Chad Whittington
Violet. Trying to make time for them is what I do. Another thing I like to do — but I just haven’t had a lot of time recently — I have my private pilot’s license. Going up and flying, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a different perspective on the world, flying 7,000 feet, 100 mph, versus a jet, where everything looks tiny — I really enjoy that.
Q: Why is Columbus a good community for an organization like CAPA to serve?
A: There is a lot of diversity in Columbus, whether you talk about personal situations or cultures or however you want to define diversity. So, for an arts organization like ours, that’s a great thing. That means we can program a lot of different things, and there’s a group of people in city who is going to have an interest in them. It’s one of our challenges at the same time. One of my goals is making sure that everybody in the city feels welcome in our buildings, that we have something for everybody.
Q: How do you plan to continue helping people in the community experience the arts and feel welcome in CAPA’s theaters?
A: Tied into that is accessibility to everybody. That goes beyond just what we do in our theaters. If we want everybody to feel welcome here, we have to get out in the communities where they are and give them some exposure to the arts, so how do we do that? How do we get out into the community centers or other spaces and reach people that might not feel comfortable coming Downtown right now? So that’s something we’re figuring out. I think you will see us out in the community more doing things outside of our theaters. These will always be home, but you’re going to see us expand our footprint out into the greater community as well. Title: President and CEO, Columbus Association for the Performing Arts Address: 55 E. State St. Education: Ohio State University, Bachelor of Science in finance
Business: CAPA is a presenter of national and international performing arts and entertainment. It also is the owner/operator of three historic Downtown Columbus theaters (Ohio Theatre, Palace Theatre and Southern Theatre) and the manager of the Riffe Center Theatre Complex, Lincoln Theatre, Drexel Theatre in Bexley, Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts in New Albany and the Shubert Theatre in New Haven, Conn.
Founded: 1969
Employees: About 100 full time and, on average, about 175 part time each year 2017 budget: $21.2 million