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The Board of Directors of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center announced the appointment of Jeffry William Walker as the school’s new executive director.
Walker has been the chief arts administrator at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., since 1990. He was director of the Austin Arts Center and was recently appointed director of the college’s new Office for the Arts. In 2005, he received the annual Elizabeth L. Mahaffey Fellowship, the state of Connecticut’s highest award for excellence in arts administration.
“Jeffry brings a long and distinguished career of accomplishments and a strong commitment to arts education to CSMA,” said Jeanne Althouse, board chairwoman. “As the school approaches its 40th year, his combination of professional experience and engaging personal style make him the ideal candidate to lead CSMA in the future.”
Walker’s selection as CSMA’s ninth executive director resulted from a national search to identify a leader for the $4.3 million organization.
Previous Executive Director Angela McConnell, who led the organization since 2001, retired earlier this year to spend more time with her three young children.
Althouse said that Walker has experience in all aspects of arts administration, programming and community outreach, adding that not only would CSMA benefit from his leadership but that his vision and advocacy would be an asset to the entire Silicon Valley arts community.
“This is an exciting opportunity to serve one of America’s pre-eminent communities, a region known worldwide for innovation and productivity as well as for its cultural diversity and quality of life. CSMA’s longstanding arts and education programs are an invaluable resource for all who live and work in the Valley. I am honored to have been chosen to lead this outstanding organization at such a promising new stage in its history,” said Walker, who will begin as executive director early this month.
“Throughout the search process, we were looking for a leader who had the ‘heartbeat of an artist,’ someone who understood the critical importance of arts and education, from the inside out,” Althouse said. “Jeffry’s personal experience as an administrator, educator, playwright, actor, director and community arts advocate gives him tremendous understanding of CSMA’s mission and commitment to accessibility.”
Walker’s professional experience in arts education includes faculty positions at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, West Virginia University and Drew University in New Jersey, as well as administrative work as managing director of Mandell Theater at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has worked as a production designer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. Walker received a master’s degree in fine arts from the School of Theater at Ohio University and a bachelor’s degree in theater and art from Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania.
A National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, a special project grant from the LEF Foundation and an artist’s residency at The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H., recognized Walker’s individual creative work. In 2005, he received Connecticut’s Mahaffey Fellowship for excellence in arts administration. Walker volunteered in New Orleans doing hands-on recovery work at “A Studio in the Woods,” an artist-ecological retreat devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Walker served on the town council and was co-founder and vice president of the Town Center Initiative Inc., an organization focused on town planning and cultural programming in Glastonbury, Conn. Additionally, he has served on public and private arts funding panels and as an advisory board member for the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, a regional arts magnet high school located adjacent to Trinity College’s urban campus in Hartford.
CSMA, a regional center for arts education, is committed to providing arts for all, regardless of age, level, background or economic means. Since its founding in 1968, the school has become the largest non-profit provider of arts education programs in Silicon Valley.
For more information, call 917-6800 or visit www.arts4all.org.
