PAInT, a Sarasota program that uses circus acrobatics to teach physics in underserved schools, will move to USF's Tampa campus after the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee transferred to New College of Florida.

The Florida Center for Partnerships in Arts-Integrated Teaching (PAInT) has served more than 5,000 students at USF Sarasota-Manatee and in underserved school districts since 2017. More than 100 Florida educators have used the program's teaching materials. Now, with USF Sarasota-Manatee dissolved, PAInT's institutional home shifts roughly 60 miles north, according to a Sarasota Magazine profile of PAInT director Dr. Denise Davis-Cotton published Tuesday, Sept. 1.

Davis-Cotton said PAInT's work in Sarasota and Manatee counties will not stop.

"We believe that arts integration is not a luxury," Davis-Cotton told Sarasota Magazine. "PAInT's mission is to ensure that no student's zip code determines whether creativity is part of their education."

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the state budget June 30, making the campus transfer official. Under the terms, New College received USF Sarasota-Manatee's buildings, land and fixtures. USF kept its students, employees, academic programs and research equipment, Florida Politics reported. The transfer also shifted $53 million in campus debt to New College, according to Your Sun.

More than 1,000 USF students enrolled before July 1 can still use classroom space at the campus, now called New College's North Campus, while they finish their degrees through a multi-year teach-out.

Among USF Sarasota-Manatee's 137 faculty members, the "overwhelming majority" had been matched with roles in Tampa or St. Petersburg as of June 30, USF President Moez Limayem said in a message to the university community.

PAInT focuses on making arts accessible to low-income students who lack exposure. The program took students to the circus, where acrobatics illustrated physics concepts and teachers used the business side of circus operations to teach financial literacy.

The PAInT Scholars Program connected USF Sarasota-Manatee education majors to local arts organizations including Venice Theatre and the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature. Jennifer Mitchell, CEO of the Circus Arts Conservatory, described the PAInT partnership at a Leadership USF event in April, according to a USF Sarasota-Manatee recap.

Davis-Cotton took the PAInT director role in 2017 after moving to Florida. She had previously spent 18 years leading the Detroit School of Arts, a public magnet high school she founded.

No timeline has been announced for when PAInT will formally complete its move to USF Tampa, and which specific Sarasota County schools will continue receiving PAInT programming remains unclear.