Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has announced Dr. Mariko Silver as its new president and chief executive officer. Silver will succeed Henry Timms, who served in the position for five years. Silver will begin her tenure on Sept. 23.
Silver will be the twelfth president and CEO of Lincoln Center, which is the umbrella organization for the arts organization residing within its Upper West Side campus, including Broadway’s Lincoln Center Theater. Silver will continue the implementation of several recent and long-standing initiatives, including the reimagining of the Amsterdam Avenue side of the campus as well as the continuation of the annual, outdoor Summer for the City festival and Lincoln Center’s campus-wide choose-what-you-pay events.
Silver joins Lincoln Center having previously served as president and CEO of the Henry Luce Foundation. During her time with the Foundation, Silver oversaw the creation and implementation of the Democracy, Ethics and Public Trust initiative and the Asian American Voices initiative. She helped prioritize funding for museum exhibitions featuring work by artists of color and more than double the Foundation’s funding commitment to Indigenous communities.
From 2013-2019, Silver served as president of Bennington College, where she secured the school’s largest endowment in its history and spearheaded a ten-year strategic plan that focused on the integration of curricular and co-curricular experiences. Silver is the chair of the board of trustees of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and serves on the boards of Council on Foreign Relations and Philanthropy New York.
“Mariko is an innovative and proven leader with deep experience at complex organizations,” said Steven R. Swartz, chair of the board of directors of Lincoln Center, in a statement. “Her successful tenures as CEO of a prominent college and foundation, paired with her leadership and love of the arts, position Lincoln Center to thrive with her at the helm as we continue a number of important initiatives to strengthen our service to New York City and beyond.”
“Throughout my career, I have relished opportunities to unleash creativity, bridge cultures and support communities and individuals to imagine their own best futures,” Silver said. “Lincoln Center does all those things at the highest level of excellence and ambition. It is an honor to join Lincoln Center at this moment. Lincoln Center is a creative force, giving artists expansive reach and an extraordinary platform to bring forth their very best work. As we embark on this next chapter together, it is my privilege to build upon all that has come before and continue to advance the arts for all.”
