Long Center Names New Executive Director

AUSTIN, Texas, July 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- After an extensive international search, the board of the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts has selected Jamie Grant, an arts manager with almost 30 years of experience, to serve as its new executive director and CEO, effective Sept. 19, 2011.

"The board of trustees of the Long Center is extremely impressed with Jamie's credentials and knowledge of performing arts centers. He is the right combination of strategic thinker, operational expert and community builder," Craig Hester, chair of the Long Center board, said. "Jamie is exactly the right person for this extraordinarily important position, and we feel very fortunate to have found him."

Grant is currently the general manager of the Centre in the Square in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, a similar-sized facility that is the home of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery and the Grand Philharmonic Choir. His previous experience includes leadership roles with Imperial Theatre in Saint John, New Brunswick, Heritage and Pearson Theatres in Brampton, Ontario, Skylight Theatre in Toronto, and Arbor Theatre in Peterborough, Ontario.

"Austin is one of the most exciting and desirable places in America to live, work and play. I simply cannot wait to get to town and to become part of 'Austin's Creative Home,'" Grant said. "The Long Center is a spectacular asset, and the community has already done the hard part – getting it built. Our job now is to continue to fulfill its potential."

"Jamie runs an operation that looks quite similar to the Long Center in many ways," Cliff Ernst, vice chair of the Long Center board, said. "Under his leadership, almost 30 percent of the households in his community attend events at his facility. That experience will be invaluable to us."

A leader and innovator in the performing arts profession for many years, Grant is a founding member of Canada's National Theatre Festival – Magnetic North Theatre Festival, and served as chairman of the board. He helped found "eye-GO to the Arts," a program designed to encourage youth to attend the performing arts, and was the founding chair of the organization. eye-GO, which began in Kitchener-Waterloo, has now become a national program in Canada. Grant was instrumental in developing a block-booking model that is used throughout Canada today, and he was one of the first performing arts center managers in Canada to promote the arts as a tool for economic development.

A graduate of Humber College, Grant has served as an adjunct lecturer at the University of Waterloo for almost a decade. He is a regular lecturer, panelist and guest speaker for other universities, colleges and professional conferences across North America.

He and his wife Christine, high school sweethearts who reconnected and married two years ago, have five children between them.

"With Paul Beutel resuming his normal duties as managing director, we will have an unbeatable combination of arts operations expertise and programming excellence at the top of the staff of the Long Center," Hester said.

Paul Beutel has served as interim executive director of the Long Center since July, 2010.

Long Center for the Performing Arts

The Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts−Austin's Creative Home™− opened in March 2008. The Long Center's mission is to nurture and inspire cultural arts in Austin by encouraging and supporting Austin artists (both the large established arts groups as well as emerging arts groups and individual artists) and by making opportunities available for education, cross-pollination and inspiration through presentation of visiting artists. The Long Center features two performance venues—the 2,400-seat Michael & Susan Dell Hall and the 240-seat Debra and Kevin Rollins Studio Theatre. The Long Center is home to performances of the Austin Lyric Opera, Austin Symphony Orchestra and Ballet Austin, and to productions in the Long Center Presents series. The Long Center was built using private funds raised by the nonprofit organization that operates the facility and leases it from the City of Austin. For more information about the Long Center, visit www.thelongcenter.org.

Mark Truett
(512) 457-5105
(832) 724-6010
[email protected]

SOURCE Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long Center for the Performing Arts