Associate artistic director to leave Globe
Freedome Bradley-Ballentine, who has served on the artistic leadership team at the Old Globe since 2015, has been hired to serve as director of artistic programs and associate artistic director at the prestigious Public Theater in New York.
His last day at the Globe is Aug. 6. Bradley-Ballentine worked at the Public for many years before moving to San Diego in 2015 to serve as the Globe’s director of arts engagement. In July 2020, he was given the additional title of associate artistic director. He said returning to his first artistic home is “a dream.”
“Professionally, I wouldn’t exist without The Public,” Bradley-Ballentine said in a statement. “I started working at the New York Shakespeare Festival as a greeter while in college around the corner, now coming full circle. I’m an acolyte in the belief that theater can be impactful to an individual and transformative to our society. The Public has been there for me during every phase of my adult life. I’ve witnessed how it’s been integral to the people of New York. It’s an institution that is vital to this city and the world . ... I’m the most fortunate person walking the streets today.”
Barry Edelstein, who recruited Bradley-Ballentine from the Public, where they worked together for several years, said he can’t overstate the influence Bradley-Ballentine has had on the Globe, the community and the theater’s ambitious social justice programs over the past seven years.
“Today the Globe is the national leader in bringing participatory theater programming to community, and tens of thousands of people around San Diego County are genuinely part of our institution who were not so before. And our breathtaking range of arts engagement work is only part of what Freedome has transformed here,” Edelstein said.
Oskar Eustis, longtime artistic director of the Public, said he expects Bradley-Ballentine will have a “huge positive impact” on the Public.
“He is a wonderful and magnetic leader, with superb taste, deep values, and terrific management skills,” Eustis said.
Edelstein said the Globe will conduct a national search for a new director of arts engagement. In the meantime, an interim director will be appointed.