6-minute read
When Florida Southern College launched a nationwide search for the next leader of the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art, administrators cast a wide net.
In the end, the right leader was already in the building.
Daryl Ward — a Polk County native who has served as interim executive director since late June — has been named the museum’s permanent executive director, the college announced Wednesday, Feb. 11.
His appointment will take effect March 2.
Ward had been doing double duty, leading the museum while still head of the Polk Arts and Cultural Alliance (PACA). He said Jordan Weiland, PACA’s arts program and marketing coordinator, will take over day-to-day activities starting March 2, while its board charts next steps.
From patron to director
Ward, 60, brings decades of experience in education and arts leadership to The AGB. A Mulberry native, he spent 32 years with Polk County Public Schools, including seven years as principal of Harrison School for the Arts. After retiring in 2020, he briefly held a post at Southeastern University and then led the Polk Arts and Cultural Alliance for four years.
But his connection to The AGB runs deeper than his resume.
“I’m pretty sure I’m the first executive director of this museum that actually started out as a patron,” Ward said.
He credits exhibitions at the museum — including a Clyde Butcher photography show — with shaping his own development as an art lover and photographer.
“It’s very personal to me,” he said. “This museum is a place of shared community.”
A seed planted
When Ward agreed to serve as interim director of the museum last summer, following Alex Rich’s departure, he and FSC President Jeremy Martin were aligned on one point: The role would be temporary.
“Dr. Martin said, ‘I don’t want somebody who wants the job full time,’ and I said, ‘Check — we’re good,’” Ward recalled with a laugh during an interview Tuesday.
Four months into the interim role, a search firm representative asked Ward to walk him through the nuances of the job — what was working, what needed attention, how the museum was evolving as it became fully integrated into Florida Southern.
They talked for about an hour.
At the end of the conversation, Ward said, the recruiter paused. “He says to me, ‘This is fantastic, Dr. Ward. Thank you so much. Are you sure you don’t want to do this job?”
Ward laughed it off — but the comment planted a seed.
A couple of weeks later, over a standing lunch meeting, Martin shared positive feedback he was hearing about Ward from college and museum staff, as well as the Board of Governors. He joked with Ward that the search process had essentially become a search for someone like Ward.
“As we were interviewing candidates, I found that I was in effect asking, ‘Will you continue the great work that Dr. Ward has been doing?’” Martin said in a statement.
By the end of lunch, Ward’s hat was in the ring. He ultimately bested what the university called “a strong pool of candidates.”
Roots and wings
Ward inherits an institution that has undergone significant change in less than a decade: three executive directors and two college presidents, an $8 million expansion, a name change, full integration into Florida Southern, and the disruptions of COVID-19.
His vision is not to “reinvent the wheel,” he said, but to help the museum catch its breath after years of rapid change — strengthening its foundation while continuing to move it forward over the next three to five years.
That includes:
- Taking a close look at how the museum operates now that it’s fully part of Florida Southern and making sure the day-to-day structure makes sense.
- Improving the experience for visitors and members, from the moment they walk through the door to the programs they attend.
- Surveying members to find out what they value most — and what could be better.
- Deepening its ties to the college, bringing more professors and students into the museum’s orbit, and weaving exhibitions more intentionally into campus life.
At the same time, Ward is eager to expand the museum’s reach.
“The number one job of this museum is to get people in this museum,” he said. “We can’t educate, we can’t enlighten, we can’t challenge if we don’t create exhibitions and programs that people want to come see.”
Creative connections
Ward’s background in arts advocacy is already shaping partnerships.
A recent example is “Imaginations: The Adventures of ‘boxboy Jr.’ and the Art of Alex Lanier,” on view at The AGB through April 19.
The museum partnered with the Florida Children’s Museum at Bonnet Springs Park, which sponsored the exhibit. Lanier not only headlined a reception at The AGB but also led a “meet the artist” craft workshop at the children’s museum, where some of his work was on display.
Ward calls that kind of cross-pollination essential.
“I want people to come to the museum and go, ‘Oh, boxboy Jr., you could go to the Florida Children’s Museum and do …’” he said. “Or I want you at the Florida Children’s Museum and them to say, ‘If you want to see more of his art, go to The AGB.’”
Ward is also curating an upcoming exhibit tentatively titled “The Last Picture Show,” featuring a retrospective of recent photographers from The Ledger — an exploration of photojournalism as both documentation and art.
Looking further ahead, Ward floats a bigger dream: a mobile art museum that would bring art experiences directly into neighborhoods across Polk County.
“If someone came to me and said, ‘You’ve got a blank check,’ that’s what I would do,” he said.
A museum for everyone
As The AGB prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary, Ward wants Polk County residents to feel a sense of pride and connection to the museum. He wants it to feel relevant and accessible — a place where anyone can walk in, be surprised or moved, and even feel as if they’ve traveled somewhere new without leaving Lakeland.
But he is careful to distinguish accessibility from oversimplification.
“People sometimes think when you say accessible, you mean you’re dumbing it down,” he said. “That’s not what we mean. We mean providing a variety of ways to engage.”
The goal, he said, is a museum that feels both rigorous and welcoming — a place where seasoned art historians, college students and first-time visitors can all find something that speaks to them.
As the only Smithsonian Affiliate art museum in Central Florida, The AGB carries an academic mission.
Ward recently launched “FSC Voices,” a symposium that pairs Florida Southern faculty with current exhibitions, such as “The Medici Dynasty: Renaissance in Florence” — inviting them to interpret art through academic disciplines such as chemistry, theater, and political science.
Coming full circle
For Ward — a kid from Mulberry who once wandered the museum’s galleries and later led Harrison School for the Arts — the appointment feels deeply personal.
“To be able to come full circle and lead the leading cultural institution in the county — that ain’t bad,” he said.
latest news
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.