Caron Howell Thornton
Executive Director
Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center at UAB
1200 10th Avenue South
Birmingham, AL 35294-1261
Phone: 205-975-ARTS (box office)
205-975-9540 (admin)
Fax: 205-975-2341
E-mail: caron@uab.edu
Website: www.alysstephens.org
Favorite Quote: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” - Seneca
Company/Organization Brief Mission:
Engaging, enlightening, entertaining and educating audiences with its vision, the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center endeavors through its mission:
* To be among the best performing arts facilities in the southeastern United States ,
* To bring to its stages the finest artists and performing companies from our region and around the world.
Job description: Responsible for the management, staffing, programming and all oversight of all operations of the ASC.
Accreditations: The ASC is a part of UAB.
Favorite Awards & Honors: I am honored every day to be a part of this great organization, the Alys Stephens Center , which is a part of UAB, a wonderful place to work.
Education: BS in Art Education, painting and drawing major; MA in Arts Administration (business) from Indiana University , Bloomington , Indiana .
Family: Husband, John, and two step-daughters, Ann and Amanda Thornton.
Personal Business Philosophy: Work hard and help as many people as you can along the way, it is very rewarding. Also, to be nice to everyone...it may be the most underrated virtue.
Secret to surviving in business: Loving what you do....I love the arts. I have a deep passion for attending and sharing the arts. The arts are the mirror of ourselves, our history and our culture. We all participate in our own way, cooking, decorating, listening or playing music, crafts, acting. I just get to do it as a profession and bring it to thousands of people each year. It is the most rewarding job! Do what you love and you will thrive.
Your strongest inspiration: My grandmother. She was strong and loving and always there for me.
What being in business has taught you: To be accountable, to share information quickly, and to apologize when you mess up.
Secret to dealing with employees: Hire really good ones and let them do their work.
Caron Howell Thornton has been Executive Director of the Alys Robinson Stephens Center since 1995.
Caron has had a long career in arts administration. Prior to moving South, she worked at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) in NYC where she was Associate Director of the Concert Halls (Avery Fisher and Alice Tully). Prior to LCPA, she was Director of Special Projects at Montclair State University in New Jersey where she ran the $6 million Governors Challenge for Excellence in the Arts Grant for the state, creating artist residencies with major companies such as Alvin Ailey and the NY Philharmonic and built an Opera/Music Theatre Institute for aspiring singers. She opened the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts at SUNY-Binghamton in 1984 and before that she ran the Ashtabula Arts Center in Ashtabula , Ohio for eight years. In the late 1970s she was a consultant for the Arts Extension Service at the University of Massachusetts , Amherst .
Caron holds both her bachelors and masters degrees from Indiana University ; the latter of which is in arts administration. She has been a consultant for both the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ohio Arts Council. She has served on the Music Grants panel for the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
In her 30 years in the field she has done everything from artist selection, fund-raising, programming, production, marketing, sales, organizational development, facilities management and oversight, to strategies and long range planning.
She notes, enthusiastically, "This is the best profession anyone could choose for endless diversity, unremitting challenges, and a love of the arts. I love every day of work in the field of arts administration, it has been, and continues to be, a great career."
