Wednesday, January 15, 2025
New Executive Director at Capital Jewish Museum
Dr. Beatrice Gurwitz. Courtesy Capital Jewish Museum.
Dr. Beatrice Gurwitz, former deputy director of the National Humanities Alliance, joined the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum as executive director on Sept. 23, succeeding interim executive director Ivy Barsky. Board President Esther Safran Foer said that Gurwitz, whose Ph.D. is from the University of California, Berkeley, “brings a deep understanding of the opportunities facing a 21st-century cultural property combined with a vast network of academic and humanities-based organizations for potential collaboration.”?
Leadership Transition at Cathedral Choral Society?
Catherine Ort-Mabry. Courtesy Cathedral Choral Society.
Cathedral Choral Society Executive Director Dr. Christopher Eanes left the organization on Nov. 1 to become president and CEO of Chorus America, which advances the choral field through advocacy, research and leadership development. Board President Sarah Holmes said that Eanes led CCS “with a keen strategic vision, dedication to excellence and a deep passion for collaboration across the arts.” Organizational consultant Catherine Ort-Mabry, a chorus member for more than 25 years, took over as interim executive director on Oct. 28.?
Imagination Stage Gets New Chief Managing Officer?
Layne Holley. Courtesy Imagination Stage.
Layne Holley became chief managing office of Bethesda’s Imagination Stage on Oct. 15. Holder of B.A. and MBA degrees from Auburn University, Holley most recently served as director of marketing and communication at the Montgomery-based Alabama Shakespeare Festival. Working closely with Chief Artistic Programming Officer Joanne Lamparter, Holley will oversee all managerial aspects of the organization, founded in 1979, which offers theater classes and summer camps for children and mounts professional productions.
Tudor Place Wins Award for ‘Ancestral Spaces’?Tour
Courtesy Tudor Place.
Georgetown’s Tudor Place Historic House & Garden was presented with a 2024 Making an Impact Award by the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums. The museum earned the accolade for “Ancestral Spaces: People of African Descent in Tudor Place,” a guided tour program created in conjunction with an installation of that name. This reimagining of the traditional house tour allows visitors to see the site through the eyes of the enslaved and free people for whom the Federal-period estate was both a workplace and a home.?
The Washington Ballet Hires Interim Executive Director?
Jason Palmquist. Courtesy The Washington Ballet.
The Washington Ballet has hired Jason Palmquist, a consultant with Management Consultants for the Arts since 2015, as interim executive director, succeeding Karen Shepherd. A graduate of the University of Northern Iowa, Palmquist became TWB’s executive director in 2004 after serving as the Kennedy Center’s vice president of dance administration. He left the Washington Ballet in 2007 for a 10-year stint as executive director of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where he helped launch partnerships with the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Second City.
Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association?Elects 24th Regent
Anne Neal Petri. Courtesy The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.
On Oct. 22, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, which owns and operates Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, elected its 24th regent: Anne “Dede” Neal Petri of Wisconsin. President and CEO of the Olmsted Network and former NEH general counsel and president of the Garden Club of America, Petri earned a B.A. and a J.D. from Harvard. Under her leadership, the organization will be preparing for two big celebrations: the 250th anniversary of the nation in 2026 and, six years later, George Washington’s 300th birthday.??
Woolly Mammoth Appoints Morita as Resident Director
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has appointed Mina Morita, artistic director of San Francisco’s Crowded Fire Theater Company from 2015 to 2022, to a two-year position as resident director and creative producer, supported by a grant from the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle. A graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Morita will direct at least one production per year during the season?and work directly with Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes and Managing Director Kimberly Douglas.
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