New director brings wealth of experience
Jeffrey H. James, currently the Executive Director of the Cunningham Dance Foundation, has been named the sixth Director of the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. James will succeed Lewis A. Crickard, who has served as director since 1992. Crickard is retiring in July, and James will assume the Director's post in August.
Jeffrey H. James will be the sixth Director of the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth. (photo by Don Hamerman)
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James will bring to Dartmouth extensive experience in the arts. He currently serves as the chief executive of the organization that administers the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, the Cunningham Studio and its allied programs. Over the past four years, he has overseen the Company's 50th anniversary, a major international celebration and campaign. It included three Cunningham world premieres, a major new multi-work filming project, the initiation of a new educational outreach program, New York seasons at Lincoln Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Joyce Theater, and extensive touring, including appearances at the Kennedy Center, Chicago's new Harris Theater, the new Richard B. Fisher Center at Bard College, the Paris Opera's Palais Garnier, London's Tate Modern and Barbican Centre, the Hong Kong Cultural Center, and many other theaters and museums in cities throughout the U.S. and abroad.
"I look forward to working with Jeff James to ensure that the Hopkins Center continues its role as a vital arts venue for Dartmouth students and faculty, as well as for the surrounding community," said Barry Scherr, the Mandel Family Professor of Russian and Provost of the College.
Since 1962, thousands of nationally and internationally known singers, dancers, actors and other performers have graced the stages of the Hopkins Center. "The Hop" is also home to four academic arts departments, as well as student workshops, vocal and instrumental ensembles, a dance program, a film exhibition program and a visiting performing artist series. Performers who visit the center interact with students and faculty through classroom appearances, master classes or other meetings.
"The Hopkins Center is one of the country's most distinguished campus-based arts institutions," said James. "It is a unique resource for the Dartmouth community and for broader area audiences, and I am excited at the prospect of joining such a vibrant and multi-faceted arts enterprise. I particularly look forward to working with talented students, faculty and staff to further and enhance the Hop's incredibly varied programs, and to fostering ever-growing opportunities for the life-changing experiences that the arts can provide."
James's prior positions include founding president of the International Foundation for the Canadian Centre for Architecture, as well as senior management, fundraising and marketing assignments at the California Institute for the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the New York Philharmonic and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an advisory board member of the Pacific Resident Theatre, an award-winning Los Angeles theatre troupe.
By SUSAN KNAPP
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