New Green Music Center director named at Sonoma State University

Sonoma State University reached into the heartland Thursday for the new executive director of its Green Music Center, tapping the University of Iowa’s performing arts center leader to integrate the premier music venue into the academic life of the Rohnert Park campus and cultural needs of the community.

Jacob Yarrow, 45, succeeds both Zarin Mehta, 78, the co-?executive director of the Green Music Center since 2013, and Stan Nosek, the university’s interim vice president for administration and finance, who served as the GMC’s co-?executive director since last summer.

For the past eight years, Yarrow has served as programming director for Hancher Auditorium, the main performing arts center at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, which presents 30 to 40 performances a year.

“Jacob is a talented and versatile arts executive with two decades of experience in programming, fundraising, performance, higher education, marketing and nonprofit management,” SSU President Judy Sakaki said in a statement. “I feel confident this is going to be an excellent fit for him and his family and for the university and community.”

After taking over as the university’s seventh president in July, Sakaki has worked to more fully integrate the Green Music Center into everyday campus life and into the community that helped finance the center’s construction. Mehta, former president and executive director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, announced his retirement last fall. He has been commuting to the job from his home in Chicago.

To replace Mehta, the university hired an executive recruiter to help identify an initial pool of 51 candidates during the five-month national search. Nosek, who chaired the eight-member search committee, said Yarrow’s enthusiasm stood out from the start.

“He really seemed to understand the potential of a great music center for the region and for the students,” Nosek said. “And he communicated what that could be in the next five years, drawing upon his experience developing arts integration programs.”

Yarrow will begin work at the end of June after moving to the area with his wife, Debbie, and daughters Grace, 15, and Ella, 13.

“I’m particularly interested in how the performing art and touring artists interact with an academic environment,” Yarrow said in a phone interview. “There’s a new sense of energy that I get at Sonoma State that is thrilling.”

In his former role at Hancher Auditorium, Yarrow led programming in a multidisciplinary season spanning ballet and bluegrass, jazz and classical artists, plus 100 education and artist residency programs linked to those performances.

Highlights of Hancher’s 2016-2017 season have included acts such as Trombone Shorty and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, comedian Steve Martin, opera star Renée Fleming, pianist Emanuel Ax and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Many of these performers have also appeared at the Green Music Center.

Yarrow plans to get involved in community groups to find out what matters to people in the region.

“Programming is about having a deep understanding of artists and the work that they are doing,” he said. “And it’s also about having a deep understanding of the community, and what is interesting to that community, then finding a way to find connections between the two.”

Yarrow also oversaw the marketing side at Hancher while playing a key role in management, coming up with a number of strategic plans that helped position Hancher at the center of both academic life and the city’s arts community.

Next week, for example, Hancher will present poet, dancer and playwright Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s multidisciplinary piece, /peh-LO-tah/, an exploration of the role soccer plays in traditions across cultures and its sociopolitical ramifications.

“The piece is rich with questions about the world,” Yarrow said. “Marc Bamuthi Joseph will go to a Latin American studies class, talk with faculty members involved with performance studies and hold a writing workshop with a local youth writing program.”

A professional musician with a master’s degree in music from the University of North Texas, Yarrow plays jazz and classical saxophone and started his career as a junior high music teacher and touring musician.

“His diverse experiences as an arts industry leader and as an educator are exactly what the GMC needs right now,” said Henry Hansel, chairman of the GMC’s Board of Advisors. “His background and experience are such that he’s really going to be able to connect with all the constituencies we serve: our audience, the university and especially students.”

According to university officials, Yarrow’s starting salary will be $180,000. Mehta had a starting salary of $300,000, which was largely underwritten by philanthropists Sandy and Joan Weill, according to Larry Furukawa-Schlereth, SSU’s former CFO and co-executive director of the center, who retired late last year.

The Weills’ $12 million gift in 2011 enabled the university to complete the center’s main concert venue, Weill Hall. Last fall, Sandy Weill stepped down as chairman of SSU’s Board of Advisors for the Green Music Center.

According to the Orange County Register, Mehta was the highest earner in the Cal State University system in 2014, receiving $486,000 in pay and more than $111,000 in benefits. In 2015, his total pay was $501,761, with $123,578 in benefits, according to the Transparent California website. After taking over as SSU president, Sakaki decided she wanted a single onsite executive director for GMC and upgraded that position to a cabinet post.

“She wanted this position as a member of her cabinet, with the provost and the other vice presidents,” Nosek said. “It was significant because that was a message to everybody that she wanted to have total integration of the music center into the campus’ academic mission.”

You can reach Staff Writer Diane Peterson at 707-521-5287.