The interim leader of the Ashley Gibson Barnett Museum of Art at Florida Southern College is a familiar name in Polk County.
Daryl Ward will serve as the Lakeland museum’s interim executive director, starting June 26. Alex Rich, executive director and chief curator of the AGB, is leaving after eight years to become president and CEO of the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, South Carolina.
Ward, 59, is executive director of the Polk Arts & Cultural Alliance and will continue in that role while running the museum, Florida Southern said in a news release. Ward spent 32 years in Polk County Public Schools, including seven years as principal of Harrison School for the Arts in Lakeland.
“Dr. Ward’s collaborative leadership and deep ties to the cultural fabric of Polk County make him an ideal steward for the Museum during this time,” Florida Southern President Jeremy Martin said in the release. “We’re grateful to Daryl for his willingness and PACA for its partnership as we continue to advance the Museum, the College and the arts in Lakeland, Polk County and beyond.”
After retiring from Harrison in 2020, Ward briefly had a position at Southeastern University before succeeding Meri Mass as leader of PACA. He is an adjunct professor in the education department at Florida Southern College.
“I’m humbled that Dr. Martin and The AGB board of trustees would consider me to assist them during this transitional phase,” Ward said in the release. “I’m grateful for the relationship between PACA and The AGB, and I believe this arrangement — albeit temporary — will strengthen that relationship. I also appreciate the support of the PACA board of directors for recognizing the importance of collaborating with our local arts and culture institutions.”
In the shared arrangement, Ward will continue directing PACA’s current initiatives, including the issuing of grants, an arts and culture economic impact study, the Art in Public Spaces program and the annual Hall of Fame Gala, scheduled for Oct. 14, the release said. Daily operations will go to the organization’s newly hired arts program and marketing coordinator, Jordan Weiland.
Ward said he and Martin agreed on a commitment of three to four months, though he would leave earlier if someone is hired. A national search for The AGB’s permanent executive director will begin this summer, the release said.
Ward, a photographer, exhibited his work for the first time in May at Mayfaire-by-the-Lake, the annual art festival coordinated by the AGB. He joked that in a meeting with the museum’s staff June 13, he said his first official act would be retroactively giving himself the festival’s Best in Show award.
Martin immediately vetoed that idea.
“And I said, ‘So I’ve already bumped up against the limit of my power,’” Ward said.
The AGB, renamed for a benefactor last year after decades as the Polk Museum of Art, is coming off its first major expansion since opening in 1988 near Lake Morton. The opening of the Dr. Anne B. Kerr wing in January yielded 14,000 square feet of space.
“Dr. Ward is not only a champion of our local art organizations and artists through his leadership of PACA, but he is also dedicated to promoting the extraordinary value the arts contribute to our economy, our education system and our quality of life in Polk County,” Lakeland City Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley, a PACA board member, said in the release. “The AGB will continue to thrive as our premier arts institution under his interim leadership.”
The AGB recently opened the exhibition, “Frank Lloyd Wright & the College of Tomorrow.” The Museum is preparing for a lineup of exhibitions in 2026, including “LIFE: Six Women Photographers,” featuring the work of six female contributors to LIFE Magazine between the 1930s and 1970s.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: AGB Museum of Art picks a familiar face, Daryl Ward, to serve as interim executive director
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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