Montgomery County Community College’s Senior Director of Cultural Affairs Brent Woods of Springfield Township was selected to participate in the 2018 National Dance Presenters’ Forum, a three-day dance leadership development intensive held at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, MA, - home to America’s longest-running international dance festival.
The 2018 Forum committee selected only 17 emerging dance presenters from a pool of more than 71 applicants from 25 states and the District of Columbia. The Forum provided a learning environment for participants to discuss critical issues, strengthen curatorial practice, grow professional networks, and bolster support for the field of dance. They also attended the 86th Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.
“It was an honor to be selected to attend this highly regarded Forum at Jacob’s Pillow, as well as the international dance festival,” said Brent Woods, who has managed MCCC’s Lively Arts Series since 2014. “It was a unique opportunity to be a part of this very important conversation on developing strategies to build and curate a strong dance presenting program, as well as, expanding our professional dance networks to increase access to dance forms form around the world.”
Woods currently is MCCC’s Senior Director of Cultural Affairs at Montgomery County Community College. In this role, he oversees the Cultural Affairs Department, which includes the Lively Arts Series and the Fine Arts Galleries. He has spent 36 years as a theater manager, tour manager, production manager, lighting designer, company manager and stage manager. During 11 of those years at MCCC as interim director, theater manager and assistant director. He earned his Master’s degree in Arts Administration from Drexel University (2013) and his bachelor’s degree from Temple University in Theatre/Communications with a minor in Art History in 1991.
For more than 30 years, MCCC’s Lively Arts Series has included acclaimed dancers, such as Axis Dance Company, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Paul Taylor 2, Philadanco, Ballet X, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, Koresh Dance, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, Kun-Yang Lin Dancers, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Urban Bush Women and many more.
The 2018-2019 season will feature Dr. Sunanda Nair, the Philadelphia Dance Theatre and Ensemble Espanol Spanish Dance Theater.
“We were delighted to host this impressive group of emerging curators and presenters from across the country to the Pillow for an immersive three days that we hope inspired them to increase dance presenting. They had the opportunity to experience the Festival; learn from leaders in our field and each other; and take back to their home communities new perspectives on dance presenting,” says Director Pamela Tatge.
The National Dance Presenter’s Forum at Jacob’s Pillow is held in partnership with the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) and The New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA), with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support is provided by The Barr Foundation, Dance/USA, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and South Arts, with curriculum support provided by the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance at Wesleyan University.