Jefferson Westwood

Jefferson Westwood, longtime director of Rockefeller Arts Center at the State University of New York at Fredonia, has announced his retirement effective in August. He made the announcement while emceeing this week’s holiday pops concert featuring California-based Phat Cat Swinger with their program, “A Not So Silent Night.”

Westwood came to SUNY Fredonia in fall 1982 from the Midland, Mich., Center for the Arts, where he was the manager of the community theatre division. Prior to that, he served on the staff of the Lecture-Concert Series at Michigan State University, a campus unit that later became the Wharton Center for the Performing Arts.

“It’s been the honor and privilege of my career to serve as director here all these years, but the time has come to give someone else the opportunity to lead this wonderful operation, facility and staff,” Westwood said.

While at Fredonia, Westwood initiated many new programs and services. Among the programs he started were the DFT Communication Pops Series, the family-oriented Kaleidoscope Series, the On Stage for Youth Series for area elementary schools and the World Travel Series which he started one year after his arrival. 

The World Travel Series featured globe-trotting filmmakers who presented live illustrated film-lectures of their travels to other parts of the country and the world. It was at these programs where Westwood honed his skills as an on-stage master of ceremonies. With the decline of the entire travelogue industry, the series closed in 2016, having presented 139 programs by 54 filmmakers to audiences totaling over 62,000.

Some of the more famous artists who graced the stages of King Concert Hall and Marvel Theatre during his tenure include cellist Yo-Yo Ma; pianists Roger Williams,  Leon Bates and Dave Brubeck; singer-songwriter Tom Chapin; the Peking Acrobats; the Kingston Trio; the Canadian Brass and the dance companies of José Limon, Bella Lewitzky, Lar Lubovitch, David Parsons, Peter Pucci and Pilobolus. “I like to say I presented all the ‘Ls’ and ‘Ps,’ Mr. Westwood commented.

Probably the most famous dance company brought to Fredonia by Mr. Westwood was that of American modern dance icon Paul Taylor. Taylor’s smaller company, Taylor 2, conducted a three-week residency during the fall of 2001, culminating with a final performance by his larger Paul Taylor Dance Company at the end of the residency. It was during this residency that the September 11 attacks happened. On two day’s notice, Taylor 2 mounted a benefit concert, performing Taylor’s signature work, “Esplanade.” “That was a very moving evening,” Mr. Westwood said. The performance raised $2,500 for the New York State Sept. 11 relief fund. 

The operations and services provided by Rockefeller Arts Center to other departments and organizations also grew substantially thanks to Westwood’s leadership. Services he developed include the RAC Usher Corps, a centralized mailing list and marketing database, the ad-supported playbills used at major series events, the annual Entertainment Guide, and the “Mix & Match” season ticket program. Westwood was also instrumental in arranging for various facility improvements including increased physical access for patrons with disabilities and the doubling of the capacity of women’s restroom facilities in King Concert Hall and Marvel Theatre. 

Westwood also served on the committee that interviewed and recommended architects for the center’s $39,000 addition. Deborah Berke and Partners of New York City was chosen. He contributed many ideas to the project, including having the larger dance studio double as a performance space, with retractable seating situated on one side of the space. The 40,000 square foot addition opened in 2016.  

On the financial front, Westwood has been responsible for initiating and conducting the center’s annual fund called “Friends of Rockefeller Arts Center,” as well as the center’s multi-level corporate sponsorship program and a major gift/endowment program. The number of endowments dedicated to Rockefeller Arts Center rose from zero in 1982 to 10 today, with a combined market value of over $500,000. Working with the Fredonia College Foundation, Westwood brought in more than $4 million in contributed income to support arts programs on campus.

In 2007, then campus President Dennis L. Hefner asked Westwood to take on the oversight of the Campus Ticket Office, which until then had been housed in a different division of the college. Significant improvements in software, hardware, personnel and procedures followed, and a credit-bearing course that involved students serving as ticket agents became a standard part of the academic program in arts administration. Many students who worked in the ticket office went on to professional work in the field, several of them as managers.

Not satisfied with merely booking in professional touring artists, Westwood developed an ongoing practice of organizing collaborative creative projects with SUNY Fredonia students, faculty, staff and alumni. The longest-running of these projects is the annual commencement pops concert. This yearly event features student singers/actors backed by the Western New York Chamber Orchestra, a professional ensemble-in-residence at the Fredonia School of Music, and more recently, the Fredonia Jazz Orchestra led by Dr. Nick Weiser, director of Jazz Studies at the school. This year’s concert, scheduled for May 16, will be “The Sound of Music in Concert.” Auditions will be in February.

Westwood’s other favorite collaborative projects include producing the one-act children’s opera, “The Ring of the Fettuccines” twice – the second time taking it on a statewide tour – and organizing “An Evening of Ella and Ellington” with the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, student vocalist Nia Drummond and the student-led, eight-member Fredonia Voices. This show was not only the opening event in the 2015-16 DFT Communications Pops Series at Rockefeller Arts Center; it also opened the Cleveland Jazz Orchestra’s season at Playhouse Square in Cleveland the same season, to great acclaim.

“But the high point of my career so far really has to be Rockefeller Arts Center’s 50th Anniversary Concert in Fall 2019,” Westwood said. “For that show, I brought in a dozen professional alumni vocalists and Broadway veterans from all over the country in a gala program of show tunes and jazz standards.”  During the concert, performers received three standing ovations. Many patrons, including President Dennis L. Hefner, said it was the very best concert they had ever attended in King Concert Hall.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, Mr. Westwood took to offering pops programming virtually instead of in person. His holiday pops concert in 2020 featured many of the alumni who had participated in the center’s 50th anniversary gala. And his commencement-eve concert in 2021 featured 48 then-current students. It was entitled “The Inspiration of Broadway: Songs of Hope, Optimism and Inspiration.” Both programs are still available on the arts center’s YouTube channel.

On campus, Westwood has been honored by his colleagues and the campus administration with both the Chancellor’s and the President’s Awards for Excellence in Professional Service. In 2015, he was one of the first recipients of The College Council Award for Community Engagement. 

“When I first came here, I thought Rockefeller Arts Center was going to be a stepping stone to a more prestigious position,” Westwood said.“But the longer I stayed, the more I liked it, and the better the campus and the community were to me. And Dunkirk-Fredonia was a really great community in which to raise our kids.” 

He has also served on boards of directors at the state, national and international levels. Beneficiaries of his service have included Professional Travelogue Sponsors, International Performing Arts for Youth, Upstate New York Presenters, SUNY Performing Arts Professionals and the New York State Council on Arts peer review panel for Presenting Organizations, for which he served two years as chair.

Closer to home, he has held leadership positions with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Northern Chautauqua and the Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club, and he has served on boards of the Chautauqua County Rural Ministry and the 1891 Fredonia Opera House, of which he was a founding incorporator.

“I’m not planning going anywhere when I retire,” Westwood said. “This is home now, and Wendy and I have made so many dear friends.” He said he does plan to travel more, mostly to see his two daughters and their families – one in Colorado, and one in Brooklyn. “And I’m looking forward to having more time to take our grandchildren to more Broadway shows, on Broadway!” he exclaimed.