New Musco arts center has a new leader

Richard T. Bryant, a former Orange County arts executive and nationally recognized arts administrator, has been named the executive director of Chapman University’s Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts.

Bryant has been serving as the Musco Center’s interim executive director since Nov. 1, working with Paul and Marybelle Musco, William Hall, founding dean of Musco Center, and others to open the new venue on March 19.

Under Bryant’s guidance, more than 1,000 student, community and professional artists have already performed at Musco Center, and more than 15,000 people are expected to attend preview season events through May 29, according to a news release from Chapman, in Orange, according to a news release.

“It’s not an overstatement to say that without Richard’s leadership, Musco Center would not be what it is right now,” Chancellor Daniele Struppa, who has been named the university’s next president, said in the release. “We’re very grateful to him for what he’s done so far, and I’m excited for what the future holds for Musco Center under his expert guidance.”

Bryant served from 1987 to 1996 as director of communications and marketing for the Segerstrom Center for the Arts — then known as the Orange County Performing Arts Center. After that, he served as the first vice president of marketing and public relations for the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J. He was also director of marketing for Washington, D.C.’s, Arena Stage for seven years and a founding member and first president of the Helen Hayes Awards.

He is currently volunteer chairman of the National Consortium for Creative Placemaking, which focuses on new ways to make communities more livable, equitable and resilient through arts and culture, the news release said.

The Musco Center will present large-scale opera and theater productions, touring dance companies, symphonies, chamber performances, jazz concerts, popular music and more. For more information, visit muscocenter.org.