Ashby steps down at the Williams Center
Hollis Ashby, artistic and executive director of the
Williams Center for the Arts in Easton, announced that she will step down from leadership of the presenting series based at Lafayette College in May.
Since her arrival in 2014, Ashby has directed all aspects of the multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural performing arts program, annually presenting an international roster of acclaimed performers in chamber music, jazz, dance, theater, literature, world stage, and family programming, as well as the National Theatre Live broadcast series and Great Art on Screen documentaries.
In her nine seasons at the Williams Center, Ashby has presented artists from 42 countries including Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Venezuela, Bali, Norway, and Wales. Distinguished performers who have made their Williams Center and Lehigh Valley debuts since 2014 include tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Paul Lewis; countertenor Philippe Jaroussky; actors Julian Sands, Paterson Joseph, and René Auberjonois; jazz artists Hiromi, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Charles Lloyd, and Pat Metheny; prima ballerina Wendy Whelan; Mark Morris Dance Group; early music specialist Jordi Savall;
Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq; pianist Simone Dinnerstein; and Raphaëlle Boitel’s Cie l’Oublié(e), among many others.
During her tenure, Ashby has led important cultural initiatives at Lafayette College including Tapestries, an 18-month program designed to amplify Muslim artistic expressions throughout the world and at home in the United States, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic
Art. In response to the closing of performance venues during the
2020⁄21 season due to the COVID19 pandemic, she commissioned new work, devised and implemented virtual artist residencies, designed a virtual season, and produced 20 new artistic and educational events for an on-line audience.
A frequent adjudicator for the National Endowment for the
Arts, her career has included arts advocacy at the regional, state, and national levels. In recognition of her leadership, in 2021 Ashby received the North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents Award for Excellence in Presenting the Performing Arts, or “Presenter of the Year,” a professional citation of excellence that acknowledges superior achievement, integrity, and mentorship, as well as the cultivation and promotion of diversity, inclusion, and equity for underserved members of the field.