Arts Presenters Announces New President and CEO
Mario Garcia Durham, of the NEA, fills executive position at APAP
The Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) announced today the appointment of Mario Garcia Durham as President and CEO. He is the fifth executive director since the organization’s founding in 1957, and follows Sandra Gibson, who stepped down June 30, 2011. Gibson has continued to serve as APAP Special Executive, and will remain in that position through September 30, 2011.
Durham, who lives in Washington, DC, has been Director of Artist Communities and Presenting at the National Endowment for the Arts since 2004. He will begin his new position at Arts Presenters Oct. 3, 2011. Interim President and CEO Jim Copenhaver, who has been overseeing the organization since June, will assist with the transition in the coming months.
“No one knows our field more fully than Mario Garcia Durham, who comes into this new role with years of celebrated experience as a respected presenter, thoughtful funder and passionate advocate,” said Mike Ross, chair of the APAP Board of Directors and director of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “To have Mario lead Arts Presenters at such a critical moment of change and transition in our field is an extraordinary opportunity for all of us. I know he will be a strong, thoughtful, empathic leader who will listen carefully to our diverse membership, and will work closely and collaboratively with members, staff, the board and others to shape our pathway forward.”
Among his many accomplishments, Durham was the founder and executive director of Yerba Buena Arts & Events in San Francisco, CA. As executive director, Durham produced the annual Yerba Buena Gardens Festival that featured more than 150 free presentations and drew more than 100,000 attendees. A founding staff member of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Durham served as Assistant Artistic Director from 1992 to 1996, Performing Arts Manager from 1996 to 1997, and Performing Arts Curator from 1997 to 2000.
Durham served on the Executive Committee of the APAP Board and on the board of the American Arts Alliance. In San Francisco, he served on the boards of Galeria de la Raza, Isadore Duncan Dance Awards and the Bay Area Celebrates National Dance Week. He has served as a panelist for organizations including the NEA, Wallace Foundation, Arts International, Headlands Center for the Arts and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Durham also has been an advisor for numerous projects such as the Executive Committee of National Dance Week-San Francisco and the redesigns of San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza and Union Square.
“Mario has guided the National Endowment for the Arts’ Presenting portfolio with great skill, passion, and charm for the past seven years,” said Rocco Landesman, Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. “During his tenure, he created ‘Artist Communities’ as an independent funding category at the Endowment and was the driving force behind the NEA’s Live from Your Neighborhood, which was the first-ever survey of outdoor arts festivals. Mario knows how art works throughout our country and will bring that knowledge to his leadership of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. He will be sorely missed as an NEA employee, but we are thrilled to keep him as a close colleague in the field.”
A native of Houston, TX, Durham is a graduate of the University of Houston. While he was a young man, Durham was a member of Patsy Swayze’s Houston Jazz Ballet Company. He also developed an interest in business and worked in banking, which prepared him for administrative and fiduciary duties. Inspired by the arts leader Baraka Sele, he transitioned into arts administration as a founding member of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. This path led to his founding of Yerba Buena Arts & Events, where he defined the role of an executive director as a “leader and visionary” of an organization.
“Since joining the presenting field in 1992 – from being a founding member of the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, to becoming a board member of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and serving as Director of Artist Communities and Presenting at the National Endowment for the Arts – I have been extremely fortunate to have worked with incredible and supportive colleagues,” said Durham. “Also, in my role at the NEA, I have had the opportunity to travel across the country and meet and witness the truly amazing work of the individuals in our field. To me, they represent a tireless, generous, selfless group of professionals who make me truly proud to be part of the presenting community. The challenges for the leadership, the board and the field are considerable, but I feel the time is perfect for a new cycle in the life of Arts Presenters. I have absolute confidence in our members adapting and finding their place as we move to the future.”
About APAP
The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, based in Washington, D.C., is the national service and advocacy organization with more than 1,400 members worldwide, dedicated to developing and supporting a robust performing arts presenting field and the professionals who work within it. Our members represent the nation's leading performing arts centers, municipal and university performance facilities, nonprofit performing arts centers, culturally specific organizations, foreign governments, as well as artist agencies, managers, touring companies, and national consulting practices that serve the field, and a growing roster of self-presenting artists. As a leader in the field, APAP works to effect change through advocacy, professional development, resource sharing, and civic engagement. APAP is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, governed by a volunteer board of directors and led by its CEO/President. In addition to presenting the annual APAP|NYC conference - the world's leading forum and marketplace for the performing arts (January 6-10, 2012) - APAP continues to be the industry's leading resource, knowledge and networking destination for the advancement of performing arts presenting.
Photo credit: Stacy Vaeth
Download a PDF of the press release.