Following an 8-month search, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District has found a new executive director in its own backyard.
Deborah Jordy, who has worked as executive director of the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts since 2004, will join SCFD as executive director in January, SCFD said Tuesday. She succeeds Peg Long, who will retire at the end of 2016 after more than nine years as executive director.
“Deborah’s considerable experience with arts and cultural organizations coupled with her significant managerial skills make her the ideal choice to lead SCFD,” SCFD board chairman Dan Hopkins said in a press statement. “Voters overwhelmingly renewed SCFD for another 12 years and Jordy’s leadership will assure their trust in the District is well placed. As we look to further expand access and inclusiveness, Deborah has the relationships and knowledge to make these goals the new reality.”
Hopkins is referring to ballot measure 4B, which earlier this month reauthorized the seven-county metro area’s 28-year-old SCFD to fund cultural and arts institutions with a 0.1 percent sales tax. The tax was to expire on June 30, 2018, but now is extended through 2030.
Supporters cited the fact that metro-area performing arts events have climbed 95 percent since the nationally unique tax district began. Thanks to SCFD’s annual tiered funding of arts nonprofits — including Denver Botanic Gardens, the Denver Zoo and Denver Art Museum — the arts now generate $1.85 billion annually in economic activity, support 10,205 jobs and spur $520 million in tourism, according to data from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts.
Jordy’s former role at the CBCA makes her a canny choice to lead SCFD. Jordy has also previously served as executive director of the Cherokee Ranch and Castle Foundation from 2000 to 2004, executive director of the Arvada Center for the Arts and Humanities from 1996 to 2000, and as associate curator at the Denver Art Museum from 1986 to 1994.
“Because of her many years of working with SCFD staff and data in preparing the CBCA’s biannual Economic Activity Study, Deborah can hit the ground running to ensure no interruption in the quality of service the public has grown to expect under Peg’s leadership,” search committee chairwoman Kathy Imel said in a press statement.
In her new role, Jordy will oversee the administration of SCFD funds, ensuring that the operations of SCFD comply with the state law and serve the residents of the district.
SCFD distributed $53.2 million to arts, cultural and scientific groups in 2015, up 14.6 percent from 2013. The money goes toward more than 250 large and small arts organizations throughout Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Douglas, Denver and Jefferson counties.
The money supports free days at museums, local arts festivals, youth orchestras, neighborhood dance studios, nature programs and community theaters, among other programs.