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Hollis Ashby, former associate director of Cal Performances at U.C. Berkeley, has been named director of the Performance Series at the Williams Center for the Arts. The appointment is effective Sept. 2.
Hollis Ashby
Ashby succeeds Ellis Finger, who founded the Performance Series in 1983 with the opening of the Williams Center and retired June 30.
“Throughout her career, Hollis has demonstrated a keen understanding of the important role the arts play in our society and in the education of the college student,” says Suzanne Westfall, director of the arts. “Her appointment comes during a period of tremendous growth in the arts at Lafayette with the opening of the new Williams Arts Campus, which will contribute to the cultural offerings in the greater Lehigh Valley, and which underscore the significant place the arts and humanities hold at Lafayette.”
As series director, Ashby will be responsible for the artistic vision and executive leadership of the visiting performing arts program, encompassing the fields of chamber music, early music, new music, vocal and instrumental recitals, classical and modern dance, jazz, world stage, and theater. The performing arts season at Lafayette runs September to May, presenting some 20 different events in the series. In addition, the Music Department holds dozens of student and faculty concerts and the theater program holds five or six productions each year.
Ashby will also be charged with initiating and commissioning new artistic and educational ventures, including those in association with Lehigh Valley arts and culture organizations.
Ashby served in her latest role for seven years at the largest campus-based performing arts presenter on the West Coast. There she presented premieres and debuts by Pina Bausch, the Berliner Ensemble, Bill T. Jones, Robert Lepage, Laurie Anderson, the Gate Theater of Dublin, Druid Ireland, Takács and Kronos quartets, Tallis Scholars, Philippe Jaroussky, Keith Jarrett, Martin Hayes, and David Sedaris. She co-chaired the organization’s first (2001) and second (2007) long-range planning processes, which resulted in a successful $15 million capital campaign and the receipt of a Wallace Foundation LEAP grant to develop and disseminate innovative cultural participation practices.
She has held managerial positions in public relations at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and the San Francisco Symphony, and has served as a professional and volunteer consultant for a wide range of cultural institutions, including California Jazz Conservatory, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, San Francisco Open Studios, and Craneway Pavilion. Ashby earned a bachelor of arts degree in English literature from St. Lawrence University and a master of arts degree in dramatic art from U.C. Davis, with an emphasis in theater history, literature, and practice.
Lafayette’s Performance Series is known for its strong impact in audience development, both at the College and in the Lehigh Valley. Its programs have earned the Dawson Award for Programmatic Excellence from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and the Presenter Award from the North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents association. A hallmark of the series is its long partnership with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.