In 2006 Jazz at Lincoln Center turned to Adrian Ellis for help.
The organization had been struggling under the weight of its explosive growth since moving into a new $131 million home in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in 2004. It had tripled its budget and taken on three stages, where before it didn’t have even one.
Mr. Ellis, a management consultant who has specialized in advising nonprofit cultural institutions, said it was like giving the organization a Lamborghini, without first making sure anyone knew how to drive.
Now Mr. Ellis is at the wheel.
As Jazz at Lincoln Center prepares to open its fifth and biggest season at the Time Warner building on Sept. 18, Mr. Ellis is completing his first year as its executive director, the sixth person in that post in six years.
It would seem that the hardest work is past. Jazz at Lincoln Center has paid off the construction costs on its new building and audiences have grown accustomed to visiting its three spaces: the 1,200-seat Rose Theater, the smaller Allen Room overlooking twinkling Central Park South and the intimate Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. (The organization used to borrow space at Lincoln Center.)
The organization had been struggling under the weight of its explosive growth since moving into a new $131 million home in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle in 2004. It had tripled its budget and taken on three stages, where before it didn’t have even one.
Mr. Ellis, a management consultant who has specialized in advising nonprofit cultural institutions, said it was like giving the organization a Lamborghini, without first making sure anyone knew how to drive.
Now Mr. Ellis is at the wheel.
As Jazz at Lincoln Center prepares to open its fifth and biggest season at the Time Warner building on Sept. 18, Mr. Ellis is completing his first year as its executive director, the sixth person in that post in six years.
It would seem that the hardest work is past. Jazz at Lincoln Center has paid off the construction costs on its new building and audiences have grown accustomed to visiting its three spaces: the 1,200-seat Rose Theater, the smaller Allen Room overlooking twinkling Central Park South and the intimate Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola. (The organization used to borrow space at Lincoln Center.)
