Leah Cooper, the founding executive director of the Minnesota Theater Alliance, will step down April 30, the
alliance announced Wednesday.
An umbrella group charged with helping with the development of the state's playhouses and theater companies, the alliance started as a program of Springboard for the Arts in Aug. 2009. It spun off in March 2010 after getting funding from the McKnight and Travelers foundations.
The alliance filled an obvious gap. Similarly sized theater meccas have bodies that help theaters build capacity and collaborate on major issues. Statewide, there are about 460 theaters in Minnesota, a fraction of them professional. A majority of the professional companies in the Twin Cities are members of the alliance, which counts 47 professional companies among its membership.
The organization, which has a $100,000 annual budget a and three-person staff, is launching a statewide theater conference July 9-11 at St. John's University.
"The Minnesota Theatre Alliance has been fortunate to have one of the leaders in arts development, infrastructure and directorship at its helm," board chair Sandy Boren-Barrett said in a statement that praised Cooper's six-year leadership. Cooper "played an integral part in the advocacy of the entire theatre community and its artists."
A one-time leader of the Minnesota Fringe Festival and former software engineer, Cooper will work as a freelance director and consultant.
A search is on for her successor.
