Craig Sumberg started in September as the new executive director of the Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) — the same week that Hurricane Ida came through town and left Hamilton Stage under water.
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In this episode of the podcast, I sit down for a conversation with Sumberg in his office about his first few months on the job. Among our topics:
- The outlook for Hamilton Stage and the financial impact of it closing [3:01];
- Early fundraising efforts and his plans for the center [4:22], how that will drive better programming [9:25], and what donors can do [25:02];
- Where he sees UCPAC fit among the many performing arts venues in the area [6:42];
- The biggest challenges for UCPAC going forward [20:47]; and,
- Is there such a thing as “Central Jersey” [25:25]?
“We’re going to have to find our niche. That’s going to take some poking around,” Sumberg said, including recently hiring a talent buyer [7:27], Stamford, Conn.-based Music Without Borders. “There’s room in New Jersey, though a very competitive market, for UCPAC to do more significant programming. And I very much believe that that fundraising dollars and memberships dollars will go hand in hand with better programming.”
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Sumberg briefly served as executive director of the 15-year-old South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) last year before the pandemic forced layoffs at the facility. Previously, he led the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation in downtown Tucson, Ariz., where he was credited with growing the budget from $600,000 to almost $5 million.
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