It was a day of big announcements from Ringling College of Art and Design and the Sarasota Museum of Art(SMOA), with college president Dr. Larry Thompson and SMOA president Wendy Surkis jointly breaking the news on the beginning of major renovations to the Sarasota High School building, SMOA’s future home.

Structural preservationists have been hard at work for the last two months, assessing the building and determining the proper path forward in order to preserve the historic building yet make it a viable museum and educational space. Yesterday, exactly one year since the keys to the school were passed to Ringling, the SMOA board approved the renovation plan.

According to Surkis, the public will start to see changes very soon, as windows are replaced and major re-painting begins.

“While I feel that this is all surreal, I have a sense of joyful disbelief,” said Surkis, seeing another major step forward in the project that she began seven years ago. “I am an optimist and a big dreamer, and dreamers need dream teams. It is to the credit of many wonderful people in this community that the SMOA baby came to life.”

Surkis and Thompson also took the opportunity to announce Jan. 18 as the official date for ‘THE BASH!,’ a celebration to be held on the museum grounds, thanking the community for its support and reveling in progress made.

In addition to the day’s events, the SMOA board began the search for an executive director for the museum.

As of now, officials project completion and opening of SMOA in the first quarter of 2016.