Ted DeDee, president and CEO of Overture Center for the Arts, has just announced he will be retiring in May, at the close of the 2018 season.
DeDee moved to Madison in 2012 after a long career managing arts organizations in Dallas, Nashville, Columbus, Ohio, and New York. He helped Overture transition from a city-managed facility to a private non-profit and oversaw a steady increase in the quality and number of shows presented in the venue, according to a news release from Overture.
For example, Overture’s Broadway offerings increased to 11 weeks from five, and the subscriber and donor bases increased significantly during DeDee’s tenure. Private donations shot up 44 percent for the facility, which had faced troubled finances and mounting debt before the restructuring.
In the release, DeDee called his tenure “the perfect capstone to a 43-year career.”
Betty Harris Custer, chair of the Overture Center Foundation, and Charlie Seman, the foundation’s past chair, praised DeDee for his instrumental role.
“He has been just the right person to take Overture from the beginning stages of a private foundation to its present place as the leading performing arts organization in the state,” they wrote. “His retirement comes at the end of a very vital strategic planning process that will help establish an exciting path forward for his successor.”
DeDee will work with Overture’s board and staff during the search for his replacement.
