Sonja Shea is a New Jersey transplant who has been in Sarasota for over twenty years now. She is a decorated student with a BA from the University of South Florida, a master’s in museum studies from John Hopkins University, and a completed graduate certificate from Wesleyan University’s Institute of Curatorial Practice in Performance program. Sonja’s vast experience in the arts in her fifteen years at The Ringling Museum ranges from beginning as a part-time Accounting Assistant to Assistant Performance Producer.

She has curated and produced performance programs and art exhibitions for the museum, assisted with all creative and program planning for the performance season at the Ringling’s Historic Asolo Theater, and created and implemented performance related community engagement programming, to name but a few of her accomplishments. Her passion for utilizing the arts as an agent for social change and her love for performance pervades all the work she does.