Arthur Jacobus

Arthur Jacobus comes to Atlanta Ballet after having served as chief executive for six different arts organizations over the past thirty years, including two major ballet companies.  After working outside the ballet community for the past seven years, Mr. Jacobus welcomed the chance to return to the ballet world when Atlanta Ballet invited him to be its executive director.  From 1993 to 2002, he was Executive Director of San Francisco.  In San Francisco he led the organization through an eighteen-month displacement from their home venue, established a major touring fund as part of a strategic plan to gain international recognition, and successfully led a campaign to build a $35 million endowment. Prior to San Francisco, Mr. Jacobus was President of Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) in Seattle, WA from 1984 through 1993.  There, he led a major capital campaign to build a new ballet center, and doubled the budget size of the organization. Between PNB and San Francisco Ballet, Mr. Jacobus oversaw eighteen consecutive years of balanced budgets.

Jacobus has also served as CEO/Executive Director of Pilchuck Glass School in Seattle, WA, President of COPIA: The American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa, CA, President of The Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts in Louisville, KY, and President of the Oakland Symphony in Oakland, CA.  He holds masters degrees in Business Administration, Arts Administration and Human Resources Management, and has completed the University of Washington's Executive Management Program, as well as the Harvard Business School's Strategic Perspectives for Non-Profit Management Program and their program on non-profit governance.  While being a renowned chief executive, Mr. Jacobus is also an artist.  He holds an artist diploma in trumpet from the Conservatorio di Musica in Terni, Italy and served for 22 years as bandmaster for the United States Navy and led bands in San Francisco, Gaeta, Italy, and Ville Franche, France.  He founded the NATO International Band in Naples, Italy, and toured Europe extensively with this ensemble.       

Jacobus has served as a board member for Dance/USA and as co-chair of its managers’ council.  He also co-chaired Dance/USA’s National Task Force on Dance Audiences.  He is past president of the Washington State Arts Alliance and of the Northwest Development Officers’ Association (NDOA), was co-chair of Washington Gives, an organization dedicated to the advancement of philanthropy in Washington State, and was co-chair of California Arts Advocates.  Through the National Society of Fundraising Executives (NSFRE), Jacobus was a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) from 1990-93.  He served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge Program and has chaired the NEA’s Dance Grants Panel.  In summer 2000, Jacobus served on a steering committee for the Salzburg Seminar to establish a series of international seminars in arts management.