Michelle Witt to Replace Matt Krashan at UW World Series

The smile of the future. Michelle Witt takes over.

To take a struggling "lively arts" series and merge it with a bankrupt dance series seems like lunacy at its finest. But that's exactly what Krashan did. He took the effete Lively Arts Series and the broke-down Discover Dance program from the Seattle Parks & Recreation department and turned them into the nationally renown University of Washington World Series of Music and Dance. For the past twenty-nine years he's held the enviable position of director and now, nearing 70 years old, he's decided to step down.

How do you fill the shoes of a local legend like Matt Krashan? Apparently you don't, but you do the next best thing: cast a nationwide search for a replacement. The UW have found that replacement in Michelle Witt.

Witt has great qualifications. She's smart, she's connected and she has an impressive smile. Before taking the post of executive director for Robert Moses' Kin dance group, she served as Associate Director for the Stanford Lively Arts program (on which the old UW lively arts series was based), headed up the Arts and Lectures series at University of Santa Cruz and the Sun Valley Center for the Arts in Idaho. She also serves on the Program Committee for the International Society for the Performing Arts.

Perhaps more importantly than her credentials as an administrator is the fact that Witt is herself an artist. She holds a Master's degree in music from UCLA and is trained as a classical violinist - a rare exception to the rule of no-talent bean counters distributed throughout the US. She's excited for her new role, and she's obviously mastered the language of the press release.

"Matt Krashan has created a significant legacy and he and the staff have established Meany Hall as a true destination for exceptional performance experiences, " says Witt. "I am thrilled to be leading Meany Hall as it embraces a new vision and continues to foster the highest levels of artistic achievement, innovation and engagement in the performing arts."

Understandably, Matt Krashan himself is pretty fond of his successor. "Michelle is just the right person to step into this role," said Krashan. Krashan is a season ticket holder for the UW World Series, so he will be on hand to watch his successor's vision manifest on stage.

In a newly created role, she will also serve as executive director of Meany Hall. Exactly what that entails remains to be seen - it involves being administrator of the hall itself - but Witt is more than capable of handling the position. She has been involved in finding lots of new sources of funding for the arts wherever she has gone, and her sojourn at the UW, although it brings a bigger challenge in a far different economy from her earlier endeavors, should be profitable for the series not only financially but also artistically.

Witt's tastes in music and dance have always been eclectic. She clearly understands and loves world music as well as jazz and of course classical. And obviously she loves modern dance. Her tastes in theater are a little less convincing but she has nevertheless programmed interesting material, even scooping On the Boards for the world premiere of Trimpin's The Gurs Zyklus, despite the fact that Trimpin lives in Seattle.

"The most important thing I look for is excellence - there are so many artists out there that I try to find the truly exceptional ones that are doing work a cut above in whatever genre," Witt says. "I also look at originality - what is their vision? Are they creating something new?"

Perhaps we can interest her in helping out the Intiman. Regardless, the UW World Series is in good hands for the forseeable future. Matt Krashan can relax in his seat and continue to be the (retired) stud that he is.