Winnipeg, Manitoba – On behalf of the Manitoba Arts Council, Council Chair Roberta Christianson is pleased to announce that Randy Joynt has been hired as Executive Director.
“Randy has contributed immensely to Manitoba’s arts and culture sector throughout his career and we are thrilled to welcome him back to the province, now in the role as Executive Director of the Manitoba Arts Council,” said Roberta Christianson, Council Chair. “He is a strong and dynamic advocate who will lead us in achieving our goals for the future.”
Randy began his career as a contemporary dancer, performing with Contemporary Dancers in Winnipeg, Le Groupe de la Place Royale in Ottawa, and O Vertigo Danse in Montreal. He then co-founded TRIP dance company with his partner Karen Kuzak in Winnipeg and began his transition to arts administration.
For eight years, Randy was the Executive Director of Winnipeg’s Artspace. At Artspace, Randy developed Artspace Arts Management to provide bookkeeping services for arts organizations, and with partners, launched ArtSupport Manitoba, a program that worked with arts organizations and the community to increase cultural engagement. During Randy’s tenure, Artspace expanded its reach from serving fourteen organizations in 2008 to over fifty in 2016.
For the past three years, Randy has been the Manager of External Affairs for the Royal and McPherson Theatres Society, which runs the two historic theatres in Victoria BC. There he has been intimately involved in government relations, communications and sponsorship work, and spearheaded the organization’s first presentation series. With colleagues from ProArt, the region’s arts advocacy association, he developed the first Regional Arts Award.
Randy is a passionate advocate for the role arts and culture plays in healthy societies. He is the founding Chair of Manitobans for the Arts, was Treasurer of the Winnipeg Arts Council and Vice-President of the Canadian Dance Assembly. With a keen interest in organizational structures and cultural policy, he has led strategic planning processes, governance reviews and operational capacity building initiatives for a number of arts organizations. In 2010, Randy was awarded the Victor Martin Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council for the Arts.
“I am thrilled to return to Manitoba to be part of the essential work of the Manitoba Arts Council,” said Randy Joynt, Executive Director, Manitoba Arts Council. “Having been away from the province for the past three years, I have missed the incredible breadth and quality of Manitoba’s arts, culture and creative milieu.
I know first-hand the enormous importance the Manitoba Arts Council has for the development, sustainability and dissemination of the arts in Manitoba. I am thankful for the opportunity to work with the Manitoba Arts Council’s great staff and board team, and its many partners, to support Manitoba’s rich artistic life.”
Randy Joynt succeeds Acting Executive Director, Debra Solmundson, whose contribution to the Manitoba Arts Council has been greatly appreciated. Randy will assume his new role as of Tuesday, August 6th, 2019.
About the Manitoba Arts Council
The Manitoba Arts Council is an arm’s-length agency of the Province of Manitoba, established in 1965 “to promote the study, enjoyment, production and performance of works in the arts.” The Council makes awards to professional arts organizations and individuals in all art forms including theatre, literature, music, dance, painting, sculpture, architecture or the graphic arts, and includes other similar creative or interpretative activity, including arts education. The Council uses a peer assessment process in making awards. Historically, the main criterion used to assess application is artistic excellence.
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For further information or to arrange interviews, please contact
Elyse Saurette, Public Relations Agent
(204) 945-0646 or (204) 794-8966 (cell.)
esaurette@artscouncil.mb.ca
www.artscouncil.mb.ca
