EDWARD J. LEWIS, III TO HEAD UNCSA ADVANCEMENT EFFORTS
Appointment by Chancellor Lindsay Bierman is effective Feb. 1, 2015
(WINSTON-SALEM) Edward J. Lewis, III of Washington, D.C., will become chief advancement officer at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) on Feb. 1, Chancellor Lindsay Bierman has announced.
Lewis is currently senior director of development for the performing arts at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park. There he provides strategic direction for a comprehensive fund-raising program, including The Clarice’s Artist Partner Program of international and national visiting artists, the University of Maryland School of Music and the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. Lewis is also is a violist with 30 years of performance history, and has taught music at the university level.
Edward J. Lewis III
“Ed’s talent and experience as a fund-raiser, artist, and educator will serve him well at the School of the Arts,” Bierman said. “He has worked for more than a decade in higher education, running campaigns for music, theatre, and dance. I can’t imagine anyone more suited or better qualified to lead our growing development team.”
Edward Lewis
Edward Lewis has more than a decade of nonprofit management and fund-raising experience in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area and brings a wealth of academic practice in the performing arts where he has served as studio teacher, chamber music coach and conductor at the University of Dallas.
Lewis joined the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2006 to provide strategic direction for a comprehensive fund-raising program for the performing arts, which includes support for the School of Music, the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and the center’s Artist Partner Program. In addition to leading the development staff, he is part of the center’s team of directors, which is responsible for long-range planning, organizational structure and policy-making, and institutional budgeting. He also stewards the center’s leadership council.
From 2004-06, Lewis was associate director of development for the University of Maryland’s College of Arts and Humanities. Previously, he was director of development at the Cathedral Choral Society, and assistant director of development for the Kogod School of Business at American University, both in Washington, D.C.
Lewis holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan. He is a violist and also an alumnus of the University of Maryland School of Music, where he studied chamber music with the Guarneri String Quartet. His professional experience includes performing as a member of the Dallas Opera Orchestra, the Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Haydn Sinfonietta Wien, and the Toledo Symphony. In addition, he has performed with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, the National Repertory Orchestra, and the Utah Chamber Music Festival, and was a Fellow at the Aspen Music Festival.
He succeeds Mark Hough, who left in March to pursue other opportunities. Jim DeCristo, the director of economic development and external affairs, has served as interim chief advancement officer since Hough’s departure.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is America’s first state-supported arts school, a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system when it was formed in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.