What Is Juneteenth?

Before July comes into full swing with booming plans to celebrate the founding of our country, it is important that we still celebrate a group of people crucial to its success in June. 

During the Civil War, news traveled slowly. And in 1865, more than two years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was issued, millions of enslaved Black Americans were still forced to work in Confederate parts of the United States, where the outcome of the war wasn’t yet known or wasn’t properly enforced.

But on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrived in rural Texas to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment, emancipating more than 250,000 enslaved Black people in the state, and marking a boom in hope and change in Black communities across the country. 

Juneteenth has been celebrated by its community for generations and was designated a federal holiday in 2021. We have compiled a short list of ways to celebrate and learn more if you’re in the area. 

Local Events

Communities across Sarasota are coming together to honor Juneteenth through a week of celebrations, conversations, and commencements.

Seven years strong, hosts a week-long bonanza planned to “celebrate freedom, honor history, and build community,” which is free to anyone and everyone ready to learn. They start with a Neighborhood Street Fest and Soulfood Sunday on June 13 and June 14, respectively, followed by a Resource fair, Empowerment day, Seafood festival, and Caribbean street fest before ending with their Juneteenth Freedom Fest on June 19.

The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe (WBTT) is hosting a from June 19-20, which promises “immersive art, live performance, music, and culinary treats” from Sarasota favorites such as artist Osa Atoe and restaurants like G’s Southern Kitchen. Round-the-clock performances by WBTT and its students are guaranteed to entertain and educate, culminating in a final performance of Brian L. Boyd’s ENIGMA, which closes the festival in Donnelly Theater. Attendance is also free, but registration is encouraged.

And debuting their new theme, Family Reunion, the 2026 Manatee Juneteenth Community Festival on June 20 celebrates the resilience of the formerly enslaved reconnecting with their separated families, a time to gather and celebrate heritage.

Go and see art!

Sarasota Art Museum’s current show, , features a selection of private, diverse collections from across Southwest Florida, including Kara Walker, who intertwines the relationship between race, slavery, gender, and sexuality with haunting, surreal imagery and the Victorian silhouette tradition; Jacob Lawrence who depicted Black life and history through his illustrations, drawing on memories of his church life, Black culture, and his childhood in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance; Derick Adams, who depicts a full picture of Black joy by painting their lives in times of leisure, celebration, and other moments of humanity that are often overlooked by mainstream media; and Hank Willis Thomas, whose work explores themes of identity, mass media, and popular culture; plus many more.��

Resources

For those who are still curious, the Alfred R. Goldstein Library and Ringling Center for Student Success have an further explores the history, struggles, and overall pride to commemorate the holiday. 

In addition to educational resources, this webpage offers a look at the wide array of books on display at the library, including poetry, children’s books (Brown Girl Dreaming is the author’s personal recommendation), and history, as well as a guide to antiracism resources. These are all available for checkout to local students, as are the ebooks, which can be checked out by any student, regardless of location. 

You can also explore small works in the Brizdle-Schoenberg Special Collections by African-American artists of the 21st century.

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The American Advertising Awards, conducted annually by the American Advertising Federation (AAF), is one of the advertising industry’s most prestigious student competitions. To reach the national stage, students must first win at the local level, then advance through one of 15 regional district competitions, making a national ADDY one of the hardest-fought recognitions a student can earn.

Gold ADDY Winners

Four ������Ƶ students and teams claimed Gold ADDYs, the competition’s highest honor, reserved for work judged superior to all other entries in its category:

• 2025 FutureProof Titles—Diane Lee ’25, Motion Design, and Rin Yokoi ’25, Motion Design
• Sezane Revolution—Ivy Jenkins ’26, Graphic Design
• The First Coke on the Moon—Gavin Russell Alvares ’27, Motion Design
• Whiplash: Rhythm and Ruin Titles—Joshua Rovinsky ’28, Motion Design

Silver ADDY Winners

Three additional students and teams received Silver ADDYs, awarded to outstanding work deemed worthy of special recognition by the judges:

• Don’t Get Toasted—Adam Chase ’26, Motion Design
• Sezane Revolution—Siona Kalambi ’26, Motion Design, and Kiki Leung ’26, Motion Design
• Yasuni Chocolate—Camila Ayala ’27, Graphic Design

About the Awards

The Student Division of the American Advertising Awards is a national program designed specifically for college students, mirroring the same three-tier process used for professional entries. National Gold and Silver ADDY winners receive the prestigious Student American Advertising Award, with an additional $1,000 cash prize awarded to the national Best of Show winner, a recognition that carries significant weight on any resume or portfolio.

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners on representing ������Ƶ on the national stage. See all the winning work at the webpage.

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Thirty-nine artworks by ������Ƶ Illustration students were accepted into this year’s Society of Illustrators (SOI) Student Competition, representing 18% of all accepted entries.

This year’s competition drew over 4,550 submissions from schools across the country, with the jury selecting just 216 works. Students submitted their strongest, most creative, and original artworks under the guidance of their professors, including faculty Gary Barker, Dominic Avant, Regan Dunnick, Jon Foster, David Gardner, Stewart Leith, Michael Marsicano, Jenny Medved, Sean Murray, Octavio Perez, Skylar Smith, Dominick Saponaro, and Joe Thiel.

Trinidad Monteagudo Jackson ’27, Illustration, received the $1,000 Walt Reed Scholarship Award for��The Oval Portrait, created in Procreate.

“We could not be happier,” said Illustration Department Head Christina Hess. “A job well done to the students and faculty.”

Each year, the Society of Illustrators recognizes outstanding student work from around the world with an exhibition, catalog, reception, and scholarship awards. The competition gives students the opportunity to gain the attention of publishers, designers, art directors, curators, and art buyers.

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See all the winning illustrations

Tessa Wijaya, House by the Sea

Penelope Strauss, The Doomscroller

Alli Place, The New Yorker Cover

Ashley Chang, Lore

Ray Rendon, Autumnal Allies

Cassandra Leal, Mr. Tyson Was Hit by a Star

Daniel Montifar, Two Worlds Meet

Emily Gase, Dreamer

Valeria Branciforte, What Lurks Behind

Alisa Nikishin, Flora & Fauna

Margo Drew, Self Portrait

Xinxin Liu, Chinese Folklore

Stephon Ducasse, Midday Chaise

Leah Stansbury, Celebration at the Menoa Tree

Sierra Schumann, Western Wonderland

Makaela Strifer, Time is a Fleeting Creature

Emelia Feldman, Swamp Serpent

Mili Walton, Cow (Girl)

Tessa Wijaya, House by the Sea

Layna Malave, Veggie Wolf

Janya Choudhary, Woven in the Narrative

Finn Wilson, Shrimp Tempura

Petra Kishi Chow, The Auction

Sophia Andrade, The Norns

Jasper Gonzalez, Untitled (Praying Woman)

Emmaleah Vickers, Noah Kahan Album Cover

Donovan Corcoran, Punch-Out

Lola Burrill, Runaway

Kadin Distefano, The Wild Ones

Zachary Pamintuan, Boy and Fish

Grace Johnson, Payphone

Botong Sun, Shadow & Light

Niyathi Sudhakar, Forget Me Not

Kyra Sturdivant, Color of a Memory

Olivia Franklin, Dare to Be Stupid

Daniella Barone, Roomates

Sam Tanelli, Underground Show

Xioanny Santiago Ortiz, Watership Down

Ursula Yang, Wear Your Attitude

Diego de la Rosa, Song of Achilles

Eli Peterson, Ornithology

Paige Kidkul, Don’t Wake The Sleeping Dragon

Gia Webb, Untitled (Dinosaur in Flight)

Sky Chandler, Save The Bears!

Faye Levy, The White Rabbit

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“Receiving a Florida Book Award Gold Medal means a great deal to me,” said Van Cleave. “I live and teach here, so having this work recognized in my home state feels especially meaningful.”

The book walks kids through the many dreams they may have and the successes they can achieve, from paleontology and treasure-hunting to painting a mural or fighting for fairness and equality.

“I collaborated closely with Keyshawn Johnson and Bettina Bush from the earliest stages, well before the book deal was even in place,” said Van Cleave. “This was Keyshawn’s idea from the start, though. He wanted to create something that spoke directly to kids about self-belief and authorship over their own lives.”

At the back of the book, Johnson tells the story of his own early life in South Los Angeles, how he was told he wouldn’t be able to achieve his dreams, and how he chose instead to listen to his inner voice.

“Working with Keyshawn and Bettina was a true partnership—they’re dynamic people who bring a lot of creativity to everything they do,” said Van Cleave. “My role as the Picture Book Doctor is to help translate lived experience and big ideas into language that connects with young readers. We’re still partnering today and are currently developing additional children’s books and animated series together.

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As a Fulbright ETA, Liller would be placed in a Laotian school to assist local English teachers and serve as a cultural ambassador, fostering mutual understanding between the United States and Laos at the community level.

Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided over 400,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists, and professionals the opportunity to study, teach, and conduct research abroad, including 62 Nobel Laureates and 93 Pulitzer Prize winners. More than 2,000 Fulbright U.S. Students pursue graduate study, research, or English teaching in schools abroad each year. Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State, implemented in the United States by the Institute of International Education.

Students interested in applying for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program should contact Fulbright Program Adviser Dr. Genevieve Hill-Thomas at ghilltho@c.ringling.edu. For more information, visit .

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Students from all 13 of Ringling’s majors took part in the evening event, which drew faculty, families, and members of the Sarasota community to campus for a celebration of the Class of 2026’s achievements.

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Contigo follows Jade, a young woman who returns to the site of a secret experiment in Venezuela to uncover the truth about what was done to her, and to confront the man responsible. Perez, who directed and co-wrote the film, describes it as one of the first action films produced at ������Ƶ, a distinction he takes pride in.

“Contigo was a very ambitious film with a lot of moving parts, but also an incredibly fulfilling experience,” said Perez. “It was special to make one of the first action films at Ringling. This film took so much energy and commitment from everyone involved, and I couldn’t be more grateful for the cast and crew who helped bring it to life.”

A hallmark of the production was its collaboration with industry stunt professionals. Stunt actors Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and Justin Ortiz, who also served as stunt coordinator, brought a level of action design rarely seen in student filmmaking. “Collaborating with industry stunt actors like Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz and Justin Ortiz really elevated the film, allowing us to implement quality action design while still staying true to the story,” Perez added.

The film features a cast that includes Ramos-Ortiz as lead character Jade, Yamil Piedra as Miguel Torres, and Alex Mancillas and Haley Glass in supporting roles. The crew was composed largely of fellow Ringling students, with co-writer and director of photography Tan Kitapli, producers Michaela Cowan and Hayley Kirk, and composer Sergio De Miguel among the collaborators who helped shape the film’s final form.

Now in its 31st year, the Palm Beaches Student Showcase of Films is Florida’s largest student film competition, drawing more than 600 submissions in 2026. The program, which has awarded over $4.5 million in prizes and scholarships since its founding in 1995, is open free of charge to Florida high school and college students.

Perez expressed gratitude for the recognition. “I’m grateful to the Palm Beach Student Showcase for this recognition and for giving student filmmakers a platform to share their films and celebrate their hard work and talent.”

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Dillman’s career traces an arc that began at ������Ƶ, where he studied before embarking on a decades-long journey through global advertising and film industries. After rising through Tampa Bay agencies as Art Director and Associate Creative Director, he was recruited to The Leo Burnett Company in Chicago, where he worked on major accounts including Oldsmobile, Tropicana, and Philip Morris.

From 1987 to 1991, Dillman led creative teams across Frankfurt, London, Paris, and Tokyo as part of Burnett’s International Task Force, overseeing cultural adaptations of campaigns and producing work on location in Morocco, Algeria, and Los Angeles.

In 1991, Dillman transitioned to commercial film directing, ultimately earning an Emmy Award for Commercial of the Year in 1999. In 2005, he joined the prestigious roster at MJZ Film Productions in Los Angeles. He co-founded Confiscated Film with his wife in 1993, producing award-winning documentary work, including Getting to The Nutcracker (2014), which earned a Grand Jury Prize and two Best Documentary Feature awards. His most recent project, Black on the Bike, a documentary about African American cyclists, featuring USA Cycling Olympians and Tour de France stage winner Biniam Girmay, is currently in post-production.

Dillman was appointed to Ringling’s Board of Trustees in 2021.

The Spring 2026 Commencement Ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 7, 2026, at Robarts Arena. 

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Now in its 28th year, the Sarasota Film Festival ran April 10–19, 2026, celebrating its mission of honoring the art of filmmaking while bringing cultural and educational value to the community. ������Ƶ’s Morganroth Auditorium, located at 2363 Bradenton Road, served as one of the festival’s key venues for a packed final weekend of screenings and events.

On Friday, April 17, the Morganroth Auditorium hosted an Animated Shorts block featuring 12 films by ������Ƶ Computer Animation students and recent alumni. The lineup was a testament to the breadth and originality that define the program, spanning wildly different tones, styles, and subject matter.

Among the highlights: Date Knight followed a young knight who donned a handmade dragon costume to catfish a real dragon he matched with on a dating app, only for the scheme to spiral into chaos. Praying for Love took a darkly comic look at a female praying mantis struggling with her cannibalistic tendencies while searching for romance. Dogs of Bishkek sent a young boy named Sasha on a tense, wintry chase through Kyrgyzstan as he tried to bring sausages to his sick mother, only to be stalked by the city’s most fearsome stray. And The Legend of King Nibbles offered a fable about a hamster king brought low by his own greed.

Other films in the block explored themes of identity and self-acceptance (Beautify), the pressures of competitive sports and overbearing parents (Loud and Proud), coexistence between opposites (Total Opposites), and the chaos that ensued when gold miners couldn’t agree (Striking Gold).

On Saturday, April 18, the festival brought a timely and thought-provoking conversation to campus. SFF Talks: AI in Film — What’s Next? in the Morganroth Auditorium was a free event featuring a showcase of AI-made short films followed by a panel discussion with leading voices in the field.

Panelists included ������Ƶ faculty member Rick Dakan, who is the head of ������Ƶ’s AI Task Force, launching the new Creative Technologies major, and co-launching the Center for the Creative Economy; Professor John Licato of USF’s Bellini College of AI, Cybersecurity and Computing; and filmmaker and SFF Managing Director Paul Ratner, among other AI educators.

The festival weekend closed on Sunday, April 19, with Best of Ringling Film, a two-hour showcase from noon to 2 pm featuring the strongest short films from ������Ƶ’s Film department. The program included the premiere of Gamble Creek Farms, a short documentary produced by film students in partnership with Florida Eco Films and Ringling’s Index program. Rounding out the program were five additional short films: Huzzah! directed by Claire Simmons, A1 directed by Emma Holloway, That Really Ruffles My Feathers directed by Colin Kirkpatrick, Beyond Brains directed by Lorena Da Cruz, and The One in Red directed by Nicholas Muzzillo.

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First created as a board game by veteran games designer and longtime ������Ƶ collaborator Pam Formato, Permutations is a sort of “Connect Four with math.” And ������Ƶ Virtual Reality Development faculty member Justin Gast is now bringing it to phones everywhere.

Gast worked with his partner, fellow designer Sumin Shim, to create a digital version of the game that recreates the original’s “addictive” qualities.

“It looked like a simple board game you would play with your parents,” Gast said. “But I brought it back to my partner to try it out, and we stayed up until midnight playing it. That night, we knew we had to work on it.”

Game play begins on a grid numbered 1 through 60. Players roll dice and incorporate the resulting numbers into a math problem. They’re awarded the square on the board that corresponds to the answer to their problem (provided it’s open). The goal is to be the first player to string together a line of four squares. (There are, of course, additional wrinkles.)

“The game has been used for education, competition, and leisure for years, and it was one of Pam’s favorites,” Gast said. “I only had to play it once, and I immediately understood the appeal. It is one of those ‘Wordle-type’ games that are fun to play for short sessions and always revisit. It is a great mental exercise, especially for an older demographic—‘yoga for the brain,’ if you will.”

Gast and Shim initially researched other physical-to-digital board game transitions, including classics like chess and Yahtzee. Their first instincts were to incorporate flashy animation and unusual interfaces.

“However, [Pam] quickly pointed out that while some of the more experimental flows appealed to younger players, they were less intuitive for older audiences,” Shim said. “Besides, we didn’t have to compete with 20-plus other chess games by using some obscure interface. Permutations was a unique game by itself! That insight led us to stay faithful to the simplicity of the original board game and focus instead on making the digital experience feel clear and natural.”

Permutations is already available on the Apple App Store and is currently being beta tested for Android devices. So far, the response has been enthusiastic.

“I have already gotten one of my students addicted!” Gast said with a laugh.

You can find it on and .

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