Gordon Dirks: Rosebud’s new interim executive director

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Gordon Dirks, who was Education Minister in Jim Prentice’s government, and previously board chair of the Calgary Board of Education, is now Interim Executive Director of Rosebud Centre of the Arts.
Dirks’ relationship with Rosebud began in the early 1990s, he said, when he and his wife started coming to see Rosebud shows. In 1996, he became president of Rocky Mountain College and began bringing busloads of students to Rosebud productions. In 2015, Dirks joined Rosebud Centre of the Arts’ (RCA’s) board of directors, and this September, when Executive Director Adam Furfaro left, Dirks stepped down from the board and became Interim Executive Director.
“It’s been a wonderful journey,” Dirks said. “We’re absolutely delighted to be friends and fans and supporters of Rosebud and now engaged with Rosebud in this rather interesting interim period as Interim Acting Executive Director.”
Dirks brings experience in senior leadership in government, church, and education, and in development, and public and donor relations. He’s also served and consulted to numerous boards, and taught effective board governance. All of that, he trusts, will be beneficial to RCA.
“I’ve always seen my role as a senior leader in an organization as one of empowering the staff that I work with, in whatever way I can, to help them be successful in their roles,” he said, “and to feel not only that they’ve made a contribution of substance to the organization, but they’ve also developed personally and professionally as individuals, and that they feel good about their role.”
“I’ve got to say that I’m very, very, very impressed — and I would underscore that — very impressed with the quality of the people at Rosebud, the passion that they exude, the competence that they demonstrate day in and day out,” he said.
“You see that ultimately reflected in the quality of the service that Rosebud provides, both in terms of its drama, theatre productions, in terms of its hospitality experience, in terms of the students that it graduates from its programs, and in terms of the number of patrons who keep coming back, in the tens of thousands, every year.”
Also, he said, “We (in Rosebud) rely significantly on donors and friends of Rosebud to sustain our Rosebud Experience. I want to ensure that we have a good development program that is both sustained and enhanced as we go forward, that we have a board that’s functioning effectively, and I want to do whatever I can to support the board in that.”
As the board continues its search for a new Executive Director, Dirks said, “We want to find the best person that we can, to lead Rosebud into the future.”
He invites anyone interested in the role, or who knows someone who’s interested, to contact RCA.
“Rosebud is a most unique cultural institution in all of Canada,” Dirks said, and invited us all to enjoy the “Rosebud Experience” this season. Miracle on 34th Street opens in the Opera House Nov. 11, with school shows, matinees and evening performances. Frank Dickens’ Christmas Carol opens in the BMO Studio Stage, Nov. 26.
“Also,” Dirks said, “we are a donation-based organization and we look for and deeply appreciate the donation gifts of people to sustain Rosebud. As people think about their charitable giving for the remainder of 2016, if they would look our way and consider supporting Rosebud, we would deeply appreciate that.”