The Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee has named Kevin Giglinto as its next president and chief executive officer.
Giglinto will take the helm at MPAC effective July 25. He has more than 25 years of experience leading arts organizations in Washington D.C. and Chicago. He most recently served as senior vice president of marketing and chief strategy officer of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
Giglinto succeeds Kendra Whitlock Ingram, who led MPAC from late 2019 until January this year when she departed to take the top leadership role at The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
An alum of Marquette University, Giglinto sees his recent appointment as somewhat of a homecoming.
“I’m very, very connected to the city and it means a lot to come be a part of the cultural landscape at the Marcus Performing Arts Center. It’s an incredibly exciting time for the center,” he told BizTimes Milwaukee, pointing to recent improvements to MPAC’s campus, in an effort to establish it as a “cultural gathering space” for the Milwaukee community.
Giglinto, a longtime resident of Chicago, also highlighted MPAC’s ongoing REDI (racial equity, diversity and inclusion) initiative to increase racial representation across the artists who perform, individuals who lead and staff who work at MPAC in order to better connect to the broader community. In 2021, MPAC named former Green Bay Packer Donald Driver as its first ambassador to help make the performing arts more accessible to underserved youth, families and communities of color.
“When your stages are home to diverse artists, your audience will always feel a connection and feel like the doors are open to them,” said Giglinto. “That’s been a commitment from MPAC for quite some time and I look forward to growing on that because I think that’s really at the heart of what our role is.”
During his six years at The Kennedy Center, Giglinto played a significant role in the opening of The REACH, the center’s first physical expansion since 1971. He helped build support and engagement in the project’s $250 million fundraising campaign and helped put on its 16-day opening festival, which attracted more than 100,000 attendees.
Prior to The Kennedy Center, Giglinto held leadership roles with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, including vice president for strategy and special initiatives. Under his leadership, the organization reversed a decade of subscription decline, generating three years of growth and raising renewal rates to more than 90%, according to a news release Tuesday.
Giglinto also served as senior vice president for client development and marketing for the Tessitura Network, a nonprofit that provides audience development technology and solutions to arts and cultural organizations.
“Our search committee saw many talented leaders both locally and from across the country, but Kevin stood out as the best fit for the future of the Marcus Performing Arts Center based on his commitment to audience development and experience growing meaningful patron relationships,” said Ray Wilson, MPAC board chair. “Kevin has been on the front end of innovation in the arts, and we’re excited for him to leverage his experience to continue raising the profile of MPAC and attracting high-quality arts and cultural programming to the city, state and region.”
Giglinto was selected from what was an initial pool of 60 applicants from across the country. MPAC worked with Boston-based Arts Consulting Group to conduct the search, narrowing the field to seven and then to four candidates.
Giglinto had been vying for the position since he had seen the announcement of Whitlock Ingram’s impending departure.
“I knew I really wanted it and I had a feeling that the Arts Consulting Group was going to be doing the search, so I reached out to them and said, ‘If this ends up coming your way, just know that I am interested,'” he said. “I’ve been interested before they even knew I was interested.”
“Kevin joins a strong, established leadership team to continue building on MPAC’s vision within the community,” said Wilson. “He is a passionate, strategic leader whose experience connecting diverse audiences and building an organization’s brand prominence is an ideal fit for advancing the MPAC mission and strategic goals.”
