Announcing SAL’s New Executive Director!
October 21, 2021
Dear SAL community,
After a six-month national search, it is with tremendous pleasure that we are announcing today the SAL Board of Directors has named Rebecca Hoogs as Seattle Arts & Lectures’ new Executive Director.
Rebecca has worked passionately on behalf of SAL’s mission and community for the past seventeen years, bringing a love for language, literature, and learning to her roles as director of SAL’s public and education programs during her tenure. With an M.A. in English literature and language and an M.F.A. in creative writing, she is also a teacher and a successful published poet.
Rebecca has played a critical role in the tremendous expansion of SAL’s programming, the growth in our audiences, and in SAL’s deepened commitment to racial equity. And, in May 2021, she valiantly stepped into the interim director role at a particularly challenging moment for the entire arts community. We are delighted and grateful to move forward with Rebecca at the helm to create SAL’s next chapter and execute our community-centric, three-year strategic plan, centered on the values of belonging, racial equity, transparency & trust, curiosity, and joy.
Though we ultimately selected a SAL veteran as our new Executive Director, the search was extensive and rigorous. The Search Committee included six SAL Board members, a SAL staff member, a writer from our Writers in the Schools program, and a local arts sector leader. Five of the committee members identify as people of color. We worked in close partnership with Koya Partners, a leading search firm dedicated to placing exceptionally talented leadership at mission-driven organizations with a firm commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We feel honored by the significant interest generated nationwide in SAL’s executive director role and greatly appreciate the abundant time that our outstanding final candidates spent with us during this process.
Thank you for joining us in congratulating Rebecca as SAL’s new Reader-in-Chief!
Lauri Conner
President, SAL Board of Directors
Tim Griffith
Chair, SAL Executive Director Search Committee and past SAL Board President