No Excuses 

When it comes to Sarasota’s standing as an artists’ community, says Joseph Arnegger, "We built the façade and never really built the house." Arnegger, 40, hopes to unite the Sarasota community and its artists with s/art/q, a local contemporary art initiative he co-created with fellow Ringling College alum Tim Jaeger. This summer, the first s/art/q fund raiser, a silk-screening party, drew more than 1,000 people, most of them young; the money raised will go toward a wine-and-cheese gallery showing in October.

"We want to put on the highest-level exhibitions. We’re not making excuses," he says. "Somewhere between the community art center and the Ringling Museum is where we want to be."