Vancouver's Arts Club Theatre Co. is seeking a new executive director following the April 1 announcement that its longtime head, Howard Jang, is leaving on June 30.
Jang, who has been the Arts Club's executive director for 14 years, will join Simon Fraser University as the new director of the SFU Woodward's Cultural Unit and as a professor of professional practice.
"The board's search for a replacement will begin as quickly as they possibly can and they'll see how the timing goes," Jang told Business in Vancouver April 1.
"I informed the board last night at our March board meeting and then we met with the staff this morning."
Together with managing artistic director Bill Millerd, Jang led the theatre company through four successful strategic plans that allowed the Arts Club to achieve what he said was the largest subscription base of any professional theatre in the country.
Jang also spearheaded the renovation of the Granville Island Stage and the reopening of the Revue Stage as a venue for new play development.
"Howard's major accomplishment was ensuring that the company became stable financially," said Millerd. "He was instrumental in setting up our foundation, which has grown our endowment. He constantly looked for ways to improve the company through rigorous strategic planning."
Jang's new gig will be to oversee operations and programming at the university's cultural unit in SFU's Goldcorp Centre for the Arts.
"The opportunity to work in several disciplines is exciting," Jang said. "They have several theatres, resident artists and galleries as well so the opportunity to work with many art forms is exciting."
Jang will also become a faculty member at the School for Contemporary Arts and have a small teaching commitment as professor of professional practice.
"We're working toward developing some curriculum around creative entrepreneurship," he said. "That will help artists understand the business of the arts."
