Long Beach : Arts Group Picks Executive From L.A. Film, TV Center

The Public Corporation for the Arts in Long Beach has announced the selection of a new executive director to replace Lindsay Shields, who left in August. Sandra L. Gibson, director of operations at the Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies in Los Angeles, will assume her new post Jan. 2.

“She’s an incredible administrator, she has years of experience, she’s a wonderful people person and she focuses on what needs to be done,” said Cass Humphrey, president-elect of the PCA board. “She has foresight and she’s very diplomatic. She’ll just do a terrific job.”

Gibson was chosen from among 70 applicants during a four-month nationwide search.

Shields, who headed the agency for five years, left last summer to become assistant to the president of the California Institute for the Arts in Valencia. The PCA, with an annual budget of about $940,000, is a nonprofit agency charged by the city with promoting the arts in Long Beach.