DeBartolo Performing Arts Center Announces New Programming Team

Executive Director Ted Barron announces the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center's new programming team. The appointments of Richard Herbst and Sean Martin mark the completion of the center's leadership transition, begun with Barron's appointment in May 2016.

In consultation with Barron, Herbst and Martin will oversee all aspects of program development for the Browning Cinema and the Presenting Series, respectively. "Ricky and Sean are an outstanding arts leadership team. Their appointments position the center to passionately pursue an exciting, new direction for the arts at Notre Dame," says Barron. "The gifts they bring are exceptional-in their respective disciplines of the cinematic arts and the performing arts, knowledge of the University of Notre Dame and relationships with academic partners, arts integration, and community engagement. Their combined expertise will immediately influence and grow our capacity to effect change on campus and community through the arts."

About Ricky Herbst

Cinema Program Director Ricky Herbst holds curatorial oversight of the Browning Cinema and arranges a nearly year-round exhibition program, which includes the ANDkids World Film Festival as well as several film festivals curated in partnership with University of Notre Dame academic departments, centers, and institutes.

A native of small-town Iowa, Ricky's early involvement in the arts taught him the importance of both movies and movie theaters when building community. Leaving Iowa to study at the University of Notre Dame, he sought out to study how attitudes, beliefs, and opinions change-or don't-both at individual and societal levels. Notre Dame's Department of Film, Television, and Theatre provided that training while allowing him to dive further into his deep interest in film and television.

"Communities need movies of all stripes: weepies and screwballs and foreign epics and arty essay flicks you only read about in textbook footnotes," says Herbst. "The genre tent is wide because all films, to varying success, allow us an incredibly intimate 90-ish minutes to experience another world with a theater full of people. Then, we get to discuss what worked and what didn't; that discussion quickly relates back to what does or doesn't work for us as viewers. I firmly believe those conversations have a unique potential to improve our lives, both in self-reflection or through collective action, and I am stupidly excited to bring Notre Dame and surrounding communities together for those experiences."

Throughout his career in law and criminology, cinema remained a constant, whether working in the entertainment law sector or programming film series, either for educational institutions or ad hoc groups. Ricky will now apply his experience in program construction and departmental development to Notre Dame's Browning Cinema. Previously, Ricky was Notre Dame Law School's Assistant Director for Public Interest Law and remains active as a co-founder of Ultreia, Inc., a nonprofit often collaborating with LangLab to produce events with local artists. He holds an M. Phil in Criminological Research from the University of Cambridge, where he was active in the Sidney Sussex Film Society, a J.D. from Yale Law School, and a B.A. in Psychology and Film, Television, and Theatre summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame.

About Sean Martin

Associate Director of Programming and Engagement Sean Martin is responsible for curating the center's Presenting Series, which is made up of professional artists in music, theatre, and dance. He is also responsible for all aspects of engagement and educational outreach initiatives of the center and works closely with the executive director in developing interdisciplinary artist residency projects with the University and community at large.

Martin has worked in arts administration for over 10 years. He has presented at performing arts conferences about the role of arts and community engagement and has been a review panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts. His efforts in arts education lead to the acceptance of the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center into the Kennedy Center's Partners in Education program as a team with the South Bend Community School Corporation. In his previous role as Director of Guest Services, Martin shaped the center's accessibility policies and helped oversee the usher program.

Martin says, "I truly believe in the transformative power of the arts. Learning is fundamental to our mission as a performing arts presenter on a university campus. By bringing world-class artists to this community, I hope that we can enhance the education of Notre Dame students and expose the South Bend community to the finest artists of our time. Through our educational initiatives, I plan to expose people of all ages and walks of life to things they haven't seen before, and leave them with an ongoing and lifelong passion for the performing arts."

Martin graduated cum laude with a bachelor's degree in Vocal Music and Pre-Professional Medical Studies and graduated magna cum laude with a Masters of Nonprofit Administration from the University of Notre Dame. The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council inducted him into the Nu Lambda Mu Honor Society in 2012. Martin currently sings in Collegium Musicum and Basilica Schola at the University and also plays french horn in the Notre Dame Symphony Orchestra. Since 2009, Martin has served as board president for St. Joseph Valley Camerata, a local non-profit choir.

About the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center

Since opening in September 2004, the University of Notre Dame's DeBartolo Performing Arts Center has become an integral part of the University's vision and commitment to becoming a preeminent research university. It is the University's leading presenter of world-class artistic programming, one with an institutional focus on contemporary works. As an academic space, the center enhances the scholarship, teaching and practice of the performing and cinematic arts. As a community space, the center welcomes more than 100,000 patrons annually, including thousands of K-12 students in education and related artistic programs. Presenting Series and Browning Cinema programs are curated to increase the center's capacity to educate, enlighten and engage.

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