Opera on the James to hire executive director

By: Casey Gillis | Lynchburg News and Advance
Published: August 13, 2009

Opera on the James is finally ready to put a face on its organization.

The opera company, which was founded in 2005, is using an anonymous donation of $1 million, received earlier this year, to hire its first executive director.

(Eighty percent of the donation is going to be used as a long-term source of income, says Gail Morrison, a board member and chairwoman of the hiring committee, while the other 20 percent will go toward staffing, including this position.)

The organization currently employs two part-time employees: an administrator and an artistic director.

“We really want to expand (to) Charlottesville and beyond, to Roanoke and beyond,” Morrison says. “We really think we can expand our circle with a full-time employee.”

Right now, board members like Morrison are taking care of most of the duties that will eventually fall to the executive director.

“We are a really high-energy, hard-working group,” she says. “Of course, we will still be that way.

“We’re just so excited that we’ll finally have somebody who will be the face of Opera on the James.”

The board has put together a hiring committee, which boasts the likes of Mayor Joan Foster, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Executive Director Suny Monk, Lynchburg City Schools’ Director of Secondary Education Al Coleman and several Opera on the James board members.

“We want to establish this position as a leadership position in Lynchburg,” Morrison says. “(The executive director) will be a real leader in the community.”

According to the job listing, which is posted on Opera on the James’ Web site (www.operaonthejames.org), the executive director will oversee the group’s business operations, marketing, fundraising and educational endeavors.

Morrison says they’ve spent the past four years establishing Opera on the James’ creative side, and now they’re ready for a director who will help on the business side of things.

“We want a person who is enthusiastic, loves opera, can represent us well in the community and can give us the solid infrastructure we need (to) take us to the next level.”

There is no timeline set for the search, which will be national, she says.

“We will look until we find the right person.”