By Scott Nishimura
snishimura@bizpress.net
Jody Ulich, president of the Arts Council of Fort Worth, is leaving to become the city of Sacramento’s new director of Convention and Cultural Services.
Ulich, who led the Arts Council in fighting proposed city budget cuts, has been president since 2007. Her last day will be Aug. 28, and she’ll start in Sacramento in September.
In Sacramento, she’ll take over a post responsible for the Convention Center, three theaters, the Old Sacramento entertainment district, an historic cemetery, zoo, arts commission, a museum, and a discovery center.
“It’s a huge number of assets and its’ a big job,” Ulich said in an interview. “These kinds of things happen when you’re not looking for them.”
Ulich also has family in California, increasing the appeal.
Bill Hart, chairman of the Arts Council’s board of directors, said, “Jody’s extensive experience and enthusiasm for the world of arts helped the Arts Council grant funds to more than forty local arts groups, as well as reach 2.7 million people per year though these organizations. We thank her for seven years of immeasurable contributions, and we wish her great success in this new venture.”
Arts groups, led by the Arts Council, protested city budget cuts in funding for arts grants made through the Arts Council.
In 2013, the city implemented the recommendations of a task force that proposed a shift in the city’s funding over the next several years from the general fund to its natural gas earnings. Assuming conservative gas earnings growth, the city’s funding for arts grants would grow over time.