Robert Booker Announces Retirement from Arizona Commission on the Arts

After more than a decade as the executive director of the Arizona Commission on the Arts and a 40-year career in the arts field, Robert C. Booker will retire from his current position on August 7, 2017. He will be succeeded by Jaime Dempsey, who has served as the agency's Deputy Director since 2006. Booker served as chair of the Grantmakers in the Arts board of directors from 2015–2016.

Booker led the state Arts Commission through an often challenging period marked by recession-era budget reductions and major shifts in the state's public policy environment. Nevertheless, under Booker's leadership, the Arts Commission distinguished itself as one of the state's most resilient, responsive, fiscally responsible agencies, and one of the nation's boldest and most innovative state arts agencies.

Read the full announcement from Arizona Commission on the Arts.