Meed the bloggers: Diane Ragsdale

Diane Ragsdale is currently working at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where she has lectured on such topics as the creative economy, cultural organizations, and arts management, and where she is pursuing a PhD. Her dissertation topic is the evolution in the relationship between the nonprofit and commercial theater in the US since 1970.

For the six years prior to moving to Europe, Diane worked in the Performing Arts program at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and had primary responsibility for grantmaking in theater and dance. Before joining the Foundation, Diane served as managing director of On the Boards, a contemporary performing arts center in Seattle, and as executive director of a destination music festival in a resort town in Idaho. Prior work also includes stints at several film and arts festivals and as a theater actor, director and producer. She is a frequent panelist, provocateur, or keynote speaker at arts conferences within and outside of the US. You can read her blog, Jumper, on Arts Journal.com and follow her on Twitter @DERagsdale.