Hollis Ashby announces she’ll be stepping down from Williams Center for the Arts in May

Hollis Ashby, artistic and executive director of the Williams Center for the Arts, has announced that she will step down from leadership of the presenting series based at Lafayette College in May 2023. 

Since her arrival in 2014, Ashby has directed all aspects of the multi-disciplinary, multi-cultural performing arts program, annually presenting an international roster of acclaimed performers in chamber music, jazz, dance, theater, literature, world stage, and family programming, as well as the National Theatre Live broadcast series and Great Art on Screen documentaries. In 2021 Ashby was honored with the Presenter of the Year Award from the association of North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA).

“Hollis Ashby’s leadership and vision have had an immeasurable impact on Lafayette College, our students, and the larger community,” says Markus Dubischar, dean of the curriculum. “The artistic quality of the diverse and inspiring live performance programs that Hollis has made possible on our campus, year after year, has expanded our students’ horizons and made their Lafayette experience uniquely rich. We thank Hollis for her tremendous dedication and successful work, and applaud her outstanding achievements. Brava!”

“It has been a joy and a privilege to lead the performing arts series at the Williams Center,” Ashby says. “The Lehigh Valley–Western New Jersey region is home to an enthusiastic and supportive audience, one that finds meaning, sustenance, and beauty in the work that artists bring to our lives. Working with Lafayette’s exceptional students—as young arts administrators, audience members, and emerging artists themselves—has been deeply gratifying, and I’ve greatly enjoyed the collegial alliance of Lafayette’s faculty, whose scholarship has enriched my own and who have helped make so many wonderful performances happen.”

A search will be launched soon for her replacement.