ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery announced the appointment of Alan Harrison as its new executive director, effective yesterday.

Harrison has served as a leader in the nonprofit arts and entertainment field locally and nationally for more than 18 years. His local experience includes a lengthy engagement at the Seattle Repertory Theatre as director of communications and marketing. More recently he served as managing director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, one of the largest Shakespeare festivals in the world. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife, Parker Tenney and their daughter.

"I love the idea of purveying, promoting, and presenting the arts for the people of West Seattle," Harrison said. "They deserve the best there is: the best art, the best theatre, and the best overall entertainment experience, and our task is to make sure they get it."

Harrison sees ArtsWest as a destination theater, as well, attracting a customer base from beyond the geographic limits of West Seattle.

"I am genuinely excited about the idea of growing this organization into the kind of strategically differentiated, focused, high-quality ensemble that the people of this region have come to expect," he said.

ArtsWest has a lot going for it already, Harrison said.

"The facility is a beautiful asset and the Junction is an outstanding place to browse, shop, and dine on any given night of the week."

He said that under his leadership he pledges ArtsWest will "do everything we can - collaborating with everyone and every company that wants to climb on board - to put on professional theatre whose excellence matches our extraordinary expectations."

Harrison will take over from Interim Executive Director Shannon Flora who stepped in to temporarily fill the role vacated when Michael Harris left ArtsWest last October. Harris had held the position for five years.

ArtsWest Board President Tim Woodland, who took over the reins from former board president Jim Guenther on Jan. 1, believes Harrison is coming to ArtsWest at an opportune time.

"ArtsWest Board of Trustees is thrilled to be starting off the new year with Alan Harrison in our key leadership role," he said. "His experience and passion can only add to the great strides ArtsWest has made in recent years and we welcome his expertise, his energy and his vision."

Harrison currently serves as the vice president of the board of directors for Seattle Dramatists, an organization devoted to the nurturing of playwrights and their process. He formerly served as a board member for Theatre Puget Sound, as the president of the Seattle Center Association of Marketing Professionals and as a special advisor for Richard Hugo House, the Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Arts Council, the Reader's Digest/Wallace Funds, Seattle Central Community College, and the Seattle Chamber of Commerce.'

-Carlene Canton