Frederick said the arts play an âincredibleâ role in community-building and bringing people together.
The former dancer, artistic director and educator will start her new role on March 15. George Trudeau, the centerâs previous director, retired in July 2020.
Frederick was a performer with the ensemble Urban Bush Women, a dance-theater group that addresses inequality in the lives of Black women. She has also danced with the Arthur Aviles Typical Theater and Merian Soto Performance Practice and co-founded a dance theater company, Areytos Performance Works, âto create multidisciplinary community-based projects that explore themes of power, colonization, migration, race, gender and culture,â according to a press release from the College of Arts and Architecture.
IMAGE: Marlon Ramos Photography
Frederick, a Dominican and Canadian-American dancer who performed with Urban Bush Women, most recently served as director of community engagement at Lincoln Center from 2015 to 2020, where she led a team that presented inclusive family-arts programming on and beyond the Lincoln Center campus. During her tenure, she also launched new mentorship and internship programs for young people, and created an expansive residency program for community artists. Prior to Lincoln Center, Frederick developed her partnership and facilitation skills by working with Urban Arts Partnership as the program director for Everyday Arts for Special Education (EASE), a federally funded professional development program for educators in New York City. Under her leadership, the EASE program expanded to Los Angeles Unified School District and local arts organizations in an initiative to prepare teaching artists with strategies to teach non-disabled and disabled students in integra
The Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State named Sita Frederick as its new director. Frederick is succeeding George Trudeau, who retired at the end of 2020.
IMAGE: Photo provided
“I am honored to take on this role as it is a privilege to lead even temporarily the experienced and supportive team of professionals at the Center for the Performing Arts,” she said.
Carpenter also announced that, in the spirit of collaboration, Audience and Program Development Director Amy Dupain Vashaw and Finance Director Annie Doncsecz are assuming increased responsibilities while they continue to serve as heads of their respective departments.
“I am pleased Lea, Amy and Annie have agreed to take on these roles and the additional associated responsibilities,” Carpenter said. “We have a good team, and the CPA is in good hands.”