BILL T. JONES/ARNIE ZANE DANCE COMPANY
ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP
JEAN DAVIDSON NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

      New York, June 17 – Jean Davidson has been appointed executive director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The announcement was made today by the Company’s artistic director Bill T. Jones and its board chairman Eleanor Friedman. Ms. Davidson succeeds Julia Blackburn, who had served in this position since 2000.
Ms. Davidson brings to the Company over a decade of leadership experience in top-tier performing arts and educational institutions. Most recently, she served as the first managing director of the Silk Road Project, a not-for-profit music and cultural organization founded in 1998 by cellist and artistic director Yo-Yo Ma.
      While at the Silk Road Project, she established an organizational structure, led communications and marketing strategy efforts, served as external relations officer and oversaw fundraising efforts and the annual operating budget that ranged from $1.5 million to $6 million depending on the season’s activities.
      Additionally, she managed a full-time staff of nine people and a touring production staff, forged partnerships with institutions including Carnegie Hall, NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), the British Library, Sony Classical and the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, and led the organization’s federal and corporate relations efforts.
      Before her tenure at the Silk Road Project, Ms. Davidson held positions at the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco, CA; the Theater and Dance Program at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH; the American Dance Festival (ADF) in Durham, NC; and the Cleveland Play House in Cleveland, OH. Previously, she was production manager and lighting designer of national and international modern dance and classical music tours. Highlights include live concert tours of Yo-Yo Ma’s Grammy Award-winning Sony Classical releases of Soul of the Tango and Appalachian Journey.
      As executive director of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Ms. Blackburn oversaw the successful expansion of the Company by developing and implementing long-range plans, restructuring and expanding administrative and production departments and increasing contributed revenue by 64%. Additionally, she managed a $1.3 million annual fundraising campaign and a $1 million touring program. She also headed the Company’s well-received 20th anniversary celebration. Ms. Blackburn is now planning to establish her own management business for non-profits, Blackburn Management Resources (BMR).

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