The Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC) has a new executive director after a short-lived tenure for its previous leader.

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Craig Sumberg was hired as executive director in September 2021 but left after just eight months. Victoria Durbin Drake, administrator of Union County’s Office of Open Space, Recreation & Historic Preservation Trust Fund, served as interim executive director until Deanna Hunt started as executive director on Oct. 17, according to UCPAC Marketing Manager Lynn Patmalnee.

Hunt is co-founder and CEO of Jersey City-based This Is It! Productions, which has a longtime relationship with Union County for events management. In March, the county awarded This Is It! contracts of $148,950 for planning, production, promotion and management of the Rhythm and Blues by the Brook Concert held in June in Plainfield, and $121,050 for the 2022 Summer Arts Festival Concert Series.

The arts center has been the centerpiece of downtown redevelopment efforts for years and specifically the Arts District Redevelopment Plan for the north end of downtown. Opened in 1928, the 1,334-seat arts center was acquired by Union County in 2006 for $1.3 million and leased it back to UCPAC. The facility underwent a $6-million expansion and renovation in 2008. It’s typically been about a million-dollar-a-year operation, at least before the pandemic.

Sumberg briefly served as executive director of the 15-year-old South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) previously led the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation in downtown Tucson, Arizona.

Sumberg’s predecessor, Brian Remo, served as executive director for about six years, including as interim following the departure of Lawrence McCullough.

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