In Sunday’s (1/16) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (subscription required), Rich Polikoff profiles Peter Lane, president and CEO of the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since taking on the job in May 2009, Polikoff writes, “Lane has expanded it in ways that were once merely dreamed about. … New programs like Artosphere, a regional arts and nature festival that drew more than 15,000 people last year, have been launched. So too has Digging Up Arkansas, an interactive play performed in schools that will teach more than 5,000 students about Arkansas history this year. Perhaps most significantly, a long-discussed expansion of the center has begun, with the December announcement that a new 2,200-seat theater will be built in Bentonville, part of an ambitious plan meant to ultimately redefine the performing arts scene in Northwest Kansas.” In the article Lane cites as his lifelong mentor his uncle, Peter Benoliel, a former chairman of the board of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Lane previously served in management roles with the Palo Alto (California) Chamber Orchestra, Oakland Youth Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Pops, Mann Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, and the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (Bethel, N.Y.).
Posted January 18, 2011
