FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 12, 2023 || CONTACTS: Corinna Schulenburg | [email protected] | 212-609-5941

 

TCG Announces Updates on Leadership Transition

LaTeshia Ellerson and Karena Fiorenza Appointed as TCG Interim Leaders 

Current CEO Teresa Eyring to begin sabbatical January 1, 2024

New York, NY - Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has announced that LaTeshia Ellerson and Karena Fiorenza have been appointed as interim executive leaders as of January 1, 2024. Fiorenza will act as Interim Chief Executive Officer and Ellerson as Interim Chief Growth Officer. Current executive leader and CEO Teresa Eyring will begin a five-month sabbatical on January 1, returning for the 2024 TCG National Conference in Chicago in June 2024. TCG has retained a team from Creative Evolutions to manage the transition process to new leadership over the coming year.

“After seventeen years of leading TCG, Teresa has more than earned a sabbatical, and the board is in agreement with Teresa that it is time to prioritize it,” said Harold Steward, board chair, TCG. “Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck, that sabbatical has been continuously postponed to ensure TCG was positioned to respond to the crisis. As a board, it's important for us to honor that commitment and model care and rest for the staff. We’re so fortunate to have leaders like LaTeshia Ellerson and Karena Fiorenza stepping into this interim structure. Their professional expertise, wise people management skills, emotional intelligence, and love for our TCG community are just what we need for this moment of significant transition.”

Eyring’s five-month sabbatical will begin on January 1, 2024, at which time Ellerson and Fiorenza will assume their interim executive leadership roles through August 31, 2024. Eyring will be celebrated at the 2024 TCG Gala on March 11, 2024, as well as the TCG National Conference, with her contract term ending in June of 2024. As interim executive leaders, Fiorenza and Ellerson will share leadership of organizational strategy and work culture, while separately providing oversight of different TCG departments. As Chief Growth Officer, Ellerson will oversee institutional and individual giving, marketing, membership, and advocacy. Ellerson previously served as TCG’s

director of institutional philanthropy, serving in that position since September 2021. As Chief Executive Officer, Fiorenza will oversee programming, research, communications, publishing, and administration and operations. Fiorenza previously joined TCG in July 2023 as interim Chief Operating Officer. 

After consultation with the staff and board, Creative Evolutions has updated the timeline of the executive search, with the intent for the external process to launch at the end of March 2024. 

 

“Over the past few months that I’ve been working in an interim capacity with TCG, I’ve been so inspired by the thoughtfulness, passion and joyful rigor of staff and board members,” said Fiorenza. “I’m thrilled to continue working with the staff, board, and my close friend LaTeshia to lead TCG through this important moment of transition. Over the next eight months, we’ll be operationalizing strategic initiatives, strengthening workplace culture, and leveling up business practices to ensure we’re ready to welcome the next generation of TCG’s leadership.”

“I applaud the board for supporting Teresa as she takes this sabbatical. I am excited about the opportunity to be part of the team ensuring a successful executive leadership transition,” said Ellerson. “In this new role, I look forward to growing TCG’s resources and capacity to fulfill that mission, and to meet the many challenges and opportunities facing our theatre ecology. It’s especially energizing to do so in partnership with Karena, with whom I participated in TCG’s SPARK Leadership Program.”

“After 17 rewarding years at TCG, I’m grateful that the board has fully supported my sabbatical,” said Eyring. “It’s not easy to leave an organization you’ve poured your whole heart into, yet I do so knowing TCG is in good hands with Karena, LaTeshia, and our extraordinary staff. From the Great Recession to the COVID-19 pandemic, the past two decades have had their share of shocks and challenges. Yet we’ve always risen to meet them, and I’ll take the inspiration I’ve found in our staff and the theatre people we serve into whatever is next.”

LaTeshia Ellerson (she/her) has over 16 years of experience as a fundraising professional. Her expertise is in developing strategic fundraising plans and creating compelling narratives to increase contributed revenue at nonprofits. LaTeshia's love for the performing arts began as a young actress. This passion continues as she raises funds to promote the indispensable impact of arts organizations. LaTeshia began her career at Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company in 2007 as Development Associate/Annual Fund Manager, and in 2013, she was promoted to Director of Development. She successfully led the effort to more than double True Colors' annual fund, corporate contributions, and foundation support. In 2021, she joined Theatre Communications Group as their Director of Institutional Philanthropy. LaTeshia participated in the 2014-15 SPARK Leadership Program, funded by American Express, The Joyce Foundation, and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group. In 2015, she was selected as one of American Theatre magazine's "Top 20 Theatre Professionals to Watch." LaTeshia is a sought-after speaker and national thought leader in the areas of fundraising and theatre management. She has advised nonprofits in strategic visionary growth, creating mission and value statements, and leadership development. She is an active mentor to theatre administrators, a board member of the Suzi Bass Awards, and participates in the dance ministry at her local church in Atlanta, GA. LaTeshia holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Theatre School at DePaul University in Chicago and a Master of Science in Urban Policy Studies/Nonprofit Leadership from Georgia State University.

Karena Fiorenza (she/her/ella) is the CEO and Founder of Ánimo Consulting, a boutique management consulting firm that supports organizations with strategy, culture building, coaching, change management and fractional C-Suite executive services. Karena brings two decades of experience as an equity-driven executive leader with a demonstrated history of initiating positive organizational change while advancing art, mission, people, culture and revenue goals. Previous tenures include: Interim CEO for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; General Manager for UNIVERSES, Steppenwolf Theatre and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago; Associate Managing Director at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre; and Executive Director of contemporary dance company Robert Moses’ Kin. She holds two bachelor’s degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, an MFA in Theater Management from Yale University and was a 2021 Civic Leadership Academy Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Karena currently lives in sunny Los Angeles, CA with her husband, toddler, and fluffy dog and finds joy in also being a modern stained and fused glass artist.

Teresa Eyring (she/her/hers), executive director/CEO, joined TCG in 2007. Under her leadership, TCG has invested in building greater equity, diversity, and inclusion in the American theatre field and promotes a vision for “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre.” Prior to joining TCG, Eyring spent more than 20 years as an executive in theatres across the U.S. Prior positions have included: managing director of the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis; managing director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia; assistant executive director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; and development director of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. Eyring holds a BA in International Relations from Stanford University and an MFA in Theatre Administration from David Geffen School of Drama at Yale. She is on the executive council and Vice President for the Americas of the International Theatre Institute and is on the boards of the Performing Arts Alliance and the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. She is also an advisory board member of SMU DataArts and serves on the Entertainment Community Fund’s Human Services Committee.

Creative Evolutions is a human-centered, adaptive ecosystem focused on creating actionable solutions for creative individuals and organizations.  Founded by Calida Jones and Douglas Clayton in 2022, Creative Evolutions is built on a business model that uplifts and rewards the value created by people in the ecosystem, paired with individual autonomy and self-determination.   The teams at Creative Evolutions have already pioneered new structures for many cultural support processes, including strategic work, organizational culture rebuilds, and shifting approaches to board function and staffing expectations.  Creative Evolutions approach to executive search includes direct compensation to semifinalist and finalist candidates as well as those providing candidate referrals, engaging industry panelists who participate in candidate selection and who become mentors to new leadership, detailed transition planning that covers the entire first year, and inclusive structures that bring staff and board together in respectful and collaborative ways throughout the process.  Increasingly Creative Evolutions is engaging deeply with organizations to develop new structures for leadership and power management that create healthier and more dynamic relationships between the humans that organizations exist to serve.  Creative Evolutions received a first place award at the 2023 Yale Innovation Summit, and will be co-curating content and innovations for the Summit in 2024.  CreativeEvolutions.com

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Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. www.tcg.org.

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