RICHMOND, VA - Virginia Commission for the Arts Chairman Deborah H. Wyld announced that Foster Billingsley, deputy director and interim executive director of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, has been appointed executive director of the commission by Governor Robert McDonnell.
"Mr. Billingsley has very ably directed the Commission in the 11 months since the retirement of former Executive Director Peggy Baggett, and all of our commissioners look forward to working with him in his new position," Wyld said.
Billingsley previously served as interim director and deputy director of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, a position that he had held since 2001. The Commission for the Arts is an agency of state government, which promotes the arts throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, provides funding to artists and arts organizations, and supports artist residencies in Virginia schools. Billingsley is a native of Virginia and graduated from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., with bachelor degrees in communications and theatre arts. He also completed the Virginia Executive Leadership Institute in 2007.
Prior to working at the Commission for the Arts, Billingsley worked as the production coordinator / company manager for the Virginia Opera Association in Norfolk, Va. He also has extensive experience in theatre working as an Actors Equity Stage Manager for New York Broadway and Off-Broadway productions and regional theatre companies. He has been an advisory panelist for the Kentucky Arts Council. He has served as co-chair of the Deputy Director Peer Group for the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies. He has served on the boards of the Virginia Executive Leadership Institute and the Virginia Employee Dispute Resolution Council.
