SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Arts has announced that its Executive Director, Dr. Joel Reed, will retire at the end of March 2020.
Reed was appointed to his current position at Saratoga Arts – then known as the Saratoga County Arts Council – when its founder Dee Sarno retired in January 2007. Reed began working for the organization in June 2003 as its Associate Director after moving to the Saratoga Springs area from Syracuse. Saratoga Arts has seen significant organizational growth and presented a series of new programs since Reed joined the organization, while developing its traditional strengths in community arts education and exhibiting the work of regional visual artists.
During Reed’s tenure, Saratoga Arts took on new projects including: its adoption in 2009 of First Night Saratoga from the YMCA of Saratoga Springs; the commissioning and installation in Saratoga Springs’ High Rock Park of Tempered By Memory, the large-scale sculpture created from World Trade Center Towers steel; the expansion of the regrant program it offers in partnership with the New York State Council on the Arts, from $51,230 for projects in Saratoga County to $123,010 which will be awarded this year for arts programs in Saratoga, Fulton, and Montgomery Counties; the continued growth of its education program, which offers classes, workshops, and school break program for over 1200 artists of all ages annually; and the development of programs with regional health centers to facilitate the acquisition of significant art collections by local and regional artists.
Saratoga Arts’ Board of Directors is engaged in a search for its next Executive Director; more information about the position and how to apply can be found at www.saratoga-arts.org/join-our-team.
