Meet the 2025 Judges

Jennifer McInnes Coolidge​

Jennifer McInnes Coolidge serves as Executive Director of Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. She previously served as Director of Philanthropy for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and is lead curator at Mills Gallery in Orlando, Fl.

As an arts administrator, Coolidge has also served as Director of Development for the University of Florida, College of the Arts; Executive Director for the Museum of Florida Art in DeLand, FL; Executive Director f the Florida Alliance for Art Education and in arts education and curatorial positions for the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, FL, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art and others.
​
She has served on numerous Florida Boards including the Board of Directors for the Florida House in Washington, DC and as a past president for the Florida Alliance for Arts Education and the Volusia County Cultural Alliance. Coolidge has received numerous awards for her leadership in the arts was recognized as a Florida Ambassador of the Arts by past First Lady of Florida, Columba Bush.

Coolidge is a native of Winston Salem, NC and holds a BA with a concentration in painting from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and a Certificate in Social Entrepreneurship from H. Heinz II School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University and completed a fellowship with the Denali Initiative on Social Enterprise through the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.

Harry Messersmith​

Harry Messersmith maintains a full service bronze foundry and sculpture atelier and continues to refine his sculpture he describes as triangulated figures.

Messersmith received a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation to attend a master artist residency with Gio Pomodoro at The Atlantic Center for the Arts in November of 1999. He then traveled to Milan, Italy in June, 2000 to promote “The Bronze Exhibit”, a group exhibition that included three of his figurative bronze sculptures.

​Messersmith served as executive director of The Museum of Florida Art from 1989–1995, and director of The Lighthouse Gallery and School of Art in Tequesta, Florida from 1995–1996. Before becoming director of The Museum of Florida Art, Messersmith served for three years as an artist-in education for the Volusia County Public Schools; he has also taught fine art and sculpture at Daytona College, Stetson University, Crealde School of Art, Harris House, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and The University of Central Florida. Messersmith earned his Master’s degree in fine art and sculpture from the University of Florida under J. G. Naylor in 1983, and his Bachelor of art degree from Stetson University under his father Fred L. Messersmith and Dan Gunderson in 1981.