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Posted on Mon, Feb 28, 2011 : 2:39 p.m.

Arts Alliance names Susan Froelich president

By AnnArbor.com Staff

FROELICH.jpg

Susan Froelich has been named president of the Arts Alliance, Washtenaw County's umbrella arts-support organization.

Froelich had been filling the job on an interim basis since January while the group's board sought a permanent replacement. That appointment was announced this afternoon.

Froelich is a past director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair and also former Exhibit Gallery director at the Ann Arbor Art Center. The Arts Alliance needed a new leader following the resignation of Tamara Real last fall.

The Arts Alliance is involved in a host of cultural activities in Washtenaw County, including running the countwide arts web portal, www.a3arts.org; coordinating cultural master-planning efforts; directly sponsoring events like ArtWalk; offering conferences and support for arts organizations; and more.

The full text of the announcement:

The Board of Directors of the Arts Alliance is very pleased to announce the appointment of Susan Froelich as the President of the organization. Ms. Froelich has served as Interim President since early January. For the past thirteen years, Froelich worked at the University of Michigan, first in Government Relations, and then in major gift development for the last ten years. She comes to the Arts Alliance with twenty years of experience in non-profit arts administration, including nearly eleven years as Director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, and six years as the Exhibit Gallery Director at the Ann Arbor Art Center. Susan Froelich comments, "The Arts Alliance has a great core of staff, volunteers and supporters, and I look forward to working with them to strengthen and expand the network of arts and culture in Washtenaw County. Arts and culture bring creativity to our lives, and creativity strengthens our community, particularly through economic value and improved quality of life." Arts Alliance Board Chair Lynne Friman adds, "While we had intended to do a search for this position, Susan's outstanding combination of management skills, relationship building savvy, and existing connections to the local arts and culture community make it clear that she is the best fit for our organization. Her understanding of the challenges that arts organizations face in these present times makes the Board of Directors feel confident in their choice." Friman continued, "I am excited that Susan Froelich has accepted our offer to be President of the Arts Alliance. To say that she has hit the ground running is an understatement. She is already playing a leadership role in our two major programs for the fall: our annual Convergence Conference, set for September 20th at EMU, and ArtWalk, scheduled for October 21-23."

In addition, Froelich is working with the staff and Board on other ongoing programs, including Art Meets Business, which provides business coaching to artistic entrepreneurs, and www.a3arts.org, the online arts and culture web portal. With over 500 arts and cultural organizations, venues, and artists already represented, Froelich and staff intend it to be the most relevant web portal for arts and cultural activities in Washtenaw County. The Arts Alliance will soon announce opportunities for advertising on the site. Froelich recently trained with national volunteer expert Jill Friedman Fixler through the Cultural Alliance of Southeastern Michigan, and plans on actively engaging more volunteers for the Arts Alliance to further growth of the organization. She is also an active participant in the Capacity Building program of the De Vos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center.

Comments

lf

Tue, Mar 1, 2011 : 1:07 p.m.

Looking forward to continuing to work with Susan!