The Board of Directors of the Tryon Fine Arts Center are pleased to announce the appointment of Marianne Carruth as the Center’s new executive director.
In announcing the board’s selection, TFAC President Timothy Brannon said, “TFAC Search and Executive Committees screened 42 candidates, many with extensive backgrounds. We went into in-depth discussions with four finalists, including an accomplished consultant. We discovered that while each had unique attributes, the candidate most likely to succeed in this role based upon mutual fit, credentials and personal character is our own Marianne Carruth.”
A native of Tryon, she received her Bachelor of Arts from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas and began her career in public relations in New York City.  After several years in business management, she returned to her interest in the performing arts as a drama teacher and director, primarily of productions for young people.  In this role, she directed community productions, organized art camps for all ages and taught acting for the Tryon Little Theater, Tryon Fine Arts Center, Polk County Schools, the Hub City Writers’ Project, the Carl Sandburg House and the Flat Rock Playhouse.
Carruth has worked with Tryon Fine Arts Center since 2009 and has been serving as Director of Marketing and the Arts in Education programs at the center for the past three years. She has carried even greater responsibility since the former Executive Director, Dr. Beth Child, left in May of this year to pursue a career in piano performance and instruction.
Carruth is perhaps best known in the community for chairing Children’s Theater Festival, aka Super Saturday, helping the organization gain its 501(c)3 status, developing the Board and sponsorship program.  In this effort she developed skills necessary for nonprofit management through fundraising, booking entertainers for main stages and street venues, organizing volunteers, and overseeing all aspects of the program.
She said of her appointment, “I’m grateful for the opportunity and honored by the faith the Search Committee and Board of Directors has placed in me.  I’ve enjoyed serving our community and am excited to continue to develop the role of the arts in our community.”

— article submitted by
Frances Flynn