Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival Appoints Kendra Ekelund as Managing Director
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group (TOCG) is pleased to announce that Kendra Ekelund (she/her) has been appointed Managing Director by Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (Davis McCallum, Artistic Director) in Garrison, NY, following our extensive national search.
As shared in a release from the company, Ekelund joins the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival following her most recent post as general manager of the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) in Pleasantville, NY, where she managed the organization’s finances, capital projects, human resources, cinema operations, technology, and systems. During her tenure, the JBFC welcomed over 200,000 visitors annually and expanded its theater facility from three to five screens. She also improved the organization’s financial sustainability, took a leadership role in strategic and master planning, and helped form and manage their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) committee. A community-focused arts leader, Ekelund’s nonprofit management work centers around inclusion, accessibility, antiracism, and financial sustainability, with a deep commitment to empowering and uplifting artists. She is a lower Hudson Valley native, raised in Ossining, NY. She lives in Mohegan Lake with her husband Bryan and their son, Alexander.
“As we approach year-end, there is so much to celebrate for HVSF,” said artistic director Davis McCallum. “Our first season in our new home has given us a renewed sense of excitement about HVSF’s bright future, and now we have the thrill of welcoming Kendra, a seasoned leader and performing arts aficionado, as our new managing director. I know her passion and expertise will be indispensable to our success, and I am honored to partner with her as we continue to evolve as an organization.”
From left: Davis McCallum, artistic director at HVSF and Kendra Ekelund, incoming managing director at HVSF.
“I am honored and overjoyed to be joining HVSF. As an audience member, I have been endlessly inspired by HVSF’s classical yet timely productions in breathtaking natural settings, which bring us outside of ourselves and open our hearts to be connected to shared human experiences,” said Ekelund. “It is an absolute privilege to partner with Davis McCallum to build a strong foundation for HVSF to thrive in its new home. There’s so much to look forward to in this new season of growth, and I can’t wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work with their incredible community of staff, board members, artists, and supporters.”
"Kendra is one of those rare leaders who matches brilliance and tenacity with such warmth and kindness–much like her new artistic partner, Davis McCallum. I could not be more honored by the search committee's trust in our firm to lead this search at this important time, or thrilled to have helped match Kendra with this role," said Tom O'Connor, President of TOCG and co-leader of the search with Vice President Cynthia Fuhrman. "HVSF is at a pivotal point in its history as it approaches this era of growth and transformation. It is one that requires great care for its community, starting with its staff and artists and going well beyond. Kendra and Davis are an exceptional pairing to lead this charge with the support of a wonderful staff and Board, and my team and I can't wait to follow and support their work for years to come."
About Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Founded in 1987, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a critically acclaimed (The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal), professional, non-profit theater company. The Festival has established a reputation for lucid, engaging, and highly inventive productions staged in rotating repertory under an iconic, open-air theater tent overlooking the Hudson River. In recent years, the Festival has also ventured beyond the tent, touring its work to other venues throughout the Hudson Valley as part of its HVSF On the Road series, transferring productions to other theaters, engaging its community through radically participatory art-making, and reaching over 50,000 students and educators annually through its year-round education programs. For more information, visit: hvshakespeare.org or follow HVSF on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
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 integrated 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.
Explore our site to learn more about Our Services, Our Team, and Our Clients. Sign up for email alerts of future searches.