Marcia Rader gathered local art supporters in 1926 to found what is now Art Center Sarasota. Here the Center includes four rotating exhibition galleries and a sculpture garden, and it is member-funded while offering adult and youth classes, workshops, and programs. The organization you see began in 1926 as the Sarasota Art Association.
Its founder, Marcia Rader, Art Supervisor of the Sarasota School System, was the driving force behind the initial meetings of local art supporters who formed the association. The first official meeting of the SAA took place on a Friday evening in February 1932. Later that year the Sarasota Art Association, along with the Daytona Beach Art League, became a member of the Florida Federation of Art, a state-wide arts organization that promoted the arts across Florida through the fellowship of independent artists, museums, and other cultural institutions.
In 1941 the Association incorporated as a not-for-profit; at that time the stated mission was "to promote the educational and cultural advantages of Sarasota in the field of contemporary art. Notice the four rotating galleries and the sculpture garden that carry Marcia Rader's founding vision forward.