Laurence Jahns Named Chief Advancement Officer at The Public Theater

The Public Theater announced today that Laurence Jahns has been named the new Chief Advancement Officer.

Jahns, who will start at The Public on January 8, has more than 25 years of experience working with leading non-profits at major social service agencies, universities, and national cultural institutions.

He most recently served as the Senior Vice President of Advancement at Robin Hood, New York City's largest poverty-fighting organization. As a fundraiser, social advocate, and arts administrator, Jahns has raised over $2.75 billion to advance social justice, higher education, and the arts and to reduce barriers to access for all.

"I am so proud to have Lars join our team at The Public during this historic time when we have just celebrated 50 years at our downtown home at Astor Place and the 50th Anniversary of our ground-breaking musical Hair," said Executive Director Patrick Willingham. "As we prepare for the next 50 years, I am confident that Lars' vision, leadership and impressive fundraising skills will be an extraordinary asset to The Public as we continue to grow and expand our programming, facilities, audiences and global connections with a deep commitment to civic engagement and community outreach."

As Chief Advancement Officer, Jahns will be working closely with the senior management team, Board, and development staff at The Public to help ensure that the necessary resources are available to achieve The Public's fullest potential as both a pioneering cultural institution and a center for engaged dialogue, accessibility, and inclusiveness.

"I am so honored and overjoyed to have this opportunity to join the staff of The Public Theater. Not only is it the premiere non-profit theater company in the country, but I also so admire their founding commitment to indeed being a truly "public" theater," said Laurence Jahns. "I share that dedication to arts accessibility and to social change through the arts, which is all the more relevant in today's increasingly divisive, partisan, and economically disparate environment. I also am deeply humbled in this new position to be able to contribute to Joe Papp's singular vision and legacy."

LAURENCE JAHNS is a senior non-profit administrator with over two decades of experience in philanthropy. He was the founding director of the development department for Robin Hood, a national innovator in engaged philanthropy and New York City's largest poverty-fighting organization. He built the department and managed the growth of Robin Hood's annual revenue from $7 million to over $175 million annually. He served as Senior Vice President, Advancement and worked closely with the Board and leadership on fundraising strategy, mega-gifts, Board recruitment and governance, and special initiatives and campaigns. Previously Jahns created and oversaw the major gifts division for GMHC (Gay Men's Health Crisis), the nation's first and largest AIDS service organization. He also held positions at Rockefeller University, The American Film Institute at the Kennedy Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, Cheryl Crawford Productions, Madison Civic Center for the Performing Arts, and the Ravinia Festival / Chicago Symphony. Jahns has an M.A. in Non-Profit Management from the University of Wisconsin School of Business and completed post-graduate programs at Columbia University's Business School, New York University, Harvard University's Kennedy School, and Indiana University's Center on Philanthropy. He also guest lectures at Columbia University's Institute for Not-for-Profit Management.

THE PUBLIC is theater of, by, and for the people. Artist-driven, radically inclusive, and fundamentally democratic, The Public continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, The Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Studio, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and John Leguizamo's Latin History for Morons. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 169 Obie Awards, 53 Drama Desk Awards, 54 Lortel Awards, 32 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Desk Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. Go to publictheater.org for more.