Duke Performances Interim Director Aaron Greenwald has been named permanent director of the office, University officials confirmed Friday.
"We conducted a nationwide search for the director which yielded many strong candidates," Vice Provost for the Arts Scott Lindroth wrote in an e-mail Friday. "We were already impressed with Aaron's leadership of Duke Performances this year, and his vision for enhancing the presence of Duke Performances on campus and in the community is very exciting."
The hire comes only 12 months into Greenwald's 18-month contract. After coming to Duke to head the 2006 North Carolina Festival of the Book, he was to serve as interim director for a year and a half beginning Jan. 1, 2007.
In his year on the job, Greenwald booked an ambitious season, supplementing his regular budget with grants and other funding to create six series, including tributes to soul music and late jazz great Thelonious Monk.
"I'm elated," Greenwald said. "I'm really excited, mostly by the vote of confidence and to have gone through the full open, nationwide search, to have come out as the first-choice candidate, really validates the work we've been doing from every perspective-students, faculty, patrons."
Lindroth led the search committee, which found three finalists before recommending Greenwald to Provost Peter Lange for final approval.
"He's very innovative, he has a big vision [and] he understands both the role that Duke Performances has to play for our on-campus constituencies and for the broader Duke community," Lange said. "He understands both the pure performance aspect and how the office has to work with departments."
Duke Performances was formed in 2004, replacing the Institute of the Arts as the University's primary programming body for classical and jazz music, classical theater and dance.
The office's staff this year consisted of four, including the interim director. Greenwald and Lange said they expect to see the staff increase in size.
The hire will also likely alter the funding structure for Duke Performances. Greenwald and Lange both said that although the budget will not increase substantially, it should stabilize, taking the heat off staff to find creative funding sources for programming.
"As part of completing the hiring, we've talked about putting into permanent place temporary increases in his budget that have been in place this year," Lange said.
The arts have become an area of increased emphasis at Duke since the approval of the University's newest strategic plan, "Making A Difference," in September 2006. The plan calls for "transformation" of the arts on campus-a goal that also resulted in the creation of Lindroth's post and his hiring.
"I think that I've received every indication from both Scott Lindroth and Peter Lange that there's going to be a continued support for the performing arts-continued and improved support," Greenwald said. "So I think we're going to be able to... do more involved activities, and frankly to reach out to students more."
Greenwald replaces Kathy Silbiger, who served for more than two decades at Duke, first leading the Institute of the Arts and later overseeing its reorganization into Duke Performances.
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