COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF
MUSIC AND ARTS (CSMA) AT FINN CENTER
NAMES JEFFRY WALKER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
(Mountain View, CA) The Board of Directors of the Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center has announced the appointment of Jeffry William Walker as the  school’s new Executive Director. Walker has been the chief arts administrator at Trinity College in Hartford, CT since 1990, where he served for many years as the Director of the Austin Arts Center and was recently appointed as Director of the College’s new Office for the Arts. In 2005, he received the annual Elizabeth L. Mahaffey Fellowship, the State of Connecticut’s highest achievement award for excellence in arts administration.
“Jeffry brings a long and distinguished career of accomplishments and a strong commitment to arts education to CSMA,” said board chair Jeanne Althouse. “As the school approaches its 40th year, his combination of professional experience and engaging personal style make him the ideal candidate to lead CSMA in the future.”
Walker’s selection as CSMA’s ninth Executive Director in its history comes after a national search to identify the best leader for the $4.3 million organization committed to providing Arts for All. He will assume the position in early January 2007. Previous Executive Director Angela McConnell, who had led the organization since 2001, retired earlier this year to spend more time with her family and three young children.
Althouse said that Walker has experience in all aspects of arts administration, programming and community outreach, adding that not only would CSMA benefit from his leadership but that his vision and advocacy would be an asset to the entire Silicon Valley arts community.
“This is an exciting opportunity to serve one of America’s pre-eminent communities, a region known world-wide for innovation and productivity as well as for its cultural diversity and quality of life. CSMA’s longstanding arts and education programs are an invaluable resource for all who live and work in the valley. I am honored to have been chosen to lead this outstanding organization at such a promising new stage in its history,” said Walker.
“Throughout the search process, we were looking for a leader who had the ‘heartbeat of an artist,’ someone who understood the critical importance of arts and education, from the inside out” said Althouse. “Jeffry’s personal experience as an administrator, educator, playwright, actor, director and community arts advocate gives him tremendous understanding of CSMA’s mission and commitment to accessibility.”
Walker’s professional experience in arts education includes faculty positions at Bucknell University (PA), West Virginia University and Drew University (NJ) as well as administrative work as Managing Director of Mandell Theater at Drexel University in Philadelphia. He has worked as a production designer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland and the Colorado Shakespeare Festival in Boulder. Walker received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Theater at Ohio University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and Art from Slippery Rock State College (PA).
Walker’s individual creative work has been acknowledged by a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, a special project grant from the LEF Foundation and an artist’s residency at The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. In 2005, as the recipient of Connecticut’s Mahaffey Fellowship for excellence in arts administration, Walker spent time volunteering in New Orleans doing hands-on recovery work at “A Studio in the Woods,” an artist-ecological retreat devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
As a public citizen, Walker has been elected to the Town Council and was also the co-founder and Vice President of the Town Center Initiative, Inc., an organization focused on town planning and cultural programming in Glastonbury, CT. Additionally, he has served on many public and private arts funding panels and as an advisory board member for the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, a regional arts magnet high school located adjacent to Trinity College’s urban campus in Hartford, CT.
The Community School of Music and Arts (CSMA) at Finn Center, a regional center for arts education, is committed to providing Arts for All, regardless of age, level, background or economic means. Since its founding in 1968, the school has grown to become the largest non-profit provider of arts education programs in Silicon Valley and currently has an international faculty of 75+ professional musicians, artists and educators. Annually, CSMA reaches more than 40,000 people of all ages by providing: classes, lessons and camps in music, visual and digital arts; arts-in-the schools programs (Arts in Action, Music in Action); after-school art clubs; concerts, lectures and exhibitions; and free community events. The school awards more than $150,000 in financial aid each year to youth and low-income families. In January 2004, CSMA opened Silicon Valley’s first-ever center for music and arts education at 230 San Antonio Circle in Mountain View. For information about CSMA’s programs, events and services, see www.arts4all.org or call 650-917-6800.
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