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Lex Leifheit, press and marketing
coordinator for the Center for the Arts, stands inside the Zilka Gallery.
Leifheit works to increase media coverage for the CFA. |
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| Posted 07.13.05 |
Press and Marketing Coordinator Promotes Center for the Arts Events
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Q: Your position as press and marketing coordinator is fairly new. How long
have you been at Wesleyan?
A: I have been here a little over a year, since March 2004. I showed up on a
Saturday during one of the CFA’s annual season highlights, DanceMasters
Weekend, and immediately started taking photographs. It was a great
introduction to the constant activity of the CFA.
Q: What were you doing before you came to Wesleyan?
A: From 2001 to 2004, I was the communications director at the Eugene
O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford. I also directed and produced numerous
plays and arts events in downtown New London, Connecticut, including the
Hygienic Cabaret and a performance art series designed to increase awareness
about local issues.
Q: What are your degrees in and from where?
A: I have a BFA from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa and a Certificate
of Study from the Moscow Art Theater. Right now, I’m taking classes through
Wesleyan’s Graduate Liberal Studies Program.
Q: How would you describe your role in the Center for the Arts? In a
nutshell, what are your objectives?
A: The CFA is always looking for ways to let more people know about our
events. My job is to increase media coverage and make the CFA easily
accessible to the communities it serves, within the university and
throughout the region.
Q: When you started at the CFA, how were performances advertised, and how
has that changed with you being here?
A: One of the most noticeable changes is increased press coverage. There are
a lot more photos popping up in regional newspapers and magazines, and the
New Haven Advocate recently declared our 2005-06 dance programming the “best
and most diverse” in the state. Of course, none of this would be effective
if we didn’t actually have great programming by students, faculty and guest
artists. I also do a lot of targeted marketing, for example advertising our
Outside the Box Theater events in the Hartford Stage programs or sending
flyers about our jazz events to jazz festivals in the region. It’s
time-consuming but worth it—once people find their way here they tend to
come back again and again.
Q: Who generally attends the CFA performances?
A: Plenty of people come to the CFA from well beyond Middletown—we have
recently had an increase in attendees from Fairfield County but Hartford and
New Haven area residents are also quite familiar with the CFA. It is hard to
estimate who comes to our many free events, but for the ticketed series
events the breakdown is approximately 54 percent Wesleyan students, 40
percent community members and 6 percent faculty and staff.
Q: What’s your favorite part about working in the CFA?
A: I feel very lucky to work at something I really believe in—helping people
discover things about themselves, their community, and other cultures
through the arts.
Q: Do you attend many of the CFA events? What have been some of your
favorites?
A: I am very excited about our upcoming theater season—The Neo-Futurists,
Sarah Jones and the SITI Company—all artists I would drive an hour to see
without thinking twice. One of my favorite performances last year was Music
Professor Alvin Lucier’s I am sitting in a room. He performed in the midst
of a Sol Lewitt installation in Zilkha Gallery. It was very magical to hear
that historic work with people filling every corner of the space.
Q: What are other hobbies or interests of yours?
A: Last month, I moved into the North End Artist Cooperative on Main Street,
so my main “hobby” has been getting to know my new neighbors! I also enjoy
swimming at Miller’s Pond and have, surprisingly, run into some Wesleyan
folks there.
Q: Does your family live around here too?
A: My family moves around a lot. Currently they are in Kansas. Here, it’s
just me and my cat, Stella. |
| By
Olivia Bartlett, The Wesleyan Connection
editor |
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