Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Welcomes New Director

(SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.) – Dr. William H. Banchs, president and chief executive officer of the Scottsdale Cultural Council, has announced the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey N. Babcock as vice president and artistic director of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. Babcock currently serves as the executive director of San Francisco State University’s International Center for the Arts, a cross-disciplinary creative, research and producing organization that provides career-entry growth opportunities for emerging artists and presents public programs and exhibitions in the performing, media and visual arts. He is also chair of the board of directors of Leonardo/The International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology.

Babcock’s appointment was the result of a six-month national search and was approved by the Scottsdale Cultural Council’s board of trustees and the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ board of directors. He will fill the position left vacant by the Center’s longtime director, Kathy Hotchner, and begin his duties in Scottsdale in April.

“I have not met anyone with a broader background and in-depth knowledge of all the art forms than Jeffrey Babcock,” remarked Banchs. “In addition, Jeff’s strong management skills, forward thinking and expertise in the latest technologies will herald in a new era at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts and dovetail perfectly with the Cultural Council’s recently approved strategic plan.”

“The Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts is embarking upon an exciting new direction with a renovated theater and innovative approach to programming,” said Babcock. “I’m eager to be a part of this dynamic organization and to play a role in its future.”

A seasoned leader with broad experience in arts administration and programming, Babcock has founded and served as chief executive of a number of prominent arts and academic organizations throughout the United States, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute, which he co-founded in 1981 with artistic directors Leonard Bernstein, Michael Tilson Thomas and Daniel Lewis. In 1986, he co-founded the Miami-based New World Symphony with Michael Tilson Thomas and served as president and CEO for its first five years, overseeing its growth from a start-up to an internationally recognized arts organization. From 1991-97, Babcock was the director of Atlanta’s four-year Cultural Olympiad and the executive producer and artistic director of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Arts Festival, which featured more than 4,500 performing and visual artists as well as a first-ever Olympic gathering of Nobel laureates of literature. He also has served as dean of Boston University’s College of Fine Arts, general director and CEO of the Boston Ballet and founding executive director of the University of Maryland’s Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.

“We look forward to working with Jeff to impact audience participation and community support through the innovative programming he will bring to Scottsdale,” added Clara Lovett, chair of the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts’ board of directors.

Since 2003, Babcock has consulted for a variety of companies and nonprofit organizations in creative technologies, fundraising, marketing and strategic planning, among other areas. A trained musician, he has taught, conducted and performed throughout his career. He earned his B.A. (cum laude) in music and Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara, which presented him with a Distinguished Alumni Award in 1992.

Babcock is married to Arlinda J. Babcock, a care manager for Arcadia Health Care in San Francisco. The couple previously lived in the metro Phoenix area from 2003-06, where they still maintain a home. The Babcocks have four grown children and four grandchildren.

Opened in 1975, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts presents a dynamic, culturally diverse season of dance, jazz, classical and world music, theater and satire. Approximately 1,000 performances, educational programs, festivals and other events are showcased annually serving more than 300,000 people and contributing substantially to Scottsdale’s high quality of life and vibrant arts scene. Performances take place in the Center’s 838-seat Virginia G. Piper Theater (closed for renovation during the 2008-09 season) and 136-seat Stage 2 as well as the 2,200-seat amphitheater on the grounds of the Scottsdale Civic Center Mall and the 326-seat Theater 4301 in the Galleria Corporate Centre. The Center’s youth education and outreach programs reach more than 40,000 school children each year, and its free programs are available to the entire public. Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts also produces the popular Scottsdale Arts Festival every March; Sunday A’Fair, a series of free outdoor music festivals held on Sunday afternoons from January to April; and Native Trails, a collaboration with the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau that features free demonstrations of Native American arts and culture from January to April.

The Scottsdale Cultural Council, a private non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, is contracted by the City of Scottsdale, Arizona, to administer certain City arts and cultural projects and to manage the City-owned Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and Scottsdale Public Art Program. The programs of the Scottsdale Cultural Council are made possible, in part, by the support of members and donors and grants received from the Arizona Commission on the Arts through appropriations from the Arizona State Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit: www.scottsdaleperformingarts.org/.

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