Press Release
California Center for the Arts, Escondido Announces Staff Changes and Appointments
ESCONDIDO, CA (January 17, 2003) Officials at The California Center for the Arts, Escondido announced today several changes to staff titles and responsibilities and two new hires.
According to The Center’s Vice-President and General Manager Vicky Basehore, who is currently serving as interim CEO, "I feel it is important both internally and externally for titles to accurately reflect the duties performed by the staff member in the position. As we have been forced to combine duties in many areas over the past year and a half, we wanted to clarify new and changed areas of responsibility for certain staff, particularly those individuals who frequently interact with the public. We’re pleased to make these changes to better serve the community. These changes reflect our continuing efforts to improve efficiency and increase value without sacrificing quality in our programs or services."
These changes, effective immediately include Rob Collier, whose title will be Assistant Technical Director, more accurately reflecting his duties and consistent with conventions at other performing arts venues. Mr. Collier joined The Center’s staff in 1995. His previous title was Stage Manager.
David Szymanski’s title has been changed from Performing Arts Event Manager to Community Events Manager. He is responsible for theater rentals and co-promotions, reporting to Tina Ostrem, Director of Community Affairs. Mr. Szymanski joined The Center in 1994.
Fred Tracey, who joined The Center in 1994 continues his responsibilities including marketing The Center’s performing arts events as Assistant Director of Performing Arts Marketing, also assisting JoAnnne Ewan-Kroeger, who was recently promoted to the position of Director of Performing Arts with programming.
In the Conference Center, Damian Bishop, who joined The Center’s staff in 1994, is responsible for the kitchen and food preparation operation with the new title of Banquet Culinary Manager. Todd Clark, who joined The Center’s staff in 1994, has been named Banquet Manager. Todd is responsible for banquet set up and service operations.
Michele Prosser has been named Vice President of Development and Institutional Communications. She was promoted to the newly created position of Director of External Affairs in July 2001. At that time, while retaining her responsibilities as The Center’s Director of Development, she assumed responsibility for all institutional communications, newsletters, press relations and institutional marketing. She joined The Center’s staff in 1997.
To assist Ms. Prosser in the areas of development and communications, there have been two recent additions to The Center’s staff. Sean Doorly joined The Center in the newly created position of Institutional Marketing and Communications Coordinator in October. Mr.Doorly joins The Center’s staff from New York, where he held several positions in entertainment communications, most recently with AOL Time Warner where he served as Senior Editor of AOL Music, updating website content and authoring features on artists in addition to managing partner relationships. His responsibilities at The Center include coordinating marketing and communications for the visual arts and education programs, the conference center, and campus-wide marketing and communications. He will also coordinate the continued development and maintenance of The Center’s website and e-commerce initiatives. Lark Burkhart joined The Center’s staff in November as grantwriter. She returns to the area from San Jose, where she recently received her certificate in non-profit management from San Jose State. Her responsibilities include developing proposals and requests for corporate and foundation support and corporate sponsorship.
ABOUT THE CENTER
Located in North San Diego County at 340 North Escondido Boulevard in
Escondido, the California Center for the Arts, Escondido is accessible
by major interstate highways. The Center’s 12-acre campus offers
a Performing Arts season with internationally renowned artists, acclaimed
contemporary art exhibitions in the Museum, an education complex offering
classes and workshops for young people, families and adults, and an awarding-winning
Conference Center which hosts more than 400 events each year in North
County’s largest meeting facility. The Center is a non-profit organization
that is supported by a combination of public and private donations. For
more information, please visit http://www.artcenter.org.