After 10 years of leadership at the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, executive director Peter Lesnik has announced he will depart on Dec. 21 to head up the Sunset Center in Carmel, Calif.
“It has been an honor to serve the communities of CSULB and Long Beach,” said Lesnik. “Over the last decade I was rewarded by the strong support of loyal patrons and the excellent staff here at the Center.”
Lesnik has made many contributions over his tenure. Widely recognized for rebuilding ailing arts organizations, he successfully pulled the center out of deficit to operating in the black every year. Much of that fiscal solvency can be credited to his instinct for gauging audience interests, with consistently strong-selling cabaret and family-oriented programming.
Additionally, Lesnik formed lasting community partnerships and attracted various outside groups to the center, including resident companies Musical Theatre West and Long Beach Community Concert Association. Another community triumph came in the creation of “Classroom Connections,” an arts-education program which brings professional artists to the classroom and students to the theatre.
In addition to his role at Carpenter Center, Lesnik was also active with the Association of Performing Arts Professionals, Western Arts Alliance, and the Roundtable Arts Council of Long Beach. In 2005 he was appointed to the LA County Arts Commission and will continue on in his role for the duration of his appointment.
Lesnik’s leadership ends on a high note, as the Carpenter Center is on track for having its most successful year of ticket sales ever, with popular return engagements of the Peking Acrobats, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, and Hal Holbrook in Mark Twain Tonight.
