“The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts has hired a dynamic trailblazer as its next president and CEO. Detroit arts executive Christopher Harrington will become the 12th leader of St. Paul’s flagship performing arts venue when he takes the helm on Nov. 1,” writes Rohan Preston in Wednesday’s (9/8) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “Harrington, 36, will be the Ordway’s first Black president and CEO … He succeeds Jamie Grant, who left this summer after 4½ years to lead the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert, Calif.… Harrington, who earned his MBA at Wayne State University, has held a variety of leadership roles at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2012. His skill set includes marketing and programming, and he has worked closely with jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard on a series for the orchestra. Under his leadership, Harrington helped the orchestra to expand audiences, grow ticket revenue by 300% and advance goals in diversity, equity and inclusion. Notably, Harrington reimagined and rebranded the orchestra’s black-box theater, The Cube, [with] programming like salsa, jazz, poetry slams and yoga.… The Ordway … programs its own concerts and … is the principal venue for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Schubert Club and the Minnesota Opera.”
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