Champions of Arts Centers Pick Director

A Los Angeles cultural commissioner and former board member of the San Fernando Valley Cultural Foundation has been appointed executive director of the foundation, a private organization seeking to raise millions of dollars to build arts centers in the Valley.

With her appointment this week to the foundation’s top staff position, Madeleine Landry of Northridge permanently assumed a position she has filled on an interim basis since April.

Landry will be responsible for office administration, community relations and coordination of board committees, foundation spokesman Ross Hopkins said Thursday.

Hopkins said the position of executive director was created after Luke Bandle, the foundation’s general manager of 1 1/2 years, resigned in April. Bandle was responsible for programming of events, fund raising and office management.

At the time, Hopkins said, the board re-evaluated the structure of the staff and decided to create two staff positions in place of the general manager, de-emphasizing both programming and fund raising for the time being.

Job Requirements

In the top position, Hopkins said, “we wanted somebody who would be much more involved in the community, someone who would deal more with the office administration and coordination of committee activities but would not be involved in programming activities, would not be involved in fund raising.”

At the same time, the board created the position of projects coordinator to run the foundation’s events other than fund raising, such as the second Pacific Rim Festival planned for next spring.

At its meeting Monday, the board filled that position with Dana Lee of Encino, formerly assistant to the president of special events for the Music Center in Los Angeles.

Hopkins would not disclose the salaries of Landry and Lee.

A position of fund-raising director will be created later, possibly by the end of the year, he said.

Landry, characterized in a press release as a “career volunteer,” was a member of the foundation’s board until she became interim executive director in April.

Landry, 43, has also served on the boards of United Way Region 1, the San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Centers Inc., the Music Center Opera League and National Charity League of San Fernando Valley.

Wife of Lawyer

She was appointed to the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission in 1984.

Landry is the wife of Edward Landry, a Los Angeles lawyer and the foundation’s legal adviser. Edward Landry was secretary of the foundation until May.

Lee, 26, studied as a concert pianist at the Juilliard School of Music and earned a bachelor’s degree in music and communication from Stanford University and a master’s degree in marketing from USC.

The foundation is a nonprofit organization that plans to raise about $72 million to build and operate performing arts centers in Sepulveda Basin and Warner Center.