well as its affiliate VSA (the international arts and disability organization). Also included in his responsibilities were the management of an annual multi-million dollar grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the daily, free Millennium Stage performance series, ArtsEdge, an educational digital media area, and jazz programming.
“We are frequently called upon to describe the Hermitage and what we do,” continued Rodgers. “Sometime we add that we are a big organization in a small package. These additions to our network certainly back that up. Our strong alliances both in Sarasota and beyond those borders are what have led to our strong and rapid success. We are very proud to make these announcements.”
For more information on the Hermitage, visit the website at www.hermitageartistretreat.org.
