Spruce Peak Arts Reveals New Executive Director, Seth Soloway

Spruce Peak Arts (SPA)has announced the appointment of new Executive Director Seth Soloway to lead Stowe, VT’s premier nonprofit performing arts center.

Seth’s selection was the culmination of a competitive nationwide search for an Executive Director led by Arts Consulting Group (ACG), who was hired by the SPA’s Board to recruit a new Executive Director. SPA is deeply grateful for the contribution of Interim Director, Elliot Fox, who was engaged by ACG to lead the organization during the search process and aid in the transition.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to be entrusted with the role of Executive Director of Spruce Peak Arts. As arts organizations continue to emerge from the COVID-19 crisis and reset the field, thriving community-based arts centers such as SPA are more critical than ever in providing artists and audiences with synergistic space to create and grow. SPA is uniquely situated to lead the charge because of the unwavering support of our vibrant Stowe community. Together we can unite the patchwork of our diverse community and truly turn SPA into Stowe’s arts home, its community living room. We can provide a critical window into the world, and in doing so be a model for our peers nationally. Your passion for the arts is imbued in the warmth and enthusiasm I feel everywhere I have gone in and around the heart of Stowe, Vermont. I look forward to joining your beautiful community, sharing my vision, and together with the staff and board providing access to the finest art and artists in the world. My deep and sincere thanks to the SPA Board, Staff, and Arts Consulting Group. I will work tirelessly every day to substantiate your trust and confidence.”- Seth Soloway.  

From SPA Board President Dianne Matukaitis Brown:

“Seth Soloway’s selection represents an exciting investment in the future of Spruce Peak Arts. It is the culmination of a thorough and highly competitive search process involving multiple stakeholders from the organization and the Stowe community. Seth’s industry expertise, deep knowledge, and successful stewardship of numerous arts organizations made him the top choice for the role. On behalf of the Board, I am thrilled to welcome Seth and his family and to begin a new chapter for the organization under his leadership. I would like to thank the SPA Staff and Board, Arts Consulting Group, and members of the Search Committee. I hope that everyone in the community will get a chance to attend a performance and meet Seth in the coming months, as we work towards building a nationally recognized performing arts center here in Stowe, VT.”

Seth moved to Vermont from Nashville, TN, where he spent the last three years as Associate Dean for Presenting and External Relations at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music. During which time, he established a Performing Arts Center team and systems, restructured and renovated marketing/ branding, and oversaw $3.5 million of venue renovations.  Prior to his time in Nashville, Seth served as the Director of the Performing Arts Center at Purchase College in Westchester, N.Y.  Some of his many proud moments leading the organization include the successful execution of the PACs 40th anniversary, overseeing the naming and subsequent renovation of the Pepsico Theater, and being named Westchester County's top Cultural Organization in 2018. 

Seth has served as the Artistic Director for Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, Associate to prolific Broadway Producer Marc Routh (Marc Routh Productions), and Director of Booking for Off-Broadway Booking. After graduate school Seth carried his passion to Newburgh, NY where he and his wife resurrected the old West Shore Train Station and redesigned it into what became the Railroad Playhouse.  Seth went on to serve as RRP's Artistic Director and the organization produced several successful new plays, educational programs, and was featured in the NY Times.

A born and raised New Yorker, he attended LaGuardia High School of Music, Art and Performing Arts where he studied theater arts as an acting major. Upon graduation, Seth moved on to Marymount Manhattan College where he graduated with a BFA in Theatre Arts with a concentration in stage directing. In the Fall of 2004, Seth enrolled in the MFA Performing Arts Management program at Brooklyn College and completed his MFA in the spring of 2006.

SPA has a diverse range of programs on its calendar this fall, such as Jake Shimabukuro, Shemekia Copeland, and Judy Collins. Visit www.sprucepeakarts.org for the most up to date programming, join the mailing list, or to make a donation to support our work.