Two special luncheons each season offer an informal setting for guests from various fields of theatre to interact with League members.
Recent luncheons have featured conversations with:
VIRGINIA P. LOULOUDES (Ginny) has served as A.R.T./New York's Executive Director since 1991. Since her arrival at A.R.T./New York, the organization's budget has nearly tripled and its membership has grown from 150 to 400 theatres, and related organizations. Virginia conceived and developed many of A.R.T./New York's signature programs, including the Nancy Quinn Fund, the Bridge Loan Fund, and the Theatre Leadership Institute.
As one of the chief advocates of New York City's not-for-profit theatre community, Virginia and the A.R.T./New York Staff collect and analyze financial data on its member theatres income, expenditures, and audience. Her research on the impact of 9/11 on the not-for-profit theatre industry, and her subsequent report: New York City's Not-for-profit Theatres in a Post 9/11 Economy: Challenges and Opportunities was the first report on the impact the tragic events of September 11th had on the not-for-profit theatre community, and the future needs of the field.
Inspired by Harvey Lichtenstein's efforts to create the BAM Cultural District, and in an effort to find affordable office and rehearsal space for small theatres, she developed South Oxford Space. This 19,000 square foot building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (which A.R.T./New York purchased from the Visiting Nurses Association of Brooklyn for $1.25 million in January 2000) is now home to 21 theatre companies.
The success of South Oxford Space led A.R.T./New York to launch a second shared office project, this time in Manhattan's Garment District. In March 2002 A.R.T./New York signed a 20-year lease for 32,000 square feet of office space at 520 Eighth Avenue, and with $2.7 million in funding from the Bloomberg Administration, the City Council and the Manhattan Borough President, renovated the floor into the Spaces at 520: office, rehearsal and meeting space for 24 not-for-profit theatres and other arts organizations. The first tenant moved in to the Spaces at 520 on August 1, 2002, and the building had its official ribbon cutting (with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller) on January 10th, 2003.
Virginia currently serves on the; the Executive Committee of the New York City Arts Coalition; the Board of the John Golden Foundation; the Board of Advisors to the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; and has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and as an Arts International marketing consultant to performing arts organizations in Prague. She has taught arts marketing in the Masters of Arts Management Programs at New York University and Marymount Manhattan College, and has served as a guest speaker at the Yale School of Drama.
Virginia has a BA in Humanities from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in Performing Arts Management from American University. She currently resides in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with her husband John, a real estate broker, and their ten year old son Zachary.
- Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director, League of American Theatres and Producers, (September 2006)
- Kate Levin, Commissioner, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (February 2006);
- Rachel Sheinkin (October 2005), book writer for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee";
- Anne Cattaneo, dramaturg at Lincoln Center Theatre (October 2004); Jeanine Tesori, composer of Tony Kushner's "Caroline…or Change" (April 2004);
- Marian Seldes and Lynn Redgrave on their approaches to theatre and their extraordinary careers in the American and British theatre.
The last Leadership Luncheon was held on February 22nd at noon at Sardi’s Restaurant featuring Virginia Louloudes, Executive Director of Alliance of Resident Theatres - New York.
VIRGINIA P. LOULOUDES (Ginny) has served as A.R.T./New York's Executive Director since 1991. Since her arrival at A.R.T./New York, the organization's budget has nearly tripled and its membership has grown from 150 to 400 theatres, and related organizations. Virginia conceived and developed many of A.R.T./New York's signature programs, including the Nancy Quinn Fund, the Bridge Loan Fund, and the Theatre Leadership Institute.
As one of the chief advocates of New York City's not-for-profit theatre community, Virginia and the A.R.T./New York Staff collect and analyze financial data on its member theatres income, expenditures, and audience. Her research on the impact of 9/11 on the not-for-profit theatre industry, and her subsequent report: New York City's Not-for-profit Theatres in a Post 9/11 Economy: Challenges and Opportunities was the first report on the impact the tragic events of September 11th had on the not-for-profit theatre community, and the future needs of the field.
Inspired by Harvey Lichtenstein's efforts to create the BAM Cultural District, and in an effort to find affordable office and rehearsal space for small theatres, she developed South Oxford Space. This 19,000 square foot building in Fort Greene, Brooklyn (which A.R.T./New York purchased from the Visiting Nurses Association of Brooklyn for $1.25 million in January 2000) is now home to 21 theatre companies.
The success of South Oxford Space led A.R.T./New York to launch a second shared office project, this time in Manhattan's Garment District. In March 2002 A.R.T./New York signed a 20-year lease for 32,000 square feet of office space at 520 Eighth Avenue, and with $2.7 million in funding from the Bloomberg Administration, the City Council and the Manhattan Borough President, renovated the floor into the Spaces at 520: office, rehearsal and meeting space for 24 not-for-profit theatres and other arts organizations. The first tenant moved in to the Spaces at 520 on August 1, 2002, and the building had its official ribbon cutting (with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Gifford Miller) on January 10th, 2003.
Virginia currently serves on the; the Executive Committee of the New York City Arts Coalition; the Board of the John Golden Foundation; the Board of Advisors to the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center; and has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and as an Arts International marketing consultant to performing arts organizations in Prague. She has taught arts marketing in the Masters of Arts Management Programs at New York University and Marymount Manhattan College, and has served as a guest speaker at the Yale School of Drama.
Virginia has a BA in Humanities from Johns Hopkins University and an MA in Performing Arts Management from American University. She currently resides in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn with her husband John, a real estate broker, and their ten year old son Zachary.