After 14 years as Director of Marketing and Publicity with Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival, and more than 20 years working in marketing and communications in the Arts community, Diana King has announced her retirement. Building on a corporate career in fashion, textiles and business administration, Diana launched her involvement with the Arts in 1989 after a hiatus to raise her children to school age. She has enjoyed a diverse and rewarding two decades working with such industry leaders as Women in View Festival, Vancouver Writers Festival, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company, Vancouver Civic Theatres, and of course Bard on the Beach which she joined in 1996. During her tenure, Vancouver’s celebrated Shakespeare Festival has grown from one performance tent to two, from 2 productions annually to 4, and has seen attendance increase from 40,000 in 1997 to more than 91,000 in the peak year 2009. Diana will step down as Director of Marketing on October 31, but will assist as needed with the upcoming capital campaign as Bard sets out to raise $2.5 million for new theatre tents and a re-visioning of their Festival site.
“Being part of the team that has seen Bard grow to its current level of artistic production and audience support has been a career path that most marketers can only dream of,” says Diana. “I have been so blessed to have worked in an industry that I love, communicating the brilliance of the artistry that goes into creating a theatre production. Thank you to all the artists and administrators who have been part of this amazing two decades of my life.”
Replacing Diana in the role of Director of Marketing for Bard on the Beach will be seasoned marketing and communications manager Heather Kennedy. Heather brings to the job over 20 years experience in developing and implementing marketing and communications strategies and managing projects and teams in a variety of demanding and creative environments. For the past 5 years, she has been a lead player in the MusicFest Vancouver management team as their Communications and Marketing Manager, as well as serving other Arts organizations through her consulting company Kennedy Communications. Prior to that, Heather worked with CBC Radio as executive producer for such programs as The Roundup, Richardson’s Roundup, and Gabereau. After 2005 she continued to work with CBC as a Learning and Development Department Instructor.
Heather will join the Bard on the Beach team on November 1, 2010. Diana will facilitate Heather’s transition through November 12th.
