Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Names Mariko Silver as President and CEO

In Wednesday’s (8/7) New York Times, Javier C. Hernández writes, “Mariko Silver, a prominent leader in education, government and the nonprofit sphere, will serve as the next president and chief executive of Lincoln Center, the organization announced on Wednesday. Silver, who previously led Bennington College in Vermont and leads the Henry Luce Foundation in New York, will succeed Henry Timms, who left last month after five years in the job. She will take the reins of Lincoln Center as it works to broaden its audience, navigate an uncertain economy and push through an ambitious plan to tear down the barriers between the center and the surrounding neighborhood. She will also help shape its programming; the center has recently shifted away from classical music in favor of genres like pop, hip-hop, social dance and comedy…. Silver, 46, whose father is Jewish and mother is Japanese American, will be the first woman of color to serve as president and chief executive…. Silver grew up a few blocks from the center and studied dance and theater as a child.” Lincoln Center’s independent constituent organizations include the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, and New York City Ballet. “The center also presents its own work…. Silver said programming choices should not be framed as classical versus other genres.”