Announcing WAA's New Executive Director
Dear WAA community,
After an extensive search process beginning in December 2021, I am delighted to announce the appointment of WAA’s next Executive Director, Joshua Heim.
Joshua — a dedicated arts leader focused on areas of advocacy, cultural planning, racial equity, and social justice — will take the reins from our longstanding leader, Tim Wilson, on September 19. Tim will officially step down from his role on September 30, after an incredible 25-years of dedicated and exceptional leadership. Tim's contributions to WAA are too expansive to name here, but include the development of visionary programs such as Advancing Indigenous Performance, the implementation of the Performing Arts Discovery program, and successfully stewarding the organization through the pandemic.
Tim and Joshua are already working together closely to facilitate a smooth transition.
Joshua joins us from 4Culture, a cultural funding agency for King County, Washington, overseeing a portfolio of grant funding and technical assistance programs that invests $10 million annually, where he served as Deputy Director. His role focused on working with program managers to shift programs toward greater equity, centering people and communities of color who have been historically underserved by traditional arts philanthropy. Joshua also helped to lead an impactful COVID-19 response that included distributing over $12 million of federal disaster relief to cultural organizations and individual cultural workers.
Prior to his role at 4Culture, Joshua served as the Arts Program Manager and Diversity Liaison for the City of Bellevue, WA, following four years as Cultural Arts Administrator for the city of Redmond, WA.
Joshua holds a Master of Arts in Cultural Studies from the University of Washington in Bothell, WA and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Anthropology from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, as well as an International Development Policy and Management Graduate Certificate from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA. He is originally from Hawaii, where he worked for a short time as a professional hula dancer.
Josh’s vision and experience, paired with his proven ability to align culture and community development in complex organizations and ecosystems, makes him a perfect fit for WAA, and we are excited to introduce him to our community.
We'd like to thank our Executive Search Committee for their leadership and thoughtful contributions, as well as executive search firm, KEES, for their expertise and partnership throughout the search process.
If you’re in Calgary for the 2022 WAA Annual Conference this week, you’ll have the opportunity to meet Joshua there — and he will also be part of the upcoming online panel, The Future of Performing Arts Convening; stay tuned for further announcements on the panel, as well as other opportunities to connect with WAA's new leader.
The board and staff are overjoyed to have Joshua leading WAA into this next phase of organizational growth as he takes the baton from Tim, and we are confident that he will continue Tim’s phenomenal legacy.
Sincerely,
Joe Mclalwain
WAA Board President
Antonio Gómez
WAA Board Vice President
EXECUTIVE SEARCH COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Aisha Ahmad-Post
Gail Boyd
Joseph Copley
Pamela Green
Leilehua Lanzilotti
Nadhi Thekkek
Cathy Weiss
Martin Wolleson
P.S. In case you missed it — Tim reflects on his time at WAA and shares what’s next for him here.