The Princeton Festival has appointed Becky Brett, an award-winning leader of festivals in the performing arts and humanities, as its interim executive director.
Brett will oversee the festival’s 2021 season, help strengthen its professional staff, and take a role in fundraising, among other duties.
“We feel very fortunate to have found an interim executive director of Becky’s talent and experience to move us through a phase of leadership transition,” Benedikt von Schröder, chair of the Princeton Festival Board of Trustees, said in a prepared statement. “She brings the ideal combination of creative thinking, management knowhow, and interpersonal skills to the position.”
“I can’t wait to work with the talented artistic and production staff at the Princeton Festival,” Brett said in the statement. “I’m excited to join an organization that is interested in preserving musical traditions while innovating performing arts and outreach programs at the highest level.”
A graduate of Northwestern University, Brett spent her early career in Chicago with Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Chicago Humanities Festival, and the Chicago Improv Festival (among other organizations). She also co-founded and produced Atlanta’s Spontaneous Combustion Festival.
Brett became executive director of the Virginia Highlands Festival in 2012. She has created new events for the 70-year-old arts and culture organization, increased sponsorship dollars by 30%, and forged strong alliances with local government and institutional partners, according to the statement. Since 2016 she has also been advising, consulting, and coaching non-profit leaders, helping them increase revenue, improve communications, and build strategic partnerships. In 2019 she was invited to present a TEDx talk on “The Art of Connection.”