David Sefton resigns as head of UCLA Live performance series
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
David Sefton has resigned after nearly 10 years as executive and artistic director of UCLA Live, the diverse, university-based performing arts series that spends about $9 million annually bringing leading dance, classical music, jazz, world music, pop figures and touring theater companies to the campus.
Christopher Waterman, dean of the School of Arts and Architecture -- Sefton’s boss -- issued a written statement Thursday that said the resignation is effective immediately. He thanked Sefton for “building a performing arts program that has had a major impact…on the cultural life of Los Angeles.”
Sefton said Thursday that financial pressures have prompted higher-ups at UCLA to restructure the series. Finding the new approach unacceptable, he resigned Monday after completing booking for the upcoming 2010-11 season that the university says it will announce next month.
Waterman was not immediately available for comment.[*Updated Thursday, 6:17 p.m.: When reached, Waterman said that while ‘unexpected, challenging, stimulating performances’ must remain UCLA Live’s hallmark, changes are needed to ensure the solvency of a series whose ticket sales have plummeted in the two seasons since the recession hit.
He said annual attendance has dropped from more than 100,000 to 58,000 in the just-concluded 2009-10 season.]
Click here to read more on the story.
-- Mike Boehm
Related:
