Renee Heider, grants and production manager for the Reichhold Center for the Arts, has been named executive director for the Oakland Ballet. Heider will depart St. Thomas on May 28 and begin work in Oakland June 7.
Heider who has been with the Reichhold for over three years said, "It is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. The years I have spent working with Artistic Director David Edgecombe have been the high point of my career."
Among artists who performed at the Reichhold during Heider's tenure were, Ellis Marsalis, Rennie Harris PureMovement, Hazelle Goodman, Sister Carol and Judy Mowatt and Babaa Maal.
Heider was also instrumental in putting together "Roots:Crossroots" a completely new work of music, dance and drama that explores 20th Century immigration and the impact it has had on St. Thomas. The show featured the music of Trinidad Calypsonian Black Stalin and Dance Alloy directed by Mark Taylor.
The show opened in Pittsbury in March and is currently touring the states.
Heider also served on the board of directors of the Everett B. Birch Foundation.
Edgecombe said, "We are terribly sorry to see her go, but she always made it clear she was here for a limited time. It's been almost four years. She did great work while she was here."
Heider is from California and has worked in the Bay Area before, serving on the East Bay Cummunity Foundations's Educational Arts Fund program advisory committee and on the funding panel of the City of Oakland's Cultural Funding Program.
"She will be very much missed," Edgecombe said, "but I am happy for the great opportunity she has received and for all the new challenges she will have."