Now Hiring! Sarasota African American Cultural Center Director of Programs & Cultural Experiences

Join Our Movement
Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition (SAACC)
Sarasota, Florida
Director of Programs & Cultural Experiences
Salary Range: $75,000 to $95,000, commensurate with experience.

History Doesn’t Live in the Past. It lives in the people who choose to preserve it, celebrate it, and carry it forward. At the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition (SAACC), we believe the past informs the future. Every story we preserve, every cultural experience we create, and every connection we inspire strengthens our community and honors the courage, dignity, and determination of the Black pioneers whose vision helped shape Sarasota.

As we continue transforming the historic Leonard Reid House into a destination for history, arts, culture, and community engagement, we’re looking for an innovative leader to help bring that vision to life. If you’re passionate about storytelling, creativity, education, and creating experiences that inspire people of every generation, we’d love to meet you.

Imagine Your Impact
Imagine welcoming students into the Leonard Reid House and watching history come alive through stories that have too often gone untold. Imagine partnering with artists, historians, educators, and community leaders to create programs that spark curiosity, celebrate culture, and strengthen community pride. Imagine designing experiences that inspire visitors, honor the legacy of Sarasota’s African American pioneers, and become signature moments in our community. As SAACC’s Director of Programs & Cultural Experiences, you’ll have the opportunity to do all of
that and more.

What You’ll Do
You’ll lead the development of engaging educational programs, cultural experiences, exhibits, and community initiatives that establish SAACC as a premier destination for learning and cultural enrichment.

Your responsibilities will include:

  • Designing and implementing a year-round calendar of educational and cultural programming.
  • Developing the Leonard Reid House Experience as SAACC’s signature visitor experience.
  • Creating exhibits and interactive storytelling experiences that bring history to life.
  • Planning and leading public programs, performances, lectures, workshops, and signature cultural events.
  • Building relationships with artists, historians, educators, civic organizations, and community partners.
  • Collaborating with SAACC’s Development and Marketing teams to strengthen donor engagement, sponsorship opportunities, and community outreach.
  • Measuring program success and continually enhancing the visitor experience.

About SAACC
The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition preserves, celebrates, and shares the rich history, arts, culture, and contributions of African Americans in Sarasota and beyond. Through storytelling, educational programming, cultural experiences, and community partnerships, SAACC creates a place where history is experienced, culture is celebrated, and future generations are inspired.

Qualifications
The ideal candidate will have:

• A bachelor’s degree in education, African American Studies, History, Public History, Museum Studies, Arts Administration, Cultural Studies, Community Development, Communications, Nonprofit Management, or a related field.
• A master’s degree is preferred.
• Five or more years of experience leading educational programming, cultural experiences, museum initiatives, nonprofit programs, or community engagement efforts.
• Experience planning public programs, exhibits, educational initiatives, workshops, performances, or community events.
• Strong project management, communication, organizational, and relationship-building skills.
• Knowledge of African American history, culture, and heritage.
• Experience working collaboratively with community partners and diverse stakeholders.
• Experience supporting fundraising initiatives, sponsorships, donor engagement, or grant-funded programming is preferred.
• Flexibility to work occasional evenings and weekends for programs and special events.

Why Join SAACC?
This is an exciting moment in SAACC’s history.
You’ll help shape one of Sarasota’s emerging cultural destinations while preserving history, celebrating culture, and creating experiences that educate, inspire, and connect our community for generations to come. If you’re looking for an opportunity to make a meaningful impact while working alongside passionate community leaders, this is your chance.


The Time Is Now.
History is still being written.
Bring your creativity.
Bring your passion.
Bring your vision.
Help write the next chapter of SAACC’s story.

How to Apply
Please submit the following:
• Cover letter
• Résumé
• Three professional references

Email your application to:
Attention: Vickie Oldham, President & CEO
aaccsrq@gmail.com
Subject Line: Director of Programs & Cultural Experiences Application
Applications will be reviewed as they are received and will remain open until the position is filled.

Equal Opportunity Employer
The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where every employee, volunteer, and community member is valued and respected. We encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply.

Open Call for Artists: “Black Joy”

A juried exhibition at the historic Leonard Reid House 

Overview
The Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition (SAACC) invites artists to submit work for “Black Joy,” a group exhibition affirming joy as a full and complex practice — spiritual, defiant, tender, and alive. This show holds space for joy as an act of resistance, a return to self-love, a source of peace, and a wellspring of pride, bliss, excitement, and empowerment. It asks: what does it mean for Black people to feel good, fully and without apology, in a world that has often denied that right?

Black Joy will be on view in the historic Leonard Reid House, a 1926 frame vernacular home built by Sarasota pioneer Leonard Reid. It was relocated to Newtown in 2022 from the city’s first Black community called Overtown and gently, lovingly restored.  The house now serves as a living museum and cultural anchor for SAACC. Exhibiting inside these walls mean placing new work in direct conversation with the home’s own history of Black pride, self-determination, and community-building.

 

Exhibition Themes

We welcome work that explores Black Joy through any of the following lenses:

  • Spirituality — faith, ritual, ancestral connection, the sacred within the everyday
  • Resistance — joy as defiance, as refusal, as survival strategy
  • Self-love — tenderness toward the self, the body, the reflection in the mirror
  • Peace — rest, stillness, quiet, exhale
  • Pride — heritage, lineage, identity claimed fully and visibly
  • Bliss and excitement — celebration, movement, laughter, pleasure
  • Empowerment — agency, voice, standing in one’s own power

Artists need not address every theme — we’re looking for work with a clear, personal point of view on what joy means and how it moves through Black life.

 

Meet Curator Clifford McDonald

Clifford McDonald is a Sarasota-based visual artist and founder of Art 4 Change, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating positive social change through art, education, advocacy, and service. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of Maine at Presque Isle, where he developed a practice centered on storytelling through portraiture and contemporary figurative art.

Inspired by culture, history, and community, Clifford’s work explores themes of identity, belonging, and social progress. His artwork has been featured in solo exhibitions at Art Ovation Hotel, Art Center Sarasota, and The Lexow Gallery, as well as numerous group exhibitions throughout Florida. Through both his artwork and community leadership, Clifford strives to create meaningful experiences that encourage dialogue, reflection, and connection.

 

Medium & Submission Requirements

  • All artwork must be original, not Ai-generated
  • Medium: 2-D ready-to-hang artwork (drawings, paintings, photography, printmaking, digital, etc.)
  • Number of works: 1–2 pieces per artist
  • 30×30 maximum size
  • Eligibility: Open to artists at any career stage; regional and national submissions welcome
  • Work must be ready to install (proper hanging hardware, framing, or freestanding stability as applicable) given the intimate scale of the historic house galleries
  • Artists are responsible for artwork delivery and pick up

 

Venue

The Leonard Reid House offers a modest, intimate 1,400 square foot gallery footprint.  The house is professionally secured with a monitored alarm system and video cameras, and all exhibited work is covered under the venue’s insurance policy for the duration of the show.

 

Dates

  • Exhibition: Nov. 4 – March 31
  • Submission deadline: Sept. 18
  • Notification of acceptance: Sept. 25
  • Deadline to sign agreement: Oct. 2
  • Delivery of accepted work: Oct. 29
  • Opening reception: Nov. 12

 

Programming

Accepted artists are invited (and encouraged, though not required) to participate in public programming built around the exhibition, including:

  • Panel discussions on Black Joy as artistic and cultural practice
  • Artist talks with participating exhibitors
  • Two classes for children enrolled in the local afterschool program, introducing young people to the exhibiting artists’ work and process

 

Awards and Prizes:

First, second and third place awards are $500, $300, and $200.

 

Sales:

All work is for sale. No POR (Price on Request) or NFS (Not for Sale) unless specifically stated in the exhibition prospectus.

 

Artist commission:       

  • 70% of selling price (30% to SAACC).
  • Artists are responsible for reporting and filing taxes in accordance with state and federal regulations.

 

Marketing & Promotion

This exhibition will receive dedicated marketing and PR support, including press outreach, social media promotion, and community programming designed to bring visibility to participating artists and their work throughout the run of the show.

 

How to Apply

Please submit the following to Mydahlia.Glover@TheSaacc.org:

  1. Artist name, contact information, and short bio (150 words max)
  2. Up to 2 images or files representing the 1–2 works proposed for the show
  3. Title, medium, dimensions, and year for each piece
  4. A brief artist statement (150–250 words) on how the work speaks to Black Joy

Questions may be directed to Clifford McDonald.

We look forward to celebrating the many dimensions of Black Joy with you.

Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative to Bring American Icon to Sarasota This November

CONTACT:
Victoria Kasdan
Co-Chair, Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative
Mobile: 612-220-4438
vpkasdan859@gmail.com


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative to Bring American Icon to Sarasota This November

The community is invited to support this opportunity to have Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black children to integrate an all-white elementary school, speak in Sarasota through sponsorship opportunities

SARASOTA, Fla. (July 23, 2026) – On Nov. 12, Sarasota will welcome one of the most influential trailblazers in American history through Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative by bringing Ruby Bridges, one of the first Black children to integrate an all-white elementary school in the South, to Sarasota. This community-wide educational experience is designed to inspire courage, character, and civic
engagement among youth and adults.

The initiative will feature a public town hall with Ruby Bridges at Booker High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Center, where attendees will hear firsthand from the woman whose courage at just 6 years old helped change the course of American history. The town hall will be open to the public, and tickets will be made available for purchase on Sept. 9. “This vision began several years ago when my granddaughter portrayed Ruby Bridges during a program honoring historic Black trailblazers,” said Walter Gilbert, Chair & Visionary of the Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative. “Seeing her learn about Ruby’s extraordinary courage inspired a dream to one day bring Ms. Bridges to Sarasota. That dream grew through our community’s Walk to School events and the support of local leaders who shared its importance.”

In 1960, Ruby Bridges became the first Black child to integrate William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Escorted by federal marshals, she walked into an all-white school despite intense opposition, becoming a symbol of courage and perseverance whose story continues to inspire generations. Today, through the Ruby Bridges Foundation, she continues that work by creating programs and experiences that help young people understand the past, find their voice and build a more just and connected future. The Foundation’s mission is to empower young people through education, dialogue and leadership while encouraging them to take action against racism and bullying.

Booker High School was intentionally selected as the Town Hall venue because of its important place in Sarasota’s history. Historically, as the county’s only all Black high school, Booker played a central role in school integration during the 1960s. Hosting Ruby Bridges at Booker creates a meaningful connection between her historic journey and Sarasota’s own story of courage, opportunity, and community.

“I am deeply grateful to Co-Chair Renee James Gilmore, Co-Chair Victoria Kasdan, and Aundria Castleberry, along with Sarah Wertheimer and Embracing Our Differences, whose partnership and commitment transformed this vision into reality. We hope this event will inspire meaningful conversations, strengthen our community, and encourage future generations to walk forward with courage, compassion, and hope,” said Walter Gilbert, Chair & Visionary of the Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative.

Community organizations, businesses and individuals are invited to become sponsors of this landmark initiative. Sponsorship support will help make this educational experience possible while creating a lasting impact across our region.

Net proceeds from Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative will benefit two Sarasota-based nonprofit organizations: Embracing Our Differences, which inspires kindness and respect through art and education, and the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition (SAACC), which preserves, celebrates and shares the cultural, artistic and historical heritage of African Americans in Sarasota and beyond.

To learn more about Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative or to become a sponsor, visit engage.embracingourdifferences.org/ruby bridges/.

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About Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative
Walk Forward: The Ruby Bridges Sarasota Initiative is a community-wide educational and civic experience that will bring Ruby Bridges to Sarasota on Nov. 12, 2026. Through a public town hall and community engagement, the initiative seeks to inspire youth leadership, courage, inclusion and civic
engagement while encouraging conversations about belonging, compassion and the role each person can play in strengthening their community.