Flint Institute of Music Appoints Lenora Inez Brown as Vice President of Artistic and Community Programs
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group (TOCG) is pleased to announce that Lenora Inez Brown (she/her) has been appointed Vice President of Artistic and Community Programs by Flint Institute of Music, a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization located in Flint, Michigan, following our extensive national search. The Flint Institute of Music (“FIM”) is home to a broad array of organizations, including the Flint Symphony Orchestra, the Flint School of the Performing Arts, and the Flint Repertory Theatre. Read more about the FIM below.
In this newly-created role, Brown will unify the FIM’s exciting array of theatre, dance, music, and film programming, as well as seek opportunities for innovative collaborations that will deliver on the promise of its multi-disciplinary model. The role will provide leadership and cohesive vision for all artistic and community initiatives across the entire FIM campus and beyond within the Flint community. The addition of this role accompanies the FIM’s recent expansion and reorganization, which accompanied its operational merger with the Capitol Theatre and Whiting Auditorium.
Brown joins the FIM from her current post as Senior Fellow at Cleveland Leadership Center in Cleveland, Ohio. She developed the Legacy Leaders program and served as Director of the Advanced Leadership Institute Inspired by Carl and Louis Stokes. Her multi-faceted career includes dramaturgy, organizational leadership and strategy, as well as education and engagement. She has worked with organizations including the Theater School at Depaul University, Theatre Communications Group, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and Northeast Ohio Medical University. She earned her BA in Art History from Dartmouth College, MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the Yale School of Drama, and MBA from Cleveland State University. She has authored a number of chapters in books including a chapter on Adrienne Kennedy in Bloomsbury/Methuen’s series Decades of Modern American Drama Volume 6: Playwriting in the 1960s. Her two dramaturgy texts are titled: New Play Development: Facilitating Creativity for Dramaturgs, Playwrights, and Everyone Else and The Art of Active Dramaturgy: Transforming Critical Thought into Dramatic Action. Her many volunteer and civic engagements include serving as a past President of the Board of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, Vice Chair of Womens Council for the Cleveland Museum of Art and board member for Assembly for the Arts, the newly-formed non-profit arts alliance organization for Greater Cleveland.
“We’re at a very opportunistic crossroads at FIM and in our community,” explains Rodney Lontine, President and CEO. “We’re thrilled to welcome Lenora as an accomplished cultural leader who will add her impressive experience to the work of building a shared artistic vision across the organization with a deep commitment to authentic community collaboration.”
“The arts are the heart of a community and critical to a high quality of life,” said Lenora Inez Brown. “I’m excited to join the FIM family and Flint community at this time of renewed commitment and growth. I look forward to collaborating with community leaders to ensure a vibrant cultural landscape throughout Flint—in every neighborhood for every citizen—and to elevate our rich history and stupendous campus.”
“Lenora’s career defies category, and could not be more perfectly suited to this transformational moment in the Flint Institute of Music’s history” said Tom O’Connor, President of TOCG. “Lenora is a living embodiment of the way that artists can serve as catalyzers and leaders in communities and organizations. I have been inspired by her vision and ability to be a ‘bridge-builder’ between ideas, as well as between people, and truly can’t wait to see what she will do along with Rodney and the FIM’s leadership team–their impact on the city of Flint is something that I will be following and supporting for years to come.”
About Flint Institute of Music
Flint Institute of Music (FIM) is home to a multi-disciplinary array of performing arts programs. For over 100 years FIM has been dedicated to the growth and cultural advancement of communities in the greater Genesee County region and beyond. From its origins as the Flint Community Music Association to the organization it is today, FIM is the oldest example of community-planned music in the United States. Influenced by founder J. Dallas Dort, FIM was an early adopter of the concept of the arts as an integral aspect of community well-being and continues to transform people and community through the power of the performing arts.
Reaching more than 300,000 people annually through lessons, classes, outreach programs, performances and concerts, FIM provides music, dance and theatre experiences for all ages and abilities. Its programs include the Flint Symphony Orchestra, Flint Repertory Theatre, Music Around Town, and Whiting Presents – a seasonal presentation of national and international performing artists. Its instructional division, Flint School of Performing Arts, is one of the largest community schools of the arts in the country. FIM also includes five distinct performing arts venues: the recently restored Capitol Theatre in downtown Flint, and, The Whiting Auditorium, Elgood Theatre, Bower Theatre, and MacArthur Recital Hall, all on the Flint cultural center campus.
About Tom O’Connor Consulting Group
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group (TOCG) is a NYC-based consultancy that supports arts institutions and leaders with two parallel services: organizational strategy and executive search. Consulting specialties including marketing, strategy, assessment, and organizational development. Founded in 2015, TOCG is a fully remote company with team members spanning the country and the globe.
Select clients have included Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, Cincinnati Opera, Huntington Theatre Company, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, Next Chapter Podcasts, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, and more.
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