Imagine Museum director Jane Buckman to retire

As St. Peterburg’s Imagine Museum approaches its fifth anniversary, executive director Jane Buckman is stepping down.

Buckman, who’s been at the helm of collector Trish Duggan’s contemporary glass art museum since it opened in 2018, says she wants to focus on her own creative endeavors – she’s a painter, and a sculptor, and a relatively new aficionado of (and expert on) glass art.

“I do plan to take a bit of a break,” Buckman explains. “It’s just that I am who I am, and the age that I am, and it was just time – after helping Trish get the museum opened, and we have five-star reviews – it seemed like the time to give it back to Trish, help her find new leadership and move on to my next journey.”

The Chicago-area native moved to Florida 16 years ago, and served as the longtime director of the Longboat Key Center for the Arts. Duggan, an artist and philanthropist whose collection of international glass art is extensive, hired her to run the facility she purchased at 1901 Central Ave., the site of the former Imagine School.

“I love the museum; I love Trish,” she says. “I’m thrilled with the collection Trish has – she’ll never have a bigger advocate for that collection than me. It’s all about timing and it’s all about listening to your own heart, and following that. So that’s what I’m doing.”

The Imagine Museum will turn 5 in late February; Buckman plans to stay on until a new executive director is hired, most likely in the spring.

“It’s just an exciting time,” she believes. “I am where I am; I feel very happy with what I’ve achieved, and all that I have contributed to the arts in Chicago, L.A., Seattle and now on the Gulf coast. I like adventure, so I feel that there’s another chapter yet to be written.”

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