Artis-Naples appoints David Filner to VP post

David Filner

So, the Phil. Or whatever it's calling itself nowadays. I know. I know. I'm sorry Kathleen. That name. I just can't.

Artis–Naples has announced a new, high-level staff appointment. David Filner (his LinkedIn) assumes the newly created position of Vice President of Artistic Operations.

The press release is pretty bland sauce, but Google coughs up some gems.

For starters, the San Antonio Symphony had a blog on the city's newspaper site: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/jackfishman/. It carries Filner's name, as he was the interim CEO since November 2012; there haven't been any updates since Filner took a new post with the organization in May.

This interview with ART Magazine serves notice - in no uncertain terms - that Filner shares Kathleen van Bergen's vision for the former Naples Philharmonic Center for the Arts. This is good reading - and it makes you ask: Why wasn't this happening all along?

http://artmagazinesa.com/behind-the-symphony-interview-with-david-filner/

Here are some choice phrases: "collaborative," "bringing music into people’s lives," "out in the community everyday," "what does this organization need to move forward," "move forward in order to expand our audiences."


And I'm just going to paste this entire two paragraphs. I can't decide if I want to see it come to pass - or not.

We have a new group called Club Coda, a group of young professionals. We are partnering with Lion & Rose to have an event on Saturday night concerts in which prior to the concert there is a get together for young professionals at Lion and Rose and then they get on a party bus and come to the symphony and then take the party bus back to Lion and Rose. You just sign up online and it is a lot of fun. It is a new growing group that we are excited about.

There are a lot of things that we are doing to make people understand that we are relevant to the city in that way. We will always do Beethoven and Mozart and that is the heart of what we do, but we are also doing Paul McCartney and Fiesta Pops and education concerts and all of those things. [emphasis mine] We really think that our music and our musicians make a big difference in the community and we want to expand on that.

And did we mention David Filner is about my age?

Welcome to Naples. The beaches are great. Watch out for the hurricanes.


Complete press release below.

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DAVID FILNER NAMED VICE PRESIDENT OF ARTISTIC OPERATIONS


Naples, FL – Kathleen van Bergen, Artis—Naples CEO and President, today announced the appointment of David Filner to the newly created position of Vice President of Artistic Operations.  The announcement comes as part of the organization’s continued commitment to growth, a desire to unify the artistic, operations and educational efforts of Artis—Naples and an overall dedication to quality in its people and programs.

About David Filner
Filner joins the organization from the San Antonio Symphony, where he has served for more than seven years. Filner held several positions in San Antonio, including Director of Education and Community Engagement, General Manager and Interim CEO.

Filner brings a wealth of experiences and a proven track record of success in developing vision and strategy with comprehensive experience in artistic planning and operations. Notably, Filner completed the prestigious League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Management Fellowship Program, a year-long, highly competitive program designed to launch executive careers in orchestra management. As part of the program, Filner undertook residencies at the Alabama Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival.  Additionally, he served for more than ten years as Director of the Sequoia Chamber Music Workshop in Arcata, California.  Filner has degrees from Oberlin College and a Master of Music in viola performance from Rice University.  He begins on September 9.

“It was critical to find a partner who understands the planning and programming elements for a multi-disciplinary organization, who would have the depth and knowledge of the orchestral field to support our Music Director, Andrey Boreyko, serve the musicians of the Naples Philharmonic, and who could represent the organization both nationally and internationally to agents, guest artists, conductors and collaborators. We have found that partner in David, and I am delighted to welcome him to Artis—Naples,” van Bergen remarked.