Center for the Arts Hires Two New Faces in Marketing Dept.
Update Appended
MIDLAND, Mich. — The Midland Center for the Arts has hired two new faces in its marketing and communications department.
Diane Willcox will be the new Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Joshua Holliday is Communications and Public Relations Manager.
Most recently the General Manager of Broadway in Tucson and Director of Operations and Strategic Marketing for UA Presents in Arizona, Ms. Willcox brings over 30 years of arts marketing and executive management experience in not-for-profit and for-profit presenting and producing performing arts organizations. She will begin her new position in Midland in mid-December.
“I’m exceedingly impressed with the comprehensive nature of the organization. I find the combination of the music, theatre, museum, art and education programming is exhilarating,” Ms. Willcox said of Midland Center for the Arts in a media release. “My goals will be to accentuate and support the work being done here while further promoting the Center as a resource, destination, industry leader and economic driver for the region.”
While the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Wharton Center for Performing Arts in Lansing, Ms. Willcox oversaw the rebrand of Wharton Center. In addition, she launched the Sensory-Friendly Performance series that initiated a “Welcoming Community” program for people with Autism and other sensory differences. The project is now a sustainable region-wide initiative.
“We are excited to have Diane join our executive leadership team. Her dynamic, hands-on management style and keen sense for marketing strategy are exactly what we were looking for as we position the Center within the community, the region and as a national presence,” said Midland Center for the Arts President and CEO Terri Trotter. “Diane is excited about helping to grow and build audiences and participatory experiences in both the museum and the theater and we look forward to her experience and enthusiasm in Midland.”
Ms. Willcox will be relocating to Midland with her husband. Her two sons are currently in the Lansing area.
“That’s certainly one of the things that attracted her, too. Not only could she come home, but it was this opportunity to work on the performing arts side with broadway product and things like that, but also on the museum side of things,” Ms. Trotter told the City Paper. “Particularly in our executive level positions, when we’re looking for industry experience, we often have to go outside of the community.”
Midland Center for the Arts, Inc. is a cultural center for Mid-Michigan and the state, bringing arts, sciences, history and the humanities together under one roof. Featuring a 1,500-seat theater that hosts touring Broadway musicals and talent from around the globe, the Midland Symphony Orchestra and more; a 400-seat theater that is the home to locally produced theater and music including Center Stage Theatre and Choirs; a hands-on interactive museum of science and art; the Midland County Historical Society; and art studios, the Center is a home to artists and audiences alike.
“We are a little bit unusual in the industry, because of the various things that we do,” Ms. Trotter told the City Paper. “It is not typical to have a cultural complex like ours where we have both the museum activities as well as theatre activities and all of the various things that we do.”
Mr. Holliday comes from the Lansing Ignite, a now-defunct professional soccer team, where he was Director of Marketing.
“For the last 5 years I have been building a portfolio of professional experiences with one goal in mind, to be working at a premier performing arts center,” Mr. Holliday said in a post on LinkedIn. “I am eager to work with several mentors of mine and thrive with this rapidly growing cultural destination in the Great Lakes Bay Region!”
Mr. Holliday graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in Advertising.
Ms. Trotter says that a combination of a search as well as Mr. Holliday being already connected within the industry led to his hire.
“He actually had worked before — he was an intern at the Wharton Center early on in his career,” Ms. Trotter told the City Paper. “Josh had expressed interest in being here on a couple of occasions, so it was kind of fortunate that the right thing came along.”
Mr. Holliday started in his new role last month.
This article has been updated to reflect that the Center for the Arts has confirmed they have hired Mr. Holliday.
Michael Westendorf is the chairman and executive editor of Chemical City Paper. As Executive Editor, he leads the City Paper’s news coverage and editorial team.