MILWAUKEE — Kevin Giglinto will lead the Marcus Performing Arts Center as the organization’s next president and Chief Executive Officer.
The 57-year-old has personal and professional ties to Milwaukee. He graduated from Marquette University and currently lives in Chicago.
Giglinto told Wisconsin’s Morning News what drew him back to Milwaukee: “I think it’s a rich and robust artistic community. The quality of the theaters, the quality of the presenting companies and the art institutions are just really outstanding.”
Giglinto has more than 25 years of leadership experience with prominent performing arts organizations. He most recently served as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Chief Strategy Officer for Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. His work there included opening the Kennedy Center’s first expansion, The REACH, which included a $250 million campaign and 16-day opening festival.
Before the Kennedy Center, Giglinto held various leadership roles with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. There he played a role in reversing a decade of subscription decline.
“What I’ve been doing for 25 years is really building diverse audiences for a wide array of different performance experiences, and then establishing long-term relationships with those audiences,” said Giglinto.
Giglinto’s work with the MPAC will include staging both progressive and traditional shows, which involves the theater’s partnership with Broadway Across America.
“We grow a lot of our audience who also come through theater,” said Giglinto. “Either they’re coming through theater first and then attend other things, or they’re attending other things and want to go to musical theater and Broadway.”
The MPAC’s former president and CEO, Kendra Whitlock Ingram, left in January to become president and CEO of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She was MPAC’s first Black president and CEO.
