ArtSpring news August 4, 2021
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On behalf of the board Walter Stewart, President of the Island Arts Centre Society (ArtSpring), regrets to announce that Cicela Månsson will be stepping down as the Executive and Artistic Director of ArtSpring at the end of the year.
“Cicela has provided exemplary service and has provided ArtSpring with a solid foundation and an enviable reputation in the arts community, all of which will hugely enable the board’s efforts to recruit her successor. We are deeply grateful to Cicela for her service and all that she has accomplished. Our only regret is that her service could not have continued longer.”
This will be Cicela’s eighth and final season as the Executive and Artistic Director. “I’ve achieved many of the things I set out to do, and now it is time to turn my energies in other directions”, she says. “I have assembled and grown an incredible team who serve the community through their work. Their dedication and professionalism make me so proud. ArtSpring is in very good hands through the staff and the board.”
Cicela is also proud of the Makana youth choir ArtSpring initiated, the expanded artist residencies that give Salt Spring audiences a peek at embryonic artistic work, and last year’s ArtSpring Presents Collaborations In A Time of Covid: Writers and Artists of Salt Spring. Along with these successes, Cicela takes pride that ArtSpring is above all a community arts facility.
During her time at ArtSpring, a professional gallery lighting system was installed, a theatre sound and lighting upgrade was completed, and major accessibility improvements made, totaling over a quarter million dollars in capital investment.
“I am”, she says “particularly grateful to the community for welcoming me to Salt Spring, and their ongoing support of ArtSpring. We are in a very good place: close to the end of COVID, looking at a great number of community bookings for the coming year, and financially healthy. Together we made it through this challenging time and now as a community we move forward.”
The board is commencing a national search for a new Executive and Artistic Director to build upon the existing strengths of ArtSpring. Qualified candidates living on Salt Spring are encouraged to apply. The process for application will be announced soon, with details on the ArtSpring website.
Walter Stewart adds, “Cicela has assembled an extraordinary team of people. The board is deeply aware of the contributions all members of staff make, and we will rely heavily on them as we make the transition to a new leader.”
(photo credit: Howard Fry)
