Diane E. Ragsdale

Promovendus, Faculty of History, Culture & Communications at Erasmus University, Rotterdam

Diane is currently attending Erasmus University in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), where she is researching the impact of economic forces on US nonprofit regional theaters since the early 80's and working towards a PhD in cultural economics. For the six years prior to moving to Europe, Diane worked in the Performing Arts program at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she had primary responsibility for theater, dance, and technology-related strategies and grants.  Before joining the Foundation, Diane served as managing director of the contemporary performing arts center On the Boards (Seattle, Washington) and executive director of a destination music festival in the resort town of Sandpoint, Idaho.  Prior work also includes stints at the Sundance Film Festival, the Seattle Film Festival, Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD USA, and Bumbershoot, Seattle’s Arts Festival.  She has worked as a consultant for both nonprofits and for profits, as adjunct faculty at Boise State University (in the Department of Theater Arts), and, early in her career, as an actor, director and independent producer.  In November 2010 she started a blog focused on the arts sector, JUMPER, which is published on ArtsJournal.com. Diane holds an MFA in Acting & Directing from University of Missouri at Kansas City and a BS in Psychology and BFA in Theater from Tulane University.  In 2002, she attended the inaugural Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business (a program of National Art Strategies).  She is a frequent panelist, provocateur, or speaker at arts conferences within and outside of the US (notable addresses include “Surviving the Culture Change” and “The Excellence Barrier”) and has contributed articles to several trade journals, including “Recreating Fine Arts Institutions,” which was published in the fall 2009 issue of theStanford Social Innovation Review. She can be found on Twitter at DERagsdale.